For over a decade, footwear model Vivobarefoot has been on a mission to rethink footwear design, bringing it nearer to nature and our pure foot structure. As the corporate says, “the human foot is a biomechanical masterpiece”, so why not embrace that in footwear design by creating footwear which are, as they are saying, “as near barefoot as attainable.” The corporate’s newest product, a customizable 3D printed barefoot sandal, may be very a lot in step with this mission.
The 3D printed sandal, stated to be the primary of its sort, known as the VivoBiome Tabi Gen 01, and is being launched in a really restricted run of simply 590 pairs. Vivobarefoot is admittedly taking the customization to coronary heart, not simply permitting clients to decide on their dimensions and colour, however inviting clients to their in-store scanning stations to bear a full foot 3D scan. At current, only some Vivobarefoot outlets are rolling the VivoBiome tailor-made providing out, particularly their places in London and Bristol, UK.
The scan-to-print course of (which makes use of SLS 3D printing) leads to a pair of split-toe sandals which are constructed for the wearer and designed to assist their pure gait and posture, offering higher stability than off-the-shelf, mass-produced footwear. The 3D printed sandal additionally integrates an outsole construction engineered for traction on quite a lot of surfaces. The bespoke sandal is retailing for £140 and is available in 4 colorways: obsidian black, mineral gray, forest inexperienced and earth brown.
Along with the personalized match of the sandal, Vivobarefoot is keen to roll-out a made-to-order method, which can allow it to scale back stock inventory and enhance its sustainability by means of on-demand and localized manufacturing. As Asher Clark, Vivobarefoot co-founder stated: “We’ve taken one of many oldest instruments of humanity and introduced it into the longer term. Customized match, higher on your physique, and higher for the planet.”
The VivoBiome Tabi Gen 01 is the product of a ongoing exploration of additive manufacturing at Vivobarefoot. For a while now, the corporate has been investigating the usage of 3D printing to determine extra circularity in footwear manufacturing. Actually, we spoke to co-founder Asher Clark and VivoBiome computational design lead Pete Davis final yr to study their targets and use of AM final yr. On the time, the footwear model had simply shaped a partnership with supplies firm Balena, which makes a speciality of compostable biopolymer formulations. Once we requested whether or not Vivobarefoot was desirous about solely utilizing AM in its manufacturing, Clark stated it was not a query of if, however when.
