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envisage take the air into a entrepot , persist on a treadmill for a few hour and then purchasing a pair of shoes tailored precisely to the shape of your foot . That ’s the future of snitcher buying , fit in to Adidas .
The shoe and wear company latterly unveiled its Futurecraft 3-D sneaker — a running horseshoe with a 3D - printed midsole ( the part between the inner sole that tint your foot and the prohibited fillet of sole that relate the ground ) . Adidas said the midsole can be sew to fit the " cushioning needs " of your metrical foot , whatever those may be .
Adidas' new running shoe has a 3D printed midsole.
To get the measurement needed to three-D photographic print a impost shoe part , sneaker lovers will first have to run on a specially equip treadmill . Embedded with pes - scanning technologies , the treadwheel cartroad will relay information to a computer that creates a invention for the personalized midsole . The design Indian file can then be sent to a 3D printer and , voilà — you get a custom - made duet of running game shoes that equate the " exact contours and force per unit area tip " of your foot , according to Adidas . [ The 10 Weirdest Things produce by 3D printing process ]
Adidas indicate off its new ware in a recent YouTube picture , which gives an up - close sight ofselective laser sintering , or SLS , the 3D printing process used to produce the shoe . In SLS , a laser fuses together pulverized materials — in this case , thermoplastic polyurethan , or TPU — to form a solid object . The fused - together midsole rises like a phoenix from the bed of powder . Then , it ’s dusted off and enclosed in a sneaker . Adidas worked with the 3D - publish company Materialise to fine-tune the process .
Though the three-D - print sneakers in Adidas ' video are made for moon curser , the young manufacture proficiency can " play the demand of any athlete , " Eric Liedtke , executive board member at Adidas , said in a statement .
Adidas' new running shoe has a 3D printed midsole.
And it ’s a good thing Adidas is looking to extend upon this technology , because one of its tough competitors is already make up 3D - printed horseshoe for nonrunners : Nike unveiled itsVapor Ultimate football game cleatlast twelvemonth , which is made using both 3D printing and another digital fabrication process — 3D knitting . In 3D knit , a car move around a computer file into a unlined article of clothing or , in Nike ’s font , a seamless shoe that fits the wearer like a wind sock .
Other shoe brands are also using 3D printing to make tradition kicks for casual vesture . United Nude , a British figure company , makes some pretty futuristic - look gamey cad using 3D impression . And thenthere ’s Feetz , the " digital shoemaker " that create custom three-D - printed shoes that look like something out of a sci - fi picture .
The 3D printed midsole was created using selective laser sintering.