Adidas unveils their first 3D printed mass market sneaker

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By Matthew Griffin Industrial Revolution 12th April 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

3D printing will usher in a new era of on demand, personalised clothing that will revolutionise products, supply chains, and companies.

Adidas, who recently made a sneaker from recycled ocean plastic, and other clothing manufacturers have been experimenting with new ways to manufacture their goods for decades, but it is only in the past couple of years that they’ve started to get their heads around using 3D printing to replace yesterday’s manufacturing techniques.

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3D printing is an incredibly promising and alluring manufacturing technology so it’s no surprise Adidas have been driving into the space hard – that’s not a golf analogy by the way.

Not only will 3D printing help companies collapse supply chains, and reduce their inventories to zero by letting them manufacture new goods on demand, but it will also help them decrease costs, and dramatically increase the amount of personalisation that they offer to customers.

Is that a quintuple slam dunk I’m seeing!? You’re darn right it is.

Realising the promise of the technology though, as with any emerging technology, has been slow – by todays standards at least – as companies try and try again, but now Adidas has teamed up with a San Francisco start up to tackle their most ambitious project to date – to create a mass market, 3D printed sneaker. And that’s a first. Even Under Armour’s AI designed, 3D printed sneaker the Architect only had a production run of 300, and Adidas want 3to produce at least a 100,000 pairs of what they’re calling their new FutureCraft 4D line.

Take a peek

Take that Under Armour, you’ve just been served – and I’m not talking Tennis. Oh yes, keep those sports analogies coming… I know you love them…

The mid-sole of the FutureCraft 4D is going to be created using a 3D printing process known as Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) where the design is essentially pulled out of a vat of liquid polymer resin and fixed into its desired shape using ultraviolet light.

The company behind CLIP, Carbon, who are backed by industry giants GE and Google, say the new technique is faster and more adaptable than traditional 3D printing, and it’s those traits that Adidas is banking on to help them realise their ambitions. Carbon also claim the final materials are more robust and flexible than traditional injection moulded plastics.

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Initially Adidas are going to make 5,000 pairs which will go on sale later this year with the aim to produce 100,000 by the end of 2018.

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“This is a milestone not only for us as a company but also for the industry,” said Adidas’ Gerd Manz, “we’ve cracked some of the boundaries.”

Another advantage of 3D printing is that it also allows companies to make smaller batches – something that in the past would have been prohibitively expensive. For example, these could be small runs that are tailored for particular events or locations, or they could even be expensive one offs moulded to suit an individual’s foot shape and gait.

“Individualisation will come, but you’ve got to learn to walk before you run,” said Manz.

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The cost of a pair of FutureCraft 4Ds is not yet known, but Adidas says it will be in the premium price range. Personally I can’t wait to get my hands on a pair, but ironically I’ll have to – now, if only we could find a way to collapse time… and, yes, I’ll admit it I need a new puns machine too.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.