WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF
In this keynote session in Istanbul Futurist Matthew Griffin explores the future of footwear and footwear manufacturing and shows how the industry and the products are changing in sci fi ways.
Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog.
Firstly, thank you to Berke Icten, the Chairman of TASD for inviting me to Turkey to be the keynote of this years annual global Footwear Congress where over 500 leaders from the world’s leading shoe manufacturers from all around the world came together to discuss the future of footwear – an industry that we all have in common and, when you think about it, is the only industry that sells products to every individual on the planet. After all, when you think about it, everyone in the world has at least one pair of shoes, but not everyone has a credit card, a computer, a dress or jeans, a smartphone, or even electricity or water. All of which, when you really think about it means that this is an industry like no other.
During my keynote which was titled future of footwear I explored everything from the history of this iconic industry and then showed the audience how emerging technologies are changing how footwear is designed, manufactured, and recycled, how companies could redesign their business models and use shoes to help predict peoples health, as well as diving into all of the new EU ESG and reporting directives and regulations that will be coming into force in 2024. And much more.
The Future of Footwear and the Footwear Industry, by Futurist Matthew Griffin
I also dived into the circular economy, investigated the role of new materials in creating new kinds of performant and sustainable footwear, on demand 3D printing and robotic manufacturing technologies, virtual reality design tools, and the hunt for the ultimate one size fits all does all infinitely recyclable miracle material.
And, speaking of recycling, with only a fraction of shoes being recycled each year and with billions of pairs going to landfill every year I also showed the audience some of the latest breakthroughs in the recycling industry and urged both industries to come together to discuss how shoes, the soles of which are some of the most complex kinds of apparel to recycle, can be made easier to recycle, with the ultimate objective being that eventually none of the shoes we buy will end up in landfill.