Symbiotic Shoes

At the end of Fabricademy, I am happy to have reached a working proof of concept of a parametric shoe design, construction method and recycling model.

• The shoes developed are based on a parametric pattern in Grasshopper, which allows for simple customization to each user.
• The shoes are made almost entirely out of 3D printed TPE material, and the other components (thread and laces) can easily be detached.
• In collaboration with 3D print filament manufacturer Recreus, the shoes will be used at the end of their life to produce their recycled filament Reciflex.

Symbiotic Shoes project starts with the desire of applying 3D printing to develop zero waste, ultra personalized and circular shoes that are inspired in traditional shoemaking. When looking at the shoe industry nowadays, we can see that most of the materials that go to shoes end up being discarded in landfills at the end of their lives. Symbiotic shoes aims to provide an alternative to this with 3D printed shoes that can be recycled entirely to make new shoes. At the moment a working proof of concept has been reached for the shoe design, construction and recycling model.

The shoes developed are based on a parametric design which allows for simple customization to each user by inputting their measurements.

They are made 98% out of 3D printed TPE material. The other components (thread and laces) can easily be detached for easy recycling. In collaboration with 3D print filament manufacturer Recreus, the shoes will be used at the end of their life to produce their recycled filament Reciflex.

The next steps are to scale and expand the working proof of concept by:

• Improving and validating further the design of the shoe with special emphasis on durability and comfort, doing extensive testing in controlled conditions as well as with users;
• And developing a web based platform that enables distributed manufacturing of the shoes and allows for community participation in the design process.