3D Printed Sneakers

This project was part of my Bachelor Final Project (Industrial Design Engineering, 2015). It was in collaboration with Luxexcel: a company that is able to 3D print transparent lenses. The goal was to create a product that makes use of their (back then) newly developed technique. By starting with a company analysis and looking into possible opportunities, a product was created.

Acryx is the world’s fully first 3D printed sneaker that uses 3D printed transparent parts.

From kickoff to the first sketches

Below a timeline can be seen that starts with the first meeting at Luxexcel, followed by the company analysis, ideas and focus area up to the first product sketches. Likewise, this timeline was used to update the company about the process.

Sketching

After the first part, it was mainly about sketching new ideas which served as a brainstorming tool. Eventually from these sketches, three concepts are created.

Final Concept: Acryx

From these sketches one final concept was chosen, which is the so-called Acryx sneakers. This concept uses the 3D printable parts by Luxexcel in a way that it showcases the possibilities for future users.

Concept Elaboration

The material of the sneakers consist of NinjaFlex: a flexible 3D printable filament. The sneakers are modeled in Rhino T-Splines by using Nike Air Footscapes as a silhouette. The sides of the shoes were printed initially to analyse whether the 3D printed transparent parts would not slip out of the shoe when worn.