Your Next Pair Of Shoes Could Come From A 3D Printer

The assembly line at Feetz has 100 humming 3-D printers. Their sole purpose is to make shoes. Each printer is named after a cartoon character: Wonder Woman, Scooby-Doo. Though whimsical, the printers are out to upend mass retailing by making every shoe to order, cheaply. Each printer can be reset to make different sixes and takes up to 12 hours to make a pair. Ordering is done online, where customers can download an app, take smartphone snapshots of their feet and create a 3-D model. Shoes, which cost $199 are made of recycled material and are thickly padded for comfort.

With the rise of new technologies like smartphones and 3D printers, fashion start ups like Feetz are changing the ways goods are ordered, made and sold. Traditionally, manufacturing is the most expensive part of the retail supply chain. Creating foods in small batches is difficult and costly. Most are manufactured overseas, and shipping goods to the US adds time and cost to the process. The beauty of instant, customized fashion is that goods can be made at lower cost and more quickly – in a personalized style. These are still early days for 3D printing. The offerings are not very diversified, and they are limited to basic goods.