Digital Kicks

Still no hoverbikes or flying cars on the horizon, but Star Trek-The Next Generation replicators are slowly becoming a reality with 3-D printing.

Under Armour wants to prove 3D-printed sneakers aren't just a gimmick


From the story: "Haley didn't deny that at some point in the future a Steph Curry basketball shoe -- one of UA's hottest endorsements -- could be made using 3D-printing technology. For now, however, the focus remains on training sneakers."

I'm kind of excited about this for a number of reasons. One, I intend to buy one of the smaller, publishing version of these printers to work on character design and toys for my projects and some other people whose books I'm illustrating, so I have an interest on how these printers work for business and sales purposes. As for clothing and apparel, $300 isn't too much of a price point for the output from a relatively new and not-widespread technology. As this becomes popular in the next few years (and I believe it will) and more of these kind of printers are built for companies to use inhouse, the consumer prices might come close to matching store or online-vendor pricing for traditionally manufactured sneakers.

From a sports medicine standpoint, I see all kinds of things that can come from this: shoes specifically tailored for the individual gait and foot of runners, even better than the methods running shoe stores use now to outfit your paws; more availability of styles for sumbiches like me with big-ass sized 13/14 feet and above; personalized and monogrammed sports additions, such as a Stephen Curry shoe with your initials or special remarks on the side (which would make it easier to ID perps who steal shyt at gunpoint in cities like Chicago); and inexpensive prototypes for designers.

As this kind of thing expands, it will save manufacturing and storage costs for companies, as you wouldn't have to keep inventory on hand, in the hope that you can sale or move it without markdowns. Like digital publishers, you just make the shoe at point-of-sale. It'll probably be a few decades before clothes and appliances will be 3-D ordered by the average consumer, but toys of the McDonalds Happy Meal variety will probably be among the first items that consumers will home order on a regular basis. Of course, if the design of an object is just mathematical codes and shapes, intellectual property protection might be a problem.