- Title: Adidas to mass produce 3D-printed shoe
- Date: 7th April 2017
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 6, 2017) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** MAN LOOKS AT ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" ADIDAS 3D-PRINTED SOLE MAN TRIES ON ADIDAS SNEAKER WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLE "FUTURECRAFT 4D" MEDIUM OF MAN TRYING ON "FUTURECRAFT 4D" ADIDAS SNEAKER TILT OF 3D-PRINTED SOLE IN CARBON PRINTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADIDAS, HEAD OF GLOBAL BRANDS, ERIC LIEDTKE, SAYING: "Well, it's taking 3D printing to the next level. In fact, we don't need to call it 3D printing, because 3D printing is about reduction. This is about creating product based upon data and design, and putting it through a system that's born from, that's carved out from light and air and formed from liquid. So, in a nutshell, it allows us to customize products in a very personal level based on individual needs down to the lowest level. If you look at the pieces you see that different cells, each different cell can be customized for an individual consumer individual. So you are a runner, I'm a runner, we can have a customized ride like never before. In the past, you and I just wore different size shoes, now we have different size shoes, but with different cushioning built into our capabilities and how we run. That is the future, and that can be done on an individual level." VARIOUS OF ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLE "FUTURECRAFT 4D" VARIOUS OF ERIC LIEDTKE, HEAD OF GLOBAL BRANDS AT ADIDAS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADIDAS, HEAD OF GLOBAL BRANDS, ERIC LIEDTKE, SAYING: "At the end of the day, all of our Futurecraft product is meant to be a forward-looking, barrier breaking, disrupting the status quo. And we go out there with a statement of intent. Our intent is always to be the best for the athlete. And that's what this provides. Ultimately, we hope to do this in all our products. So, today, it's a statement, tomorrow, it's for everyone." WIDE OF THE ROOM MAN LOOKS AT 3D-PRINTED SOLE CLOSE UP OF 3D-PRINTED SOLE MAN CHECKS OUT 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARY EPNER ANALYSIS, CEO, MARY EPNER, SAYING: "It is a huge deal because many tech startups and the tech financial people are wondering why it has taken the retail and wholesale people so long to update their methods of design and production. And this is an answer to it. And it certainly gives them a competitive edge, particularly in relation to their competitors, who are still doing it the old way." WIDE OF THE ROOM ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" NEXT TO 3D-PRINTED SOLES 3D-PRINTED SOLES ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARY EPNER ANALYSIS, CEO, MARY EPNER, SAYING: "So, yes, it saves a lot of time, a lot of money and it can really cut down on what were formerly very high expenses on their balance sheets. So, I think, it makes a tremendous amount of sense in shoes, and accessories, in jewelry. I think we're going to see a lot of this in the next three years." CARBON 3D PRINTERS WITH ADIDAS 3D PRINTED SOLES IN THEM 3D PRINTED SOLE IN CARBON 3D PRINTER CLOSE UP OF 3D PRINTED SOLE IN CARBON 3D PRINTER PAN OF THE ROOM SHOWING PEOPLE CHECKING OUT SNEAKERS AND CARBON 3D PRINTERS ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" 3D-PRINTED SOLES TILT OF A WOMAN WEARING ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" MAN LOOKING AT ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D" MAN WALKING IN ADIDAS SNEAKERS WITH 3D-PRINTED SOLES "FUTURECRAFT 4D"
- Embargoed: 21st April 2017 05:51
- Keywords: 3D printing Adidas 4D shoe soles sneaker GE Carbon Mary Epner Eric Liedtke
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA0016BEEIRX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Adidas launched a new sneaker with a 3D-printed sole on Friday (April 7) that it plans to mass-produce next year, part of a broader push by the German sportswear firm to react faster to changing fashions and create more customized products. Adidas already allows people to customize the color and pattern of shoes ordered online but new 3D printing methods will make small production runs, limited edition shoes and even soles designed to fit an individual's weight and gait economical.
Rivals Nike, Under Armour, and New Balance have also been experimenting with 3D printing but have so far only used the technique to make prototypes, soles tailored for sponsored athletes and a handful of high-priced novelty shoes. That's because traditional 3D printers are slower, more expensive and often create an inferior product than the injection molds for plastic that are currently used to produce hundreds of millions of shoes each year, mostly in Asia. However, Adidas says a new partnership with Silicon Valley start-up Carbon allows it to overcome many of those difficulties to produce a sole that can rival one made by an injection mold, and at a speed and price that allow for mass production. Carbon, financed by venture firms such as Sequoia Capital as well as funds set up by General Electric and Alphabet's Google, has pioneered a technique that prints with light-sensitive polymer resin that is then baked for strength.
Standard 3D printers build up products with layers of plastic powder, a method used by Hewlett Packard, which is working with Nike and says its newest machines work 10 times faster and at half the cost than earlier models.
Adidas hopes to sell 5,000 pairs of its "Futurecraft 4D" this year, and 100,000 next year as Carbon cuts the time it takes to print a sole from the current hour and a half to as low as 20 minutes per sole. The shoes will sell at an unspecified premium price but Adidas plans to lower the cost as the technology develops. Late last year Adidas sold a few hundred pairs of running shoes with soles made by regular 3D printing for $333 but they were relatively rigid and heavy and took 10 hours to print. The Carbon technology will allow Adidas to make small batches of shoes far more quickly. Earlier Adidas 3D printing efforts were not economical because they needed to be used 10,000 times to pay for themselves, and took four to six weeks to cast and grind. 3D printing will also help cut the time it takes to get new designs to stores from the 12 to 18 months standard in the sneaker industry. To that end, Adidas is also opening factories mainly operated by robots in Germany and the United States. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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