3D printed footwear may be a hot new trend for fashionista but are they practical for the everyday shoe buyers?

3D printed footwear may be a hot new trend for fashionistas but are they practical for the everyday shoe buyers? 

In a article authored by David Sher he states that custom 3D printed shoes are now taking on momentum, going from an experimental novelty to something truly accessible. Especially with new announcements from such start-ups as Feetz and3D Shoes.

Further fueling the tailored shoe market is 3D Shoes, which is more focused on building a huge database of 3D scans of feet to be used with different manufacturing options. Through the 3D Shoes App, all you have to do is take a series of photographs of your feet from different positions. You then upload them into the 3D Shoes e-commerce platform to be able to purchase perfectly fitting shoes. 3D Shoes already integrates several different products, including both Feetz shoes and Wiivv custom insoles.

The online shop also offers a specific $5.000 foot 3D scanner, for those who intend to offer the service professionally, and will be using more advanced $25.000 systems to 3D scan people’s feet for free in participating schools and companies throughout Europe and the US of more than 1.000 employees and/or students, in order to build up their database.

If you know of a school or company with over 1.000 students or employees, or even two companies/schools in close proximity, that range from 200 to 500 in size, 3D Shoes will supply a scan for collecting the data of every one of those feet.  And, connected to such products as those offered by Feetz and Wiivv, the beginnings of a world of custom footwear is slowly being established.  It is not something that will happen overnight, but having a custom made shoe will soon be, once again, absolutely “normal”.