New Balance Embraces 3d Printing Technology

Fast Company’s Tina Amirtha goes behind the brand to find out how New Balance is bringing 3D printed shoes to the consumer…

New Balance has announced a new running shoe that incorporates a 3D printed midsole.

Nike and adidas have been investing heavily in 3D printing and now New Balance is aiming to beat both to the finish line.

The shoe will be available in April in Boston as a limited edition collection, with the release timed to coincide with the Boston Marathon.

The design is an update to the Fresh Foam Zante shoe, but instead of a traditional foam midsole, the new shoe will incorporate the 3D printed midsole, whilst the upper of the shoe will still be composed of traditional cloth.

Though New Balance has not released exact price figures, it says the market price will be higher than New Balance’s regular range of running shoes and hopes they will appeal to serious amateur runners interested in innovative footwear.

New Balance expects to offer consumers the opportunity to customise their 3D printed midsoles as part of a trial programme, in select retail locations, in 2017.

Shoe brands are competing to achieve a lighter, more quickly made shoe, and using 3D printing to do it. In October, adidas announced it had created a 3D printed midsole prototype as part of its new Futurecraft 3D project, loosely committing to bringing a limited quantity to market by next summer.

3D printed midsoles have generally been too heavy and rigid to benefit athletes, but New Balance says it has found a material that achieves an acceptable mix of flexibility and weight for performance wear. This year, New Balance partnered with South Carolina-based 3D Systems to incorporate one of the company’s new elastomer materials into its printing process.

The resulting elastomer made midsole is less massive than New Balance’s previous printed midsole prototypes, and light enough that New Balance feels ready to introduce it to the marketplace. The printed midsole’s current design is about 40 grams heavier than a full-length, foam only midsole, but the New Balance team plans to make improvements between now and April.

New Balance has been experimenting with 3D printing since 2013, when it started to produce 3D printed, cushioned spike plates for competitive track athletes. A spike plate, which is different than a midsole, accommodates spikes or cleats that dig into the racing surface. New Balance has since fitted professional football and baseball players with these 3D printed spike plates.

“In design, we have been erring on the side of durability and still have opportunity to optimize for weight,” says Katherine Petrecca, New Balance’s general manager for studio innovation.

“With injection molding, there are significant restrictions in how you can design a part or how you can engineer variable properties into a single part. And that’s what’s really attractive about SLS printing. It really opens up design capabilities in being able to design a part down to the millimeter and opens the door to performance customization.”

“That the new, 3D printed New Balance shoes will be available to the mass consumer represents a milestone for 3D printing overall,” says Petrecca. “Whereas 3D printed products are typically made from hard materials, New Balance believes it has found a unique method to print soft materials by combining materials innovation with plastics engineering.”

“We’ve made some significant advancements in the performance of [3D] printing, to create parts that are light and soft and flexible, and mimic and replicate what we are able to do with foam,” Petrecca added. “And to create that in a package that’s also durable enough for running use.”

New Balance will sell an initial number of the 3d printed midsole shoe in 2016 and look to expand retail globally thereafter.

The article originally featured here.