ASICS is about to release the first pair of 3D printed slippers

Sandals, slippers, slides… whatever you call them, they do the same thing: useful, comfortable and easy to make, they are perhaps the most popular model of footwear in the world. However, considering their ease of production, it is somewhat surprising that ASICS, a leading company in the sports shoe industry, chooses to 3D print them. Sure, it might be a fun experiment to try out your own 3D printer at home, but beyond that, could there really be such a high demand for 3D printed flip flops?

Sportswear manufacturer ASICS believes this and has teamed up with manufacturing company LuxCreo to produce generatively designed flip flops, just to prove it! You can see what the slippers look like in the image above.

Flip flops haven’t changed much since their invention in ancient times, and given this durability, why change the «perfection», right?

ASICS disagrees and wants to give flip-flops an Industry 4.0-worthy makeover, doing so with the help of LuxCreo and their LuxGen generative design software.

“There is strong demand for customized, higher-performance and durable footwear,” said Norihiko Taniguchi, general manager of innovation at ASICS Corporation.

«With 3D printing and LuxCreo’s Smart Factory solutions, mass customization of footwear will be possible in the near future.»

Why are these slippers special? Because they are made perfectly for you. This customization begins at the ASICS Future Experience Lab, where potential customers have their feet scanned. The scan is then correlated to the wearer’s arch height and shoe size, and is then run through generative design software, which generates the lattice structure visible in the sole. The files are then sent to the LuxCreo Smart Factory, where they can be produced in any quantity.

Smart Factory is equipped with a variety of printers, from resin to thermoplastic, and can produce receipts at any production scale or level of customization.

“Over the past year, many companies have experienced significant disruptions in their manufacturing supply chains,” said Michael Strohecker, chief revenue officer at LuxCreo.

“With LuxCreo Smart Factories and cloud-connected 3D printers, our customers around the world have greater flexibility in designing products that they no longer need to outsource, moving more easily and quickly from prototyping to production, regardless of volume.”

Durability

Sustainability is a key word here, as according to ASICS organizations will be able to reduce costs by ordering only the volumes of product needed, instead of paying for minimum production on a large generic order.

A third of the world’s population wears flip-flops, and the average life expectancy of a pair is just two years, usually ending up in landfill and/or the ocean – up to 90 tonnes of flip-flops a year wash up on the coast of East Africa. Extending the life of landfills certainly reduces waste in this sense.

Conclusion

ASICS’s choice to invest in 3D printing for footwear as seemingly simple as sandals and slippers is not driven by demand for the basic, mass-produced version, but by the pursuit of performance, personalization, and material innovation. While traditional manufacturing excels at cheap, high-volume production of generic footwear, 3D printing offers advantages that are critical to a leading sports shoe company:

1. Performance Optimization: 3D printing, specifically through lattice structures and complex geometries impossible to achieve with molding, allows ASICS to precisely control the cushioning, stability, and energy return of the sole. This transforms a simple slipper into a highly engineered recovery or performance product tailored for athletes.

2. Mass Customization: The technology enables on-demand personalization. Each pair can be perfectly customized based on a customer’s unique foot scan, weight, gait analysis, and pressure points. This delivers a level of personalized fit and comfort that standard sizing cannot match.

3. Speed and Agility: For ASICS, 3D printing provides rapid design iteration and prototyping of new sole technologies. They can test materials and designs for performance footwear more quickly before committing to expensive tooling for conventional production.

Therefore, the high demand is not for any 3D printed flip-flop, but for a superiorly engineered, personalized product that only additive manufacturing can create. This initiative serves as a vital platform for ASICS to develop and scale technologies that will eventually be integrated into their high-end running shoes.