Have you ever found it difficult to find the style you want when buying shoes? Now, with the help of several Ultimaker 3D printers,
fashion retailer Eram and design studio Unistudio are offering customers the ability to create their own heel designs and have them printed in-store.
Together, they answer the question of how 3D printing enhances the shoe store customer experience.
Atelier 27 is the product of a collaboration between Eram and Unistudio. Customers can use a special app in-store to design their personalized heels.
Large or small heels? The choice is yours. Stripes? No problem.
Or cover them with stars and cactus badges? Of course, that's your style!
Once the design is complete, the app converts it into an STL file ready for 3D printing. The heel shell is printed in about an hour and then attached to the sole.
The outer shell of the high heel is 3D printed and then inserted into the shoe. The customer's design in the app comes to life in the 3D printer.
A Unique Challenge
Unistudio co-founder Paul-Etienne Meligne stated: "The most challenging part of this project was finding a 3D printer that could deliver a high-quality experience and product with the simplest workflow for customers.
Because shoppers have to wait for their shoes to print, the print speed needs to be as fast as possible.For the fastest prints, Unistudio and Eram used an
Ultimaker 2+ with a 0.6mm layer height, which only takes two passes to lay down the 1.2mm thick plastic shell of the heel.
Print reliability is also important, which is why they chose Ultimaker 3D printers using PLA material, as this gave them a print quality they could always
depend on.
New Experiences
Paul-Etienne summarized the design brought by 3D printing, saying: "Every experience we offer is new, 'unseen'," which is our
competitive advantage.
And the results?The idea caught the attention of the French public with media coverage across radio, television and newspapers, and customers also had a lot of positive
feedback.
"It's a good idea to offer a new shopping experience with a 3D printer; there are so many possibilities," said one shopper taking away their personalized Atelier 27 shoes.
In the future, Eram and Unistudio want to do more events and on a bigger scale.Explore other innovative ways 3D printing is being used in product design.
Source: https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/50761-eram-heels-3d-printing-personalized-shoes-in-store