[GRD Proof of Concept] LastFit
Ente: Innovate UK
Scadenza: 2016-10-31
Paese: GB
Descrizione
It is widely recognised within the footwear industry that shoemaking has not changed for over
a century, despite being tedious, time consuming, and expensive for manufacturers, retailers
and consumers. Although there is progress in construction of CAD files of shoe lasts (
physical form to determine final shape/fitting of a shoe), digital production in the prototyping
phase, and 3D body scanning technologies to capture consumers’ measurements for garments;
vast improvements are still required to accelerate shoe production and diminish the costs
associated with prototyping.
While lasts are currently CAD designed, the iteration process still involves extensive manual
work and pattern making takes several attempts to reach a final version to cut material from
(highly important with difficult fabric such as leather). This is because sizing is not integrated
with the actual foot size but rather a closest tolerance and best match across an average of 12
lasts, to avoid subsequent complications when making the actual shoe.
This is more troublesome in bespoke footwear, where shoes are designed for a given
consumer, with shoe lasts hand modified separately for consumer’s right and left foot (as up
to 60% of us have mismatched feet - College of Podiatry, 2014).
LastFit, aims to redefine these century-old techniques and streamline manufacturing processes
by introducing an innovative approach to construct and iterate shoe lasts, and develop
accurate patterns, whilst still retaining historical craftsmanship. The iteration process will
drop from 3 days to few hours, a significant step change in the industry, improving SOA.
The project targets bespoke men’s footwear market as a showcase of tech potential, and will
widen the adoption of mass customisation - first by supporting manufacturers to shorten their
prototyping cycle and then by increasing accessibility to comfortable, perfectly custom-fitted
for consumers, at a similar price to current high quality mass-produced shoes.
Settori: GRD Proof of Concept
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