Why do everyone want 3D printed running shoes?

If it weren't for Adidas' last year's AlphaEdge 4D, I'd be ready to forget about the 3D printing that was so hot. Interestingly, this time Adi's technology is different from most people's impression of 3D printing technology.

The 3D printing in our impression is like a baker squeezing cream, splicing into faces one by one, and adding layer by layer.

The printing process that Adi showed was like 'pumping out' a sole from a plate of solution.


Is there extra space under this plate for printing?

LuxCreo Qingfeng era employees told me that this is one of the most asked questions when they show the sole printing process live at the Creation Festival this year.

CEO of Qingfeng Times showcases 3D printed products at Creation Festival CEO of Qingfeng Times showcases 3D printed products at Creation Festival
In fact, just like Carbon3D, the 3D printing startup behind Adidas, Qingfeng Times ’dedicated 3D printing LEAP ™ technology is also based on 'light curing molding', and it is also mass-producing 3D printed midsoles. You will see the finished product on the market.

Before that, Ai Faner visited the smart factory in Ningbo of Qingfeng Times to take everyone to further understand this innovative technology.

How do you “pump” an object out of liquid?

'3D printing', also known as 'additive manufacturing', although only a few words, it represents a variety of implementation processes and technologies. There are 4-5 different mainstream processes in each of the two categories based on the technologies applicable to metallic and non-metallic materials.

Picture from "National Additive Manufacturing Industry Development Promotion Plan (2015-1016)" Picture from "National Additive Manufacturing Industry Development Promotion Plan (2015-1016)"
As mentioned above, the technology currently used for mass production of running shoe midsoles is rapid photo-curing molding in non-metallic materials. This technology is based on light-curing DLP technology. In simple terms, it is to project light of a specific intensity onto a liquid photosensitive resin, so that the latter is cured and formed layer by layer.

The 3D printing technology in our original concept is mostly Fused Deposition Molding (FDM), that is, 'squeeze out' point by point, and then form lines and surfaces, and layer by layer.

 The new fast light curing technology can cure one layer at a time, with higher accuracy. After each layer is printed, the molding table ‘sticking’ to the printed product rises, and then the light continues to cure the next layer, cycling back and forth. With the increase of the solidified part, the object gradually “exposed to the water surface”, it looks like the molding table “pumps” the object from the liquid.

Qingfeng Times LEAP ™ Printing Technology Qingfeng Times LEAP ™ Printing Technology
This technology hit an inflection point in 2015.

In that year, the start-up company Carbon3D, which was established for two years, released the patented technology CLIP (Continuous Liquid Interface Production), which grabbed the cover of Science. Generally speaking, light can cure the resin, and oxygen can inhibit this transition, but CLIP achieves continuous printing molding by balancing the relationship between the two, increasing the printing speed by 25-100 times.

Carbon3D co-founder Joseph DeSimone, picture from ForbeCarbon3D co-founder Joseph DeSimone, picture from Forbe
As of June 2019, Carbon3D has completed Series E financing with a valuation of US $ 2.4 billion. In addition, the cooperation with Adi brings it to the public eye, making Carbon3D one of the most well-known star companies in the 3D printing industry.

Back in China, Qingfeng Times, established in 2016, developed a light curing fast printing technology called LEAP (Light Enabled Additive Production). The official claim is that the maximum printing speed can reach 120cm / hr, which is more than 100 times that of traditional 3D printing. .

LEAP Technology Principles LEAP Technology Principles
For the sake of confidentiality, Qingfeng Times did not disclose specific technical details, but stated that because LEAP ™ technology does not use oxygen, it is not only applicable to more materials, but also lower in equipment costs.

Why are everyone 3D printing soles?

I have said so many technologies, what is the difference between the 3D printed soles?

In the most intuitive sense, the 3D printed sole material is resin, and the shape is mostly 'hollow'. And if you take a closer look, you can also see that the ‘hollowing’ in different locations also looks different.

3D printed midsole of Qingfeng era, the texture of different parts can be seen, 3D printed midsole of Qingfeng era, the texture of different parts can be seen
Such a design is not difficult to understand.

Because of the difference in force applied to different parts of the foot, under the parameterized design, different parts of the sole are also used in different shapes to provide more scientific support. The 'hollow-out' is the result of being 'digged out' to provide sufficient support to reduce overall weight.

Whether it is ‘hollow-out’ or locally differentiated design, these are difficult to achieve with traditional injection molding technology (this is why 3D printing companies love to display various hollow-out models). For 3D printing technology, this is just a matter of parameter design adjustment.

Sample shoes of the Qingfeng era Sample shoes of the Qingfeng era
The fine-tunability of 3D printing is often used to depict the future of consumers ‘everyone needs to be matched with running shoes tailored for you’.

卢 When Lu Yisi, vice president of Qingfeng Times, accepted an exclusive interview with Ai Fan'er, she agreed with it, but also revealed another reason for innovation that is far away from us, but more urgent-the traditional shoe industry is too heavy.

According to "The Power of Machines", to make a shoe, you must go through cutting (cutting the fabric as needed), sewing machine (sewing and assembling parts other than the sole, which involves more than ten processes), and making soles (after injection molding To be sanded and cleaned, etc.) and clip forming (using the shoe last to combine all parts).

Picture from 36kr Picture from 36kr
Morgan Stanley has stated in the report that, on average, the traditional shoe industry needs 28 independent manual processing procedures to produce a shoe, and the manufacturing cycle is as long as 18 months. Relevant domestic reports have subdivided this process into more than ten major links, some of which also include more than 30 procedures. Overall, more than 160 parameters need to be tested.

Putting aside the difficulty of transformation technology, many foundries are afraid to automate the large-scale automation of production lines. Because the requirements and implementation methods of different sports brands are not uniform, if the automation transformation is carried out according to a single approach, once the customer changes the requirements, the modified solution is likely to be scrapped.

Qingfeng era equipped with 3D printed midsole samples Qingfeng era equipped with 3D printed midsole samples
The problem is that sportswear, especially sports shoes, is in an era of rapid batch updates.

Statistical survey points out that 47% of consumers said they want sportswear stores to be renewed at least once a month; if the audience ’s age group is reduced to below 35, the demand for new products will rise to 65%.

In recent years, the fast-growing sports brand Skechers has killed the blood in the sports shoe industry with 'fast board and more styles', causing Nike to sue in court' One of their strategies is to quickly copy competitors' styles' .


This pain point makes sports brands seek new technological solutions, and 3D printing is particularly tempting.

You know, the flexibility of 3D printing is not only the ability to quickly adjust the design, but also to make different things on the same production line.

In the factory of the Qingfeng era that day, in addition to seeing the entire printing process of a single sole, I also saw the case where multiple soles with different shoe sizes were printed on the same machine at the same time. In other words, these 3D printers can not only print midsoles with different designs, but also one machine can do this job in one batch.

For process confidentiality reasons, we can only show the process of printing a single sole. For process confidentiality reasons, we can only show the process of printing a single sole.
At present, the annual output of midsoles for printing equipment in the Ningbo plant is approximately 100,000 pairs. In the first half of next year, they will open a new factory with a larger area, and the production capacity is expected to reach 30-50 million pairs by 2024.


Luis said frankly as she reviewed the company's development of materials. She told us that one of the first materials made by the Qingfeng era was a high-performance elastic material called EM.

When the company was first established, we felt that elastic materials must be done because it is the most difficult material to make. Many photo-curable materials do not balance the elasticity and strength. They are generally brittle and crack immediately.

We want to do the hardest thing first, and the rest will be solved later.

In 2018, Qingfeng Times launched a mass production high-performance elastic material EM-11 that can be applied to LEAP technology. It has excellent performance in tensile strength, rebound rate, and bending resistance. This material was subsequently used in production Make sneaker midsoles. At present, this material has been upgraded to EM-13, and its performance is more suitable for sole design.


In addition, Qingfeng Times also independently developed the tough material TM, which has high strength and high toughness characteristics, and is suitable for automotive and other manufacturing industries; while the performance of GP materials is not as strong as TM, the printing accuracy, speed, and cost are all more Advantages for the medical industry.

Now, Qingfeng Times has reached cooperation with several domestic and foreign sports brands to manufacture different parts of running shoes. Some businesses want to play the entire midsole, and some brands only need the first half or the second half of the palm. Each of them has different requirements for design and materials. The Qingfeng era must adjust and customize based on the original materials. At present, the price of midsoles produced in the Qingfeng era is similar to that of high-end foam materials. It is expected that this cost can be reduced to the range of general materials next year.


However, in Luise's view, the biggest challenge for 3D printing midsoles is not the differences in materials, but the need to set new standards:

Prior to this, 3D printed midsoles did not exist in bulk. Previously there were solid midsole products such as injection molded and foamed materials, but their standards could not be applied to products with cutouts.

Such new things come out. There is no standard for shoe brands, and there is no standard for foundries. How do we judge what is produced meet the requirements.

She told Ai Fan'er that negotiating standards is a relatively time-consuming task, and both parties need to discuss and experiment repeatedly.


Although Qingfeng Times is still expanding its manufacturing plants to produce 3D printed products for sports brands, they are not ready to become manufacturers in the future.

By cooperating with brands to explore the possibility of 3D printing manufacturing, the Qingfeng era has solved problems that cannot be bypassed by mature industries such as setting new standards. In addition to running shoes, as mentioned above, Qingfeng Times is also expanding 3D printing application scenarios in the medical and automotive fields. As the industry matures, they plan to package equipment, materials, software, and services to manufacturers.

Even so, Luise emphasized that 3D printing cannot completely replace traditional manufacturing like injection molding. She believes that different manufacturing methods have different advantages. As a new digital manufacturing technology, 3D printing can bring more possibilities to the industry.

As for the ultimate goal, Qingfeng Times hopes to become a 3D printing platform.

Our ultimate goal is to be a decentralized digital manufacturing platform. In the future, we hope to roll out equipment globally and understand the machine's working conditions in real time, and then send orders through our platform.

For example, if customers in Beijing have production needs, we can see where the equipment in Beijing is idle and we can send orders to the factory for production.

Of course, this vision is still far from being realized. However, from this visit, we can see that 3D printing, a technology that was once known as the 'future of manufacturing', continues to develop outside the public's vision and gradually begins to enter the commercialization stage. Come more possibilities.