Platitudes and hyperbole are pretty much the norm around any disruptive technology. Usually, these bold declarations are little more than something to sift through in order to get to the how and the why, but every now and then, a company comes through with a technology or a project so, dare we say it, “game changing”, you can’t help but get swept away by it.
Carbon, which, together with adidas, has this week launched the 4DFWD, the latest running shoe to be produced with its 3D printing technology, is one of those few companies.
“Maybe I’m a little bit biased,” Carbon Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, Phil DeSimone posits in a conversation with TCT, “but it was the biggest moment in the history of additive when that shoe originally launched.”
While there have been many big moments in additive manufacturing’s history (and I’m sure the GE LEAP fuel nozzle and millions of 3D printed hearing aids would have something to say on that), the fact that I can visit the adidas online store right now and take my pick of trainers with 3D printed midsoles (some of which don’t even bother to name drop 3D printing in the product description) it’s hard to argue with DeSimone’s take. For the last four years, Carbon has regularly collaborated with adidas on a number of products, mass produced in their millions, starting with the Futurecraft 4D and most recently the 4D Run, an optimised version of that original product and developed using feedback from consumers and athletes along the way.
“People told us we were crazy, that it was never going to work at this scale,” DeSimone recalls of that initial midsole project. “I would argue that what we first launched, although it was exciting and it was a great product, it was the first time it had ever been done, there was a lot of juice left in the orange and when we first got to it, we realised we were in the early days of really understanding how materials and lattices interact together to produce performance.”
For adidas, Sam Handy Vice President Design, adidas Running shared during the 4DFWD launch event how it was a meeting with Carbon back in 2016 that gave the company “a radical perspective on the potential of 3D printing in the sporting goods industry.” It’s a perspective now also shared by the likes of Riddell, CMM Hockey and Specialized, which have each leveraged Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis technology to mass produce a number of next-generation sporting goods.
“We’ve learned a lot over that period of four years across all of the lattice partners,” DeSimone adds.
Those learnings and 18 months of work have led to this week's launch of the third generation 4DFWD, an everyday running shoe created with a unique lattice structure that’s been engineered to physically push runners forward and make running feel easier. At the heart is the bowtie-shaped ‘FWD CELL’ which was identified from a whopping five million potential lattice geometries as the optimum shape to compress and redirect energy upon vertical impact. Made from a 39% bio-based material which provides 23% more cushioning compared to previous generations, the 4DFWD is said to generate three times as much forward motion under vertical loading in mechanical testing conditions, while peak braking force has been reduced by around 15%.
“It’s more than just comfort, it’s about ‘how do we make the athlete better?’ and really pushing us and the limits together was key in getting to this launch,” DeSimone explains. “It wasn’t just about launching a new design that helps sort of take foot pressure [to] propel your body forward through the physical collapsing of that unit cell but it was also about getting to a material that had better energy return, that allowed for lighter weight options. I think this is just the beginning. I think we’re still in the first couple of innings of what’s possible. This product really shows you what a true partnership looks like in the additive space to bring forward arguably the highest volume end-use 3D product in the world.”
The midsole lattice is formed of a bowtie-shaped ‘FWD CELL’, designed to compress and redirect energy upon vertical impact.
Integral to the success of the partnership, DeSimone adds, was adidas’ well of athlete data which holds millions of data points collected over the last 17 years.
“There's not many customers we go to where they have the data readily off the shelf to be able to start influencing the direction you want to go from a design side,” DeSimone adds. “Adidas is one of those companies that was sort of 20 years ahead in thinking ‘we're going to collect this data because one day, we believe we're going to be able to use it at scale,’ and they've been sweating the details of how to use it effectively over the years.”
The midsole’s bio-based Next Gen EPU Resin was also crucial to improving its performance and DeSimone shared how the team had to ensure the material’s weight, energy return and cushioning properties were not at odds with one another.
Read more:
- Q&A: Adidas' product design team on the STRUNG running shoe & 3D printed midsoles
- Carbon makes Design Engine software available to all subscribers in '10x type product launch'
- 3D printing’s breakout season: A look at Riddell's Precision Diamond helmet
“It really took our materials team going to the whiteboard and starting from scratch and thinking through, ‘okay, we've created arguably what is one of the best 3D printed elastomers in the world, now we have to make it better.’ And that's always a daunting task," DeSimone says. "Adidas has always been wanting to be forward thinking and particularly around sustainability, that was an added variable. I think what the team came up with truly incredible.”
The shoe has gone through extensive tests at the University of Calgary to analyse forward motion, braking force and running economy, while cognitive perception testing has been undertaken by a team at Arizona State University. Working with athletes is said to be ‘crucial to the progress of continually innovating’ according to adidas, and the shoe has been pushed to the limits by athletes like South African track and field sprinter and Olympic record holder Wade Van Niekerk, and German long-distance runner Miriam Dattke. The shoe is also set to be the main podium shoe for athletes at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Athlete Miriam Dattke tests out the 4DFWD shoe.
As both adidas and Carbon continue to emphasise, 4DFWD is just the beginning, “a vision of what it could be rather than what it is” per adidas’ launch material. This philosophy applies not only to the midsole or any future adidas product developments that may manifest from its learnings but also to the wider world and future innovations that this midsole may inspire, whether it’s a protective football helmet with printed liners or a bike saddle designed to reflect the rider’s geometry.
“I think it's going to have a massive impact in consumer products,” DeSimone says. “Again, we are just getting started here. Adidas really inspired, I would say, a lot of the other companies that we've worked with to jump in and take this forward.”
Evidence that additive manufacturing has moved on from a prototyping tool to a means for mass production in projects such as this is now becoming much easier to find. It’s why there are countless partnerships between additive companies and brands in the eyewear industry, why post-processing equipment manufacturers are thinking about automation to enable AM to scale for end-use products, and why I was able to apply my Chanel mascara this morning with a 3D printed wand. Though, taking that leap, DeSimone caveats, requires purpose.
“What Adidas has done here is really jump all in,” DeSimone concludes. “We have had issues along the way, sure, but when you when you jump all in, you're not looking for an escape route, you're looking at a way to fix the problem and move forward.[…] It's not for the faint of heart but the technology has come a long way over the last four years, now's the time to start taking advantage of the platform that has been created and really start bringing products to scale because they know that on the back end, there are large factories that can produce these at very large quantities. The chicken or the egg problem is solved. The barriers of manufacturing are down, the tools for the design side and doing product discovery are getting better and better. I think now's the time to really jump in and really start taking advantage of it.”
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