New tech for old values
Vivobarefoot aims to tackle the vast amounts of footwear waste by creating ‘scan-to-print’, locally made custom shoes that wearers could treasure for longer.
Minimalist running shoe company Vivobarefoot is betting big on its latest project, Vivobiome, a scanning and 3D printing initiative that it claims could alter how people wear and feel about their shoes. Offering a perfectly fitting custom model, made locally and recycled at the end of life, this could reduce the number of shoes sent to landfill and create a circular model that other companies could emulate, it suggests.
It is ambitious, and potentially radical, but it is still at an early stage. The company is trialling the fit and function with 200 testers in the UK, who had their feet scanned in a London Vivo store using technology from Swedish company Volumental. “We are investing a lot of our human resources and finances into this project,” Dulma Clark, impact investment and storytelling lead at Vivobarefoot, tells WSA. “Essentially, it all goes back to the way footwear used to be made: foot by foot, person by person, for your own body, for your own size, for your specific use.”
Launched in 2012 by Galahad and Asher Clark – cousins and members of the UK’s Clarks Shoes family – Vivobarefoot’s philosophy is based on creating as close to a barefoot experience as possible, allowing the foot to flex naturally and feel in contact with the earth. All its products are designed to enable this natural connection, and the team studies and supports indigenous communities around the world as a way of preserving ancient techniques and providing inspiration.
Perfect ratio
As part of the background work on Vivobiome, the company analysed 1.5 million foot scans over a period of four years, trying to produce a program for automation. This was more complex than initially thought, and the team worked with suppliers to understand and replicate the ratios and the correct space inside the shoes. “After you scan, the shoe can't like just go on like a glove, it needs to have a perfect amount of space between your toes and the wall of the shoe, for instance,” explains Ms Clark.
The company sought customers’ help to test the fit and function, and was surprised when 2,500 applied for 200 places – “some wrote essays about why they should be picked,” she comments. The idea is that the footwear can be bought as a one-off – a working price point is £250 – or pay an annual subscription and have the shoes replaced at intervals, with the wearer benefitting from a model of their feet that lasts their lifetime. They can choose to have the shoe fully 3D printed, or have a 3D printed outsole and a knitted upper, which 90% of the testers have selected.
In the future, technology allowing, customers could either go into a local shop, which will house a scanner, or they could scan their feet directly with an app on their phone. They would then select colours and materials, with the information relayed to a nearby manufacturer. For this pilot, a shoemaker in Ireland has been selected, with a lead time of around 75 days. “Obviously, we can ship anything anywhere but the idea is to keep it circular, localised, self-sufficient; the materials, the warehouse, the manufacture. That's the principle we're trying to deliver,” adds Ms Clark.
The scheme also involves a repair element, with the company working with Boot Repair Co in Leeds. It has also partnered US-based textile-to-textile recycling company Circ, which has pioneered a way to break down polycotton blends into raw materials, as part of a take-back scheme. Vivo plans to incorporate Circ’s material into the upper of the Primus style, its best-selling design, by early 2025.
Other recent internal innovation projects include a pilot to see if stained returned footwear can be dyed with natural dyes. It will be selling these upcycled shoes through its takeback site, ReVivo, this year. The company also funded trials into natural materials, including mycelium-based foams, natural rubber foams, regenerative natural rubber cabling and laces and leather alternatives.
Future compost
At the Biofabricate Summit in Paris in January, Vivobarefoot announced a groundbreaking partnership with materials science company Balena. They have created what they claim is “the world’s first barefoot, 3D-printed, industrially compostable footwear”. The products will be made from a bio-based, industrially compostable thermoplastic that biodegrades. Their aim is to start selling the footwear in 2025. Until now, most 3D printing filaments have used conventional plastic materials. “We knew we needed to look for other options,” says Ms Clark. “This one is extremely promising.”
In 2023, Vivobarefoot sold just under 1 million pairs of shoes, up 29% on the year before. This translated to sales of £73.4 million, 49% higher than 2022’s record of £49.4 million. It delivered earnings of £1.5 million, an increase of £1 million over 2022, making it the most profitable year to date and demonstrating its social conscious and philosophies are striking a chord with consumers.
The Vivobiome tests continue, with some testers suggesting on social media that the soles in the first iterations could be more flexible. However, the company is aiming to produce 4,000 pairs of these custom designs this year. “Vivobiome is not just a new product,” comments chief design officer Asher Clark. “It’s a radical vision for a circular system, enabled by technology to reimagine manufacturing that takes it back to its roots.”
Vivo is working to create an anatomically-correct last that accurately represents the human foot using extensive foot scan data. It plans to open source this once it is finalised.
ALL CREDITS: VIVOBAREFOOT
