Reebok to use BASF liquid for footwear innovation
21/10/2016
It follows a similar plan by Reebok’s parent company adidas, which has developed a similar idea with its plans for a series of Speedfactory projects.
The Liquid Factory has been developed by Reebok’s new innovation department. It uses software and robotics to draw shoes in three dimensions. It then uses a liquid materially, created for Reebok by chemicals manufacturer BASF, to draw the product precisely in 3D layers. The company says this technique creates “totally unique footwear, without the use of traditional moulds”.
Bill McInnis, current head of future Reebok and a former NASA engineer, led the project.
“We wanted to fundamentally change the way that shoes are made,” he said. “With this new process, we were able to programme robots to create the entire shoe outsole, without moulds, by drawing in layers with a high-energy liquid material to create the first ever energy-return outsole, which performs dramatically better than a typical rubber outsole.”
The Liquid Speed (pictured), the first concept shoe produced using this method, has already been unveiled by Reebok. It says the running shoe has a focus on energy return and brings the outsole and lacing together in one piece. It will release 300 limited edition pairs of the shoe.
Reebok plans to open the first Liquid Factory manufacturing laboratory in Rhode Island, US in 2017.
Image courtesy of Reebok.
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