[3D Printing News] Eram High Heels: A Personalized Shoe Store with 3D Printing

[3D Printing News] Eram High Heels: A Personalized Shoe Store with 3D Printing

Have you ever found it difficult to find the style of shoes you want when buying them? Now, with the help of several Ultimaker 3D printers ,
Fashion retailer Eram and design studio Unistudio offer clients the ability to create their own high heel designs and have them printed in-store.
Together, they answered the question of how 3D printing can enhance the customer experience in shoe stores.


Studio 27 is a collaboration between Eram and Unistudio. Clients can use a special app in the store to design personalized high heels.
Do you want a large or small heel? You can choose. Stripes? No problem.
Or cover them with star and cactus badges? Of course, that's your style!
Once the design is complete, the app converts it into an STL file ready for 3D printing. The heel shell is printed within an hour and then attached to the sole.

The heel design of the high heels is 3D printed and then inserted into the shoes. The client's design in the app is then created in a 3D printer.

A unique challenge

"The most challenging part of this project was finding a 3D printer that could provide customers with the simplest workflow and a high-quality experience and product," said Paul-Etienne Meligne , co-founder of Unistudio .
Because shoppers have to wait for their shoes to be printed, the printing speed needs to be as fast as possible. To achieve the fastest printing speed, Unistudio and Eram used the Ultimaker 2+ , set to a layer thickness of 0.6mm, which can complete a 1.2mm thick plastic shell in just two passes.
The reliability of the printed materials is also very important, which is why they chose to use the Ultimaker 3D printer to print PLA materials, because it is a print quality they can rely on very much.

New experience

Paul-Etienne summarized the design benefits of 3D printing, saying, "Every experience we offer is new, 'invisible,' which is our competitive advantage."
What was the final result? Through media reports, radio broadcasts, television, and newspapers, the idea attracted the attention of the French public, and clients also gave a lot of positive feedback.
A shopper took home their personalized Atelier 27 shoes. Offering a new shopping experience with a 3D printer is a great idea, and there are many more possibilities.

Looking ahead, Eram and Unistudio want to do more and scale up their efforts, exploring other innovative ways to use 3D printing in product design.


Original source:https://ultimaker.com/en/stories/50761-eram-heels-3d-printing-personalized-shoes-in-store