Downloadable 3D Printed Shoes Start The Instant Delivery Revolution

A while ago, I wrote an article where the concept of instant delivery came up. Nowadays, we are used to ordering things online and having them delivered to us the next day or so. But with 3D printing technology, that is about to change. When 3D printing reaches a better quality, which it is certainly on the way to doing, we will, for example, be able to purchase downloadable 3D printed shoes. We’ll be able to print them on our 3D printer and try them on instantly.

The idea of being able to instantly deliver a purchase through a 3D printer is being realized by designer Janne Kyttanen (I believe he is from Finland) for Cubify. They recently announced a line of CubeX shoes that people are able to download and print overnight on their own 3D printer. The astonishing part of this whole movement is that these 3D printed shoes are completely free to download. There are four different styles available, and they are Facet, Macedonia, Leaf and Classic.

Janne’s idea is to offer a “unique and stylish solution to your fashionable footwear needs.” The foundation of the idea is for users to have the opportunity to choose a style, size and color and then download the perfect pair of shoes suited for them. All they have to do after that is start printing and then wait for their shoes to be done.

Since these 3D printed shoes became worldwide news, it’s safe to say that the instant online delivery of products is going to get a huge boost in popularity. I have no doubt that what Janne, together with Cubify, has been able to produce is nothing less than a minor revolution in online shopping as well as product manufacturing. His own explanation of why he decided to pursue the creation of these 3D printed shoes is best said by him:

“I don’t know what it is with women and shoes, but I like it. I would like it even better if my girlfriend could wear a different pair every single day. Today this is a reality. Women can print this first collection of shoes overnight and wake up every morning to a new pair.“

Whether or not this will set off a landslide of 3D printable products is probably too soon to speculate about, but for sure these 3D printed shoes are going to become the model for a lot of online products in the coming years. There is literally no product available today that wouldn’t be possible to 3D print if the 3D printing technology was refined and perfected. These 3D printed shoes merely stand as a reminder about what 3D printing is capable of and how customization will become a bigger part of the product selection itself.

This of course means the customer will have more options, and a whole new set of tools with which to customize their purchases before they finally download and print them. These 3D printed shoes have a lot to live up to, and I think it will be interesting to see how well this concept is received. Are you all ready to start printing?