3D-Printed shoe last for bespoke shoe manufacturing

This paper presents a new approach for the production of bespoke shoe lasts used in shoe industry. It is based on measuring key geometric features of existing shoe lasts and establishing a parametric system which can then be used to create a 3D model of a customized fit shoe last. Thus, instead of 3D-scanning the foot and then doing time consuming and skill intensive point cloud data processing, the proposed solution requires only taking several measurements of the customer’s foot and inputting them into the parametric model to obtain the tailored shoe last 3D geometry. Furthermore, the internal geometry of this shoe last is topologically optimized to reduce material volume and 3D printing time, while still withstanding temperatures and loads specific to the shoe manufacturing process. The 3D model also includes geometrical features allowing the attaching of process-specific mounting hardware. Material Extrusion 3D Printing (ME3DP) was used to fabricate the shoe last from thermoplastic material. 3D-printed shoe lasts were tested in a real manufacturing setting, successfully producing bespoke canvas shoes with rubber soles. During testing, the shoe lasts were subjected to typical process loads and to high temperatures.