The world of apparel is moving in two new directions. More of the clothes we wear are destined to be better customized for our bodies thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones that can double up as scanners. (No tailors required.) They’re also becoming smarter, with startups and researchers looking at ways to integrate circuits and sensors seamlessly into fabric.
One company that's working on doing both is SOLS.
The New York-based startup uses 3D printers to create custom in-soles or orthotics that its customers can wear in their shoes. While a custom in-sole would typically cost between $300 and $700 from a podiatrist, SOLS sells its in-soles for $125 and its founder Kegan Schouwenburg, wants to eventually bring that down to $50.
SOLS for now works with around 350 podiatrists and chiropractors, who use its app to scan the feet of their patients to then order the in-soles. The images are sent to the company’s headquarters in New York and then routed to a 3D-printing company in Texas to be produced.
This ability to more cheaply customize a shoe’s in-sole isn’t going to replace mass production any time soon, but "mass-customization" as it’s sometimes known, is going to get bigger, says Schouwenburg.
“If you think about on-demand manufacturing, there’s less complexity [for the manufacturer],” she says. “It’s about what the individual wants, and less about what’s in season.”
Several other startups are using mobile cameras as scanners to create custom footwear, including Sweden-based Volumental, which creates custom shoes from scans you can create at home with just a tablet or laptop.
New Zealand-based Three Over Seven also produces woollen running shoes with the help of a phone camera, which can then be 3D-printed and shipped to the customer within 24 hours.
3D printing puts custom manufacturers like SOLS in a similar dilemma to app developers, in terms of figuring out when their product is ever considered finished. The answer is never. “The product can be wildly different from user to user, based on biomechanical need,” says Schouwenburg.
So far her customers number in the single-digit thousands, but that user base could swell now that SOLS is moving to sell directly through consumers, without the sole intervention of medical practitioners.
The main route to consumers is partnerships with consumer brands -- think apparel and shoe makers -- who might like to offer customers an option to upgrade their purchase with a customized in-sole before clicking “buy.”
Schouwenburg says her team have spoken to “many brands” and is also in the early stages of discussions with Zappos, the online shoe and clothing store owned by Amazon.
SOLS, which raised $11 million in a series B round in February from Founders Fund and Lux Capital, also plans to launch its first consumer app in May.
Perhaps the most compelling new feature SOLS is working on involves adding sensors to its in-soles, to truly make shoes “smarter.”
Schouwenburg expects to start integrating sensors into her products “within the scope of a year.” SOLS isn’t at the stage yet where it can print the circuits onto the in-soles, but she says they’ll be able to integrate the sensors in a more traditional way.
“We think the digital-to-physical-to-digital feedback loop is incredibly important,” she says, adding that there are “opportunities for both practitioners and consumers.”
Sensors could be useful in rehabilitation, for instance allowing doctors to monitor a patient’s walking gate to learn more about their injury and help avoid the risk of further damage. “We’ve heard feedback from enough surgeons that this is a big opportunity.”
For consumers, a data stream from their shoes could give them feedback on their posture or balance, for instance telling a golfer how good their swing is. “It’s not just counting calories but stance, and looking at how you’re running,” says Schouwenburg, who featured in Forbes' 30 Under 30 list this year.
SOLS has a team of three, machine-learning experts focused on making sense of the data that its in-soles will one day feed into its app, data that could be of interest to doctors, consumers, or perhaps even employers.
For now their focus is on making shoes as comfortable as possible, but once the sensors come on board, that should make them a lot smarter too.
