New Balance Releases their first 3D Printed Running Shoe, The Zante Generate
While a few companies have released 3D printed shoes previously, the New Balance Zante Generate is the first 3D-printed running sneaker to be made commercially available. Unfortunately, if you have always wanted a pair of 3D printed shoes I wouldn’t get too excited, because New Balance is only going to be releasing forty-four pairs of the limited edition sneaker. The limited edition release is a tribute to the company’s owner Jim Davis and his forty-fourth year owning the Boston-based shoe company. The forty-four pairs of the Zante Generate were only made available at newbalance.com and in Boston’s New Balance Experience Store with a price tag of $400.
The complicated geometry of the Zante Generate’s midsole would be impossible to create using traditional manufacturing processes and was only possible using the SLS 3D printer.
Even though this is just a commemorative limited release, I’m interested to see what the feedback on these 3D printed shoes will be like. I imagine most of the 44 buyers will be a bit more well-off than most consumers leaving reviews on products, but hopefully they will be willing to review the first commercially available 3D printed shoe. Thanks for sharing!