Shoes that last
For many of us, it's really hard to find shoes that fit right. Some people have feet that are too big or too small, or too narrow or too wide, or just weirdly-shaped; some people just really hate shoe-shopping. The ideal situation is to get a pair of custom lasts made to the exact shape of your feet, then get all your shoes made bespoke: unfortunately, this is ludicrously expensive. The really expensive bit is making the last, which can then be re-used pretty much for the rest of your life, but getting the actual shoes made is crazy expensive too, not least because the only companies that offer this service cater only to the ultra-high end of the market.
But this is the 21st century, right? Surely we can do better.
Here's what I'm thinking, in the ideal case: you log on to a website, then take off your shoes, and wave your feet around in front of a webcam for a bit in a suitably sciency manner. Some cunning software on the other end uses photogrammetry to build up a 3-d model of your feet. You then click on whatever style of shoes you want on the website (customising them as much as you like - since we're making pairs to order, we don't have to skimp on the options). Specialised CAM software calculates the correct amount of leather, fabric and rubber to cut for your shoes, which are then formed on a last that's just emerged from a 3-d printer. Your shoes are assembled, either by a machine or by someone who's paid a living wage, then packed in a box and shipped out to you. The last is either retained for future use or melted down, it doesn't really matter: they've got the model file, and generating a new one only takes a couple of minutes anyway.
Problems that occur to me:
But this is the 21st century, right? Surely we can do better.
Here's what I'm thinking, in the ideal case: you log on to a website, then take off your shoes, and wave your feet around in front of a webcam for a bit in a suitably sciency manner. Some cunning software on the other end uses photogrammetry to build up a 3-d model of your feet. You then click on whatever style of shoes you want on the website (customising them as much as you like - since we're making pairs to order, we don't have to skimp on the options). Specialised CAM software calculates the correct amount of leather, fabric and rubber to cut for your shoes, which are then formed on a last that's just emerged from a 3-d printer. Your shoes are assembled, either by a machine or by someone who's paid a living wage, then packed in a box and shipped out to you. The last is either retained for future use or melted down, it doesn't really matter: they've got the model file, and generating a new one only takes a couple of minutes anyway.
Problems that occur to me:
- The photogrammetry bit may well be too hard, and a brief scan of Wikipedia suggests that we'd need two cameras to get 3-d coordinates anyway - most people have at most one webcam, of course. Maybe we could have some kind of shoebox-sized LIDAR array, into which you put your feet, and either strike a deal with the shoe-shops to get them installed or post them out, Netflix-style. The first plan would have the unfortunate downside of eliminating one of the main USPs, which is that you could buy shoes without having to set foot inside a shoe shop.
- Manufacturing. Yeah. That's not going to be easy. Particularly if you have a conscience.