When people think of 3D printing, they might think of plastic knick-knacks and miniature figurines made by teenagers in high school libraries. For HILOS (Human Innovation Lab Operating Systems), 3D printing means creating footwear that is chic, lean, and runway-ready.
“Brands overproduce by 20% because they don't know when they'll need what size or style, so they have to overproduce and it's still unsold,” says HILOS. CEO Elias Stahl told TechCrunch. Today, HILOS took to the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024.
That overproduction leads to waste, which contributes to the 300 million pairs of shoes Americans throw away each year. If these shoes end up in a landfill, they can take 30 to 40 years to decompose.
A surefire way to minimize overproduction is to produce only what customers actually buy, but on-demand retail services are expensive because shoes are not produced in large quantities. But HILOS has discovered a way to use 3D printing technology to print stylish shoes on demand in under 72 hours.
“HILOS has patented a new form of shoe manufacturing that is dedicated to digital manufacturing and therefore specializes in labor and component reduction,” Stahl said. “Traditionally, we would take five or six different materials and combine them into one print.This allows us to literally print and assemble the shoe in the U.S. without making it a $300 shoe. We can pay American wages.”
HILOS does not sell shoes alone. It borrows concepts from past e-commerce trendsetters like Bonobos. Brands that partner with HILOS can reduce inventory in their stores for customers to try on, and once customers find the style and size that suits them, they can have the shoes shipped to them.
“So instead of 20 pieces, [shoes] Instead of having to reorder every 120 days, you can have two and reorder every 72 hours,” Stahl said.
HILOS uses powder-based printing to produce its 3D printed shoes, rather than the cheap plastic shoes you see in schools.
Source: Hiros
“Powders are the most expensive, the most industrial, and have the highest quality and finish,” Stahl says. “When you take something like this out of the printer, it has a soft, suede, velvety feel.”
The shoes themselves don't magically appear from a 3D printer. The company prints several modular shoe parts that can be assembled easily and quickly. It's also not made with 3D printed materials, which likely compromises functionality and comfort. Instead, HILOS stocks materials such as leather and knits, which are also used in a modular and multifunctional way.
“The modular product creation process allows for significant efficiencies here,” says Stahl. “You can have 10 different leather products offering 40 different styles.”
Even with this modular manufacturing system, designing a shoe still takes a long time. As part of a technology platform for brands, HILOS uses AI and AR technology to quickly transform shoe sketches into printable 3D models.
Source: Hiros
“We can automate and speed up that process, so we can turn 2D images into ready-to-manufacturable, wearable, end-to-end 3D files,” Stahl said.
If a designer models a shoe prototype in a more analog way, AR tools can mimic the design and transform it from physical to digital.
“The idea is to allow designers to design in the physical world, rather than through a screen or a mouse. Once technology gets beyond a certain level, it allows you to be creative in a creative place. “It's about being able to get inspired where you get inspired,” Stahl said.
HILOS decided to open a store in Portland, Oregon, which is home to over 500 outdoor brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Columbia. The company is one of the leaders in Portland's Made in Old Town project, which aims to bring eco-friendly shoe manufacturing back to land. The Oregon Legislature supported this effort and approved a $125 million grant to revitalize 10 buildings and four city blocks.
“Instead of having a huge factory on the outskirts of China’s Guangdong province, we have an actual community here in the U.S., with a downtown filled with advanced technology, a quality workforce, and sustainable, on-demand manufacturing.” It reinvents the way we see downtown,” Stahl said. “Portland has been a great home for us.”
On stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024, HILOS announced a new partnership with shoe brand Steve Madden, which will use HILOS' on-demand product creation platform to make its supply chain more sustainable.