- Synilay launched 3D printed shoes designed by AI.
- The shoes were designed with a mix of MidJourney and Vizcom AI
- The $150 shoes use foot scanners for the smartphone for a completely personalized fit.
If you like Crocs but wish they had more of a sci-fi storyline, you’re in luck. A startup company named Synilay is using AI and 3D printing to produce a new line of shoes. The futuristic shoes are now available for $150 a pair. These slides aren’t cheap, but innovation rarely is.
Synilay uses a mix of AI tools complemented by human artistry to create its shoes, which look more than a little like a deep sea fish at first glance. The designers relied on MidJourney to develop the basic shape of the shoe. After that, a human artist refined the idea with an inspiration sketch uploaded to Vizcom AI, which produced a 3D model based on the sketch. The AI then helped design and integrate textures and patterns into the design of the shoes, completing their look.
Entrepreneur Ben Weiss founded Synilay, but he has the support of Reebok co-founder Joe Foster, who added some credibility to the idea. The shoes are available in five colors: orange, red, beige, black and blue. They are meant to evoke the work of Syd Mead, the artist behind the iconic visuals of Blade Runner and Aliens.
AI Shoes
The $150 shoes are 3D printed in Germany and specially designed for each customer, shipping after about three weeks. If you want to buy a pair, you are asked to scan your feet with a smartphone camera so that the shoes fit perfectly, even adjusting for the usual slight differences between people’s right and left feet.
There is also the question of practicality. While scanning your feet with a phone camera sounds simple, not everyone is eager to do full techs just to buy shoes. And what happens if the fit isn’t quite right after all that swiping and printing? These are obstacles Synilay will need to address as it evolves its operations.
The question, of course, is whether the market is ready for AI-driven shoes. Syntilay shoes will have to prove that they are worth the expense and expectation when it comes to things like comfort and durability.
$150 is a pretty steep price when generic slides similar to Crocs can cost $20 or even less. Synilay must hope its design, personalized promise, and AI design gimmick are aimed at early adopters.
There have certainly been personalized shoes before, but the combination of AI and 3D printing may inspire those looking to be pioneers.
