One night in the Spring of 2017, I stumbled upon fellow RISD industrial designer, Jose Tejada, working on a footwear project that caught my eye. He was working on a shoe with a 3D printed outsole and flexible TPU upper. I instantly recognized that this customizable, lightweight, extremely flexible material could be used to create the ultimate performance footwear—specifically cycling shoes. We both saw a clear opportunity for a design collaboration, after learning that we both loved cars (specifically Porsche), footwear and mechanical watches.
The extremely demanding and competitive sport of cycling requires having lightweight, durable and comfortable equipment. Jose and I believed that we could use our shared / complimentary product design skills, my extensive knowledge of cycling, and this customizable, 3D-printed material, to address and solve the problems inherent in my personal cycling shoes over the years. Problems I’ve experienced include having shoes that:
were too wide
were too arrow
had outsoles that felt too stiff (making my feet hurt after hours of riding)
had outsoles that felt too flexible (making me feel like I wasn’t getting maximum returns from my pedal strokes)
had fastening systems on top end models that seemed to fail ALL the time, outweighing their positive attributes of being:
sleek
lightweight
aero dynamic
optimal for pressure distribution
We started out by creating a user profile, mood / inspiration boards, and some ideation sketches to help inform our design. We decided on green as a main color to celebrate my forté in competitive cycling, the points classification, which is a secondary competition within a multi-day race (stage race), in which the leader is required to wear a green jersey (the overall race leader wears a yellow jersey).
After the initial concept phase, we started to get our hands dirty in the shop designing and making the carbon fiber outsoles for the shoes. Given the time and resources that we had at the time, Jose and I decided to use an existing shoe last (the 3D form that is used to design shoe patterns) to create a mold to lay up our carbon fiber. For the lay-up, we received help from RISD industrial design and NASA, advanced studio professor, Michael Lye.
After completing the carbon fiber outsoles, we started experimentation with flexible, TPU filaments of varying density on a Makerbot Replicator 2 3D printer. In our exploration, we created several material samples that varied in layer and texture to find the optimal structure to meet our performance needs. We found that the 3D-printed TPU was not only customizable based on the CAD file input, but it could also take on the texture of the surface in which it was printed on (we tried various leathers, knits and woven materials). The 3D printed fabric was also way more durable than we thought it would be.
We found three printed layers of Ninja Flex, TPU filament to be the optimal ply for a majority of the upper to meet our requirements of being:
lightweight
breathable
flexible
durable
Jose and I moved on to pattern making on a last that would fit me while taking measurements of my feet to create a customized fit. I preferred lacing for our fastening method, so we opted for low profile, reflective laces for aerodynamics and night time visibility. Once we decided on a general final design, we focused on the finer details like eye stay shape and placement.
With the finer details fleshed out, Jose and I used Solidworks to create the final CAD file for the 3D printer. Given the size constraints of the print bed that we had available, we had to print each upper in three separate pieces then stitch them together. However, our desired one-piece design could be realized on a printer with a larger print bed. Once we printed our final uppers, we sewed them together, lasted them and cemented them to the outsoles. Our outsole, last mould negative that we used to create the carbon fiber mould, served as a cementing bladder that fit perfectly.
With the shoes complete, we did some preliminary testing by having me ride with them. The shoes turned out to be and feel much lighter than my existing Specialized S-Works shoes — which were unfortunately too narrow for my feet, and I always seemed to break the BOA lacing system. The shoes fit perfectly and felt like I was wearing a very secure, ultra form fitting sock. They proved to also be very durable and breathable. They ultimately solved all of my problems. However, in this prototype, the carbon fiber outsoles were a little too flexible, and I’d prefer a more pronounced toe box and stiffer heel counter. I can confidently say that with those adjustments, Veloce 1 would be the ultimate cycling shoe.
