Can 3D Drawing Bring Shoe Manufacturing Back to America?

(Image courtesy of Reebok.)

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Depending on your personality, the answer to this question can be a point of pride or a source of shame.

Did you have to think about it? I know I did.

Well, here’s a question that should be easier to answer: Where were your shoes manufactured?

For most of us, the answer is most likely to be China, Indonesia, Korea or the Philippines—all countries that are well-known for their low-cost labor. This has been the primary reason for most our footwear being made overseas. However, emerging technologies could see shoe manufacturing reshoring in the near future.

Drawing Shoes in Three Dimensions

(Image courtesy of Reebok.)

Reebok’s Liquid Factory is an example of the kind of technological advancement that can bring manufacturing back to America. The Liquid Factory uses a combination of software and robotics to “draw” shoe components in three dimensions. The technique, which the company calls “3D Drawing,” uses a proprietary liquid material created by BASF to draw shoe components in three-dimensional layers, eliminating the need for traditional molds. It’s a bit of a mystery why Reebok didn’t call this process what it looks like: additive manufacturing.

Note the layers of material. (Image courtesy of Reebok.)

Spearheaded by former NASA engineer, Bill McInnis, the Reebok Future team claims that their 3D Drawing process allows the company to create athletic shoes faster and more efficiently than ever before.

“Footwear manufacturing hasn't dramatically changed over the last 30 years,” said McInnis. “Every shoe, from every brand, is created using molds - an expensive, time-consuming process. With Liquid Factory, we wanted to fundamentally change the way that shoes are made, creating a new method to manufacture shoes without molds. This opens up brand new possibilities both for what we can create, and the speed with which we can create it.”

“With this new process, we were able to program robots to create the entire shoe outsole, without molds, by drawing in layers with a high-energy liquid material to create the first ever energy-return outsole, which performs dramatically better than a typical rubber outsole. The all new Liquid Factory process is also used to create a unique fit system that stretches and molds around the foot, providing a three-dimensional fit.”

Reshoring Shoe Manufacturing?

The Reebok Liquid Speed is the first “concept shoe” created with Liquid Factory. According to the company, it was designed and assembled in the USA through a three-way collaboration between Reebok, BASF and RAMPF Group. Final assembly of the shoe took place at Reebok headquarters in Canton, Mass. The company has also announced plans to open a Liquid Factory manufacturing lab in collaboration with AF Group, Inc. of Lincoln, R.I. in early 2017.

The size of this manufacturing lab has not been made clear.

How many workers would it take to supervise this production line? (Image courtesy of Reebok.)

“One of the most exciting things about Liquid Factory is the speed. We can create and customize the design of shoes in real time, because we’re not using molds - we’re simply programming a machine,” said McInnis. “Liquid Factory is not just a new way of making things, it’s a new speed of making things.”

McInnis’ statement raises an important question:

Does this kind of reshoring really bring back American manufacturing jobs that have been lost?

It’s all well and good to have “Made in USA” stamped on your product, but that seems a little disingenuous when “by Robots” is left implicit.