Making Shoes at home? It's not as farfetched as you think. At a recent summit organized by tech website GeekWire, Nike COO Eric Sprunk said that he believes customers may soon have the ability to 3D print Nike designed sneakers from the comfort of their own home.
Sprunk says that the secret is Nike's popular flyknit technology; which could usher in a new age of DIY kicks.
The material, which -- as the name suggests -- is created by knitting fibers into a single piece of fabric, has greatly streamlined the process of making shoes. Previously, Nike would have to create entire 'tech packs' for each shoe model they produce. These dossiers -- which are composed of sketches, fabric choices, and other info -- act as blue prints for workers to follow.
With Flyknit, all the instructions needed to create a specific sneaker are contained in a digital file that can easily be input into a machine. This technology has close similarities to current 3D printing techniques.
"Do I envision a future where [Nike] might still own the file, from an IP perspective-because it's a Nike product; you can't have just anybody make a Nike product-and you can manufacture that either in your home or we will do it for you at our store?" Sprunk told the audience, "Oh yeah, that's not that far away."
The idea, while radical sounding, actually seems like a natural evolution of the brand's current offerings. At present, Nike has a system in place called NikeID that allows shoppers to customize existing Nike shoes. Giving them the ability to create entire sneakers from the ground up isn't as crazy as it seems.
The only concern would be possible piracy issues. What's stopping someone from taking a Nike licensed design, altering it slightly, and then selling it as his own creation?
