Vivobarefoot unveils VivoBiome: a 3D-printed journey back to custom-made shoes

Once upon a time, tailors sewed clothes for a specific person's body, and cobblers constructed shoes to fit their exact feet. A UK-based footwear brand wants to bring that practice back to life. Vivobarefoot, a barefoot shoe pioneer, has developed VivoBiome — 'a radical scan-to-print circular bare-footwear system.'

Like Vivobarefoot's other designs, the footwear will have a wide toebox and thin, flexible sole. Unlike its existing offering, each pair will be made to order based on precise scans of a customer's feet, which are then sent to 3D printers for local fabrication. VivoBiome will kick off with a hub in the UK, with Germany and the US to follow. Local manufacturing reduces shipping, while 3D printing cuts down on waste.

Aiming to create a fully circular model, Vivobarefoot also designed VivoBiome shoes to be remade. Customers can return their worn-out pairs; outsoles will be mechanically recycled and the knitted uppers chemically recycled, with plans to refine that process as the project evolves. Those materials will then be used to manufacture new shoes. VivoBiome is set to launch a testing phase soon, with a commercial roll-out planned for 2024.