For the first time recycled textiles has been used in making 3D-printed shoes. “The demand for more sustainable products is huge. There’s no doubt that there will be consumers who would like to buy these kinds of shoes if we put it on the market”, says Chris Margetts, founder of The Sole Theory and sustainable fashion brand Humans Are Vain, in a pressrelease from Wargön Innovation and Innovatum Science Park.

From production through to end-of-life, shoes have a big impact on the environment. At the same time enormous amounts of textile waste is incinerated or sent to landfill each year. One solution is to use fibers from textile waste to make new and locally produced shoes.

– The recycling process is inspired by the fact that textile waste contains both polymers and cotton fibers that can be converted into composites and made into 3D printable filaments, says Aji Mathews, professor at Stockholm University in Sweden.

The filament is made of shredded textile fiber from Wargön Innovation, a textile innovation centre, and is then recycled at Stockholm University and company Add North. The shoes are then 3D-printed by ZYYX Labs that develops and produces 3D-printers focusing on strong composite materials.

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