Zellerfeld, which often makes fashion week appearances with its designer collaborations, is slowly opening up its business to consumers.
On Wednesday, the 3D-printed footwear tech company announced it has launched an open beta platform to the public where consumers can choose from 15 designs – with new designs added on a weekly basis – and “experience” how Zellerfeld makes its shoes and provide feedback on the process.
According to Zellerfeld, each design will be available in limited quantities and will feature all the benefits of the company’s tech including a custom fit product that is print-to-order and fully recyclable, and contains no stitches or gluing of components.
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In a statement, the footwear company said it has spent the last seven years in research and development on proprietary printers, software, materials, and print-farm design with a recent boost of $15 million in seed funding from Founders Fund. The result is a scalable 3D-printed closed-loop production model with 100% recyclability, where old shoes are fully converted to new material.
The company also stated that its process also eliminates the traditional upfront costs which could amount to $500,000 to $1 million per shoe design and lengthy development lead times needed to produce new footwear.
Cornelius Schmitt, co-founder and CEO of Zellerfeld, said in a statement that he is “proud” to be “breaking down the barriers” to entry for designers to zero and to offer a platform that enables experimentation. “This is a revolution in footwear and we’re proud of taking a stand against the status quo while providing an ethical, sustainable, and design-led future for footwear,” said Schmitt.
All 15 designs are available now on the open beta at zellerfeld.com.
This launch follows several recent appearances of Zellerfeld collaborative styles on the runway. Just last month, the footwear brand debuted a style with Rains at Paris Fashion Week Men’s. Called the “Puffer Boot,” the shoe features a newly developed printed puffer element on the instep made of 90% air.
Prior to working with Rains, Zellerfeld helped produce a version of the YZY boot that was worn at Kanye West’s controversial show in Paris last October. The label has also previously produced runway styles for KidSuper and Heron Preston.
