In the world of ugly shoes, we’ve had some real bangers.
First was the Croc, a rubber one-piece shoe best suited as a doorstop – that is until you tried one on and realized it might be the most comfortable thing you’ve ever put on your foot, despite the scornful looks from your peers. Then came the Kanye/Adidas collaboration-abomination called the Yeezy, with a history so tumultuous we hesitate to even bring it up.
Cue the new Syntilay, the world’s first entirely AI-designed and 3D-printed piece of thermoplastic polyurethane to call itself a shoe. The exact composition of the slide-type sandal hasn’t been made public, but there’s a pretty high chance it’s TPU.
Syntilay
The Syntilay company used Midjourney AI to create the basic shape of the shoe, after which an artist drew a sketch based on Midjourney’s creation. That image was run back through Vizcom AI to produce a 3D computer model. After that model was created, generative AI was used to apply the patterns to the model, to give it some character.
The shoes are custom-3D-printed for each order. Before you buy, the company has you scan each of your tootsies with your phone, so that each shoe gives you a comfortable and personalized custom fit, even if your feet are two different sizes. They come in five colors, and will cost you a hefty US$149.99 a pair. Click on any image to see the gallery of all the colors.
Syntilay
Syntilay’s design, or rather Midjourney/Viscom AI’s design, isn’t just turning the heads of consumers. It also caught the attention of Joe Foster, who co-founded Reebok some 67 years ago. The 89-year-old is now helping to launch the Syntilay slide. Having grown Reebok into a US$4 billion shoe empire before leaving the company in 1991, Foster has more than enough experience.
Syntilay CEO, Ben Weiss, is a serial entrepreneur at only 25 years of age. From podcasts to NFTs and now a shoe company, Weiss is looking to tap into the nearly $100 billion footwear market in the United States (and nearly half a trillion globally).
Foster and Weiss’ plans are to 3D-print a few thousand pairs to gain brand recognition, before pivoting to a strategy that involves making unique designs for content creators and for other brands to market as their own.
Syntilay
We laughed at Crocs when we first saw them as a prop shoe in the 2006 movie Idiocracy – and many still do. However, you can’t deny the success of a company that started by making boating clogs and is now worth nearly 6.5 billion dollars, even spawning an entire subculture of fashion accessories for its iconic/notorious shoes called Jibbitz.
Maybe Syntilay is onto something. While the name might sound more like a prescription heart medication than a high-tech shoe company, it was derived from “scintillate,” which means to sparkle … and you certainly will at your next red carpet event in these bad boys.
Source: Syntilay
