With Olympics in full swing, popular brands are promoting their products. Adidas is giving its ‘Triple Black’ Future craft shoes to all the athletes who win medals. The laces come in three colors of gold, silver, and bronze, corresponding to the athlete’s respective win.

These 3D printed shoes themselves could act as a motivation for the runners to increase their speed, as they are not available in the market. The shoes have been tested for long distances and are equipped with a 3D Primeknit web upper which is fuller in areas of high force and a 3D printed heel. The shoe can be assembled without any stitching or gluing. The shoe bears a close resemblance to a Futurecraft design showcased in 2015.

New Zealand’s 22-year Tyla-Nathan –Wong, a rugby player, was the first athlete to win these 3D printed shoes.

Addidas is promoting its footwear creation, currently only available to Rio podium finishers, the “3D Printed Winners Shoe.” Contestants who are not competing in the Games will not be able to lay their hands on these sneakers as the sportswear giant has no plans of a release at present.

In June, Adidas organized a competition to celebrate the World oceans day. The contestants who won the competition got 3D printed green- and-white shoes from recycled ocean waste. In 2015, the first 3D printed Futurecraft shoe was displayed after Adidas bagged the additive expertise of 3D printing company Materialise.

Following the footsteps of the German giant, many other sports brands are foraying into manufacturing of 3D printed footwear. Some of them are Under Armour, UA Architech shoe features a ClutchFit auxetic upper and a 3D printed lattice midsole, and New Balance, which released its 3D printed Zante Generate just some time before the Boston Marathon earlier this year.

Source: 3ders.org