Zellerfeld Partners with Volumental for Precision 3D Printed Shoe Production

3D printing footwear company Zellerfeld has announced a strategic partnership with Volumental, aiming to directly connect precision foot scanning data with its on-demand shoe manufacturing process. This collaboration will enable foot geometry captured through Volumental's in-store and mobile scanning solutions to feed into Zellerfeld's 3D printing pipeline, facilitating the production of shoes precisely contoured to each customer's foot.

Zellerfeld's selection of Volumental followed a global evaluation of foot-scanning providers, with key decision factors including measurement precision, the accuracy of the resulting 3D foot models, and the ease of customer use. Volumental's platform is utilized in thousands of retail locations across more than 60 countries, serving prominent brands such as New Balance, Fleet Feet, The Athlete’s Foot, and FootJoy, and has amassed over 66 million foot scans worldwide.

According to Zellerfeld Founder and CEO Cornelius Schmitt, the company examined all credible 3D foot-scanning options globally before choosing Volumental, citing their decade-long development of essential fit technology for the footwear industry. Volumental CEO Alper Aydemir highlighted Zellerfeld's achievement in delivering on the long-held industry aspiration of manufacturing shoes tailored to individual feet rather than generalized sizes, emphasizing the critical role of accurate foot data for this vision.

The advancement of scan-to-print footwear has been progressing, yet the quality of foot data has lagged behind manufacturing innovations. Traditional shoe sizing has historically failed to account for the full spectrum of human foot anatomy, a discrepancy often treated as a commercial challenge rather than a design problem. While smartphone scanning has made capturing foot geometry more accessible, the variability in precision can be significant when creating custom-manufactured footwear. This partnership signifies a convergence of smartphone-based 3D scanning and additive manufacturing, enabling precise foot data to be directly translated into custom-made products.