Could Biodesign Revolutionise The Footwear Industry?
“A breathing sports shoe, that grows its own air passageways to enable personalized ventilation? A learning insole that prevents fatigue and improves athletes’ performance? A t-shirt that responds to environmental factors by changing its appearance to inform the wearer about the air quality?”
PUMA and the MIT recently showcased some of their research and findings that they’ve been conducting in the field of “biodesign” since June 2017, at Milan’s 2018 Design Week.
Biodesign, as Puma explains, “is the practice of using living materials such as algae or bacteria to create products. It makes possible a football jersey made from the silk of a spider or a shoe box grown from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.”
Split into four experiments, they displayed: a Breathing Shoe, a Deep Learning Insole, Carbon Eaters and Adaptive Packaging.
“What sounds like future visions are actually research results by Sports company PUMA and the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Design Lab that will be showcased at the Milan Design Week 2018 in April. PUMA and MIT Design Lab have been conducting research in the field of biodesign since June 2017. Biodesign is the practice of using living materials such as algae or bacteria to create products. It makes possible a football jersey made from the silk of a spider or a shoe box grown from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms. PUMA Biodesign explores the new frontiers of biological design and fabrication to bring advances in science and biotechnologies closer to our daily lives through sport products.” – Puma
The potential of biodesign and how it could impact wearable product in the future in undeniably exciting, and it’s actually something I touched on a little during a recent article I was asked to be a part of for Fantastic Man/The Business Of Fashion in where we discussed the future of shoe festenting. With continued research into biodesign, I can imagine some type of biological fastening system could be devised that reacts to your foot, it’s swelling, temperature etc…to give you the best, most dynamic fastening for the constantly changing needs of your foot and body during activity.
You can read the full article from Puma here.
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