A prototyping firm from Letchworth have come to the aid of a designer to create 3D printed shoes for Olympic gold medal winner Amy Williams.
The gold wedge shoes appeared on Channel 5’s The Gadget Show as part of a feature emphasising the use of 3D printing in the fashion industry.
The process involves making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital CAD file, typically by laying down successive thin layers of material.
The design house Julian Hakes turned to Ogle after facing the prospect of creating a unique design in a short timeframe, and the Letchworth-based company’s industrial 3D printing machines provided the solution.
Ogle marketing and sales director Dave Bennion said: “We’re delighted to be involved in such a unique project, especially honouring a British Olympian. The latest technology provided by 3D printing is enabling innovation across all kinds of industries.
“3D printing and additive manufacturing are terms that are, today, frequently used synonymously to denote a group of additive processes that produce – or print – parts directly from 3D CAD data, one layer at a time.
“These additive processes have emerged and been greatly developed during the last 20 years and have proved advantageous for a host of applications including concept models, functional prototypes, tooling patterns and, more recently, production parts.”
The team at Ogle printed the shoes using special technology called Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) production, which gave a nylon-based print strong enough for walking in and bonded well to the leather upper.
For more information about Ogle, visit www.oglemodels.com
