adidas 4DFWD
Adidas 4DFWD
For those who might not know, I absolutely love sneakers and am fascinated by advances in sneaker technology. You might not think it to look at my rotation, given that lately I have either been wearing a pair of black high top Converse 70s or a pair of black low Feelgrounds barefoot shoes (I might write a blog post in the near future about my experiences with barefoot shoes), but then my wardrobe as a whole tends to be very low key. In terms of clothing technology there are two main areas where I think the most interesting advances are made these days - performance sportswear and outdoors gear.
Sporting companies invest millions of dollars into creating cutting edge shoes, shaving milliseconds off race times in the world’s top athletes. The information gained from the professional usage of whichever new technology eventually informs consumer grade products, and I always enjoy seeing the journey these things take. Outdoors companies are similarly searching for the highest performance possible (albeit with clothing designed to take more wear compared to something like Nike’s race-only sneaker models), and these days there is a massive interest in the sustainability and longevity of the garments, which is reassuring to see. I would also argue that the military is responsible for technological advancement in clothing too, because they require reliable performance on a relatively lower budget, but that is a whole different matter.
In 2017 Adidas unveiled their 4D midsole, which they designed in collaboration with LA-based company Carbon, with the introduction of the FutureCraft 4D. Rather than being a wide consumer release, it was intended as a proof of concept. While the majority of sneaker soles are made with an injection molding process, 4D is 3D-printed using a photo-chemical process with a UV-curable liquid polymer. The journey to 3D printing sneakers actually started in the early 2000s with the rapid prototyping process, which allowed you to print shoe parts, however they were fragile and unwearable, being used just to give designers a visual representation of the design. Adidas started experimenting with 3D printing seriously in 2010, and they eventually used a process called selective laser sintering (SLS, a process whereby a high powered laser is used to fuse small particles together) for their first ever 3D printed sole unit, with the FutureCraft 3D in 2015. Three hundred pairs were sold at a loss, simply to show what could be possible in the future.
The same year that the FutureCraft 3D was released, Adidas’ Director of Future Technology Innovation, Marco Kormann, discovered Carbon. They had developed a new 3D printing technique called digital light synthesis (DLS, which uses UV-curable liquid polymer that is fixed with oxygen). The benefit of a 3D printed sole is the ability to create consistent material and performance qualities, allowing designers an incredible amount of control in terms of finely tuning the properties of the sole. With the AlphaEdge 4D, for example, 50 different sole units were printed and tested before settling on a final design. The dream for Adidas is to one day be able to custom print soles for individual sports and individual customers, which is a lofty goal, but given the rapid pace of technology these days, might be possible sooner than we think.
This weekend (15th May) will see the limited release of the Adidas 4DFWD, the latest iteration of Adidas’ 4D technology, which focuses on running performance. Having collected years of athlete data since the first 4D shoe was released, Adidas claim the 4DFWD generates three times as much forward motion under vertical load in comparison to previous 4D soles, while the peak braking force (the amount of energy directed into your leg when your foot hits the ground - the higher it is, the higher your chances of injury) is reduced by 15%. While these numbers were produced in lab conditions, so real world experience will no doubt be different, it is still a remarkable feat that makes me excited to see how Adidas continues to develop their 4D technology. I am not a runner and have no desire to buy the 4DFWD, but I find the technology insanely cool all the same. I get excited seeing what advances are made and the potential this could have for future designs, because cutting edge technology becomes normalized soon enough, and to me it is like seeing a glimpse into one possible future.
I love nerding out over stuff like this.
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