Florida, US – Syntilay has unveiled what it claims is the world’s first AI-designed commercial shoe. The company’s first shoe, the xplorer, is a casual slide. It is 3D printed in TPU.
Syntilay was founded to enable influencers to sell “athlete level” shoes with lifestyle appeal alongside the list of products such as hats and shirts that they commonly offer. The brand name was chosen to reflect the word scintillate. “The goal is to enable anyone to feel they can truly shine bright and sparkle in the direction in life they want to go after,” it said.
The company said it took a couple of years to put the production and distribution processes together, with advisors including Joe Foster, founder of Reebok. It also collaborated with Indian shoe designer Kedar Benjamin, who specialises in the use of AI in footwear development.
Traditionally, the footwear design process starts with an idea, which leads to a sketch that is refined and ultimately turned into a workable model. In contrast, Syntilay used AI software MidJourney to start the process, refining the concepts and then generating more specific images. These were used as the inspiration for a sketch by Benjamin.
Vizcom was then used to generate a 3D model of an outline shape with no textures and patterns. This allowed the final product to be shaped, a process that could have taken weeks without the AI input. Finally, AI pattern and texture generation gave a distinct, futuristic look and feel to the shoe.
The shoes themselves are manufactured by Zellerfeld, a German 3D printing company specialising in shoes which recently worked with Nike on its Air Max 1000.
The shoes are scanned to fit the customer via a phone camera. The company claims its design process is up to nine times faster than the industry average.
