London designer Alexander Taylor has made a prototype for customisable Adidas trainers based on an industrial sewing technique used to manufacture heated car seats (+ movie).

Futurecraft Tailored Fibre, Taylor's latest trainer design for the sportswear brand, features uppers made from a single piece of fabric, that can be customised for each wearer.
The shoes use an adapted version of an industrial sewing technique called tailored fibre. This allows different materials to be combined, forming one continuous surface with different strengths and properties.

It is more commonly used for electrical applications within the car and aerospace industries.
Taylor used the technology to create an embroidered upper material for the shoes with a yarn base and a thinner second fibre stitched on top to create support or rigidity.
Different patterns and paths, followed by the automated sewing machines used to create the uppers, can be programme specifically for the requirements of an individual wearer. The designer said this "results in a completely new aesthetic for performance footwear".

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"Tailored Fibre is the first of its kind to use such technology for a complete upper," he told Dezeen. "It allows for a free orientation of fibres to achieve flexibility and rigidity in specific areas of the shoe, all in one single process, offering a new level o...