About

Sustainability

A customer reached out with questions about comfort and microplastics. It lead to a bit of a rant on my part, but it felt good to get it out. I thought it was worthwhile enought to share.

Customer
I would like to ask about making more functional shoes. I bought Fused shoes because of the simple recyclability, not the unusual designs. I got the Hiku because of the relatively subtle design, and I have been wearing it for 1 day so far. It seems to function well enough, but it could be more comfortable. The heel area has a strange design and I have too much foot abrasion in the heel, while the shoe is definitely the right size. Also, there is maybe less ground padding than normal shoes, so it feels a bit more impact on each step. Hopefully it is helpful to discuss how to make the shoes more comfortable. Are other models more comfortable, or can you make them more customized to my foot shape?

Also, do you know how much microplastics these shoes emit compared to normal shoes?

FUSED
Thank you for buying a pair of my shoes! And thank you for reaching out.

So as you already know, I don't really 'do' normal shoes. Hah, sorry not sorry. FUSED is really an exploration of how far I can push the design aspect of shoes while being completely independent of the traditional footwear manufacturing industry. I'm less interested in comfort and sustainability BUT my shoes are in many ways way more sustainable than traditional shoes.

As for comfort, you picked probably the most traditional shoe design that I make, but that is still a zero-drop/bare-foot design, and as such it is aimed towards a set of customers who want minimal shoes with good ground feel. They are not looking for comfort. That said, the reason that I'm designing bare-foot shoes in the first place is because I personally feel that that 'movement' makes a lot of sense. Most modern footwear is pretty bad for our feet, by constricting their natural shape (like tight and narrow dress shoes) and by overprotecting our soles (with thick cushy midsoles). While the drawback of that isn't immediately noticeable, a lifetime of 'abuse' does often lead to issues with body alignment and gait in later life.

I'm not saying you should immediately and fully transition to bare-foot type shoes, because your body will need to adapt to it. But just having different types of shoes and wearing them in rotation can also help keep your body and feet 'loose'.

Ah, and regarding the heel abrasion, I would say that is not great, but somewhat expected when breaking in new shoes. Like I mentioned, your feet and skin, as well as the shoes, will adapt to each other. There is no such thing as the ideal shoe. Maybe we will get there someday. I am hoping to offer smartphone foot scanning at some point, and custom-fitted shoes. But that is a tough nut to crack.

Now for the sustainability and microplastics... You really need to do your own research! I'm not sure where the shoe sole microplastics claim comes from, and I am sure there is some truth to it, but I find it VERY hard to believe that it compares in any way to the amount of microplastics released from producing and washing textiles, and from car tires being driven. Also keep in mind, microplastics are at this point an 'unknown bad'. In the sense that, we've found them but we don't really know how big their impact is. So far, it seems they are mostly inert, and don't actually react much with biological processes. But they are a very convenient way to distract consumers from the much bigger environmental and sustainable issues that come with consumerism and mass-production. Think of all the super harmful chemicals being used, of all the non-renewable material and energy being used, not to mention the ocean-shipping using crude oil, releasing massive amounts of CO2 in the air. Our oceans warming up is not (just) caused by microplastics and IS a much bigger problem for humanity. 

 I'm not trying to minimize the microplastics problem. But knowing what I know of how the world functions, it is not my main concern.
 
Then regarding how my shoes compare to traditional shoes. It's hard to say. FUSED is just me, and I'm 'just' 3D printing shoes. But I can tell you that my process is much more streamlined and thus way more efficient compared to traditional shoes. Just think of all the different components that a sneaker is made of. All of those components are made separately, often using harmful materials and chemicals, and lots of energy. Raising cows for leather isn't particularly sustainable either (not to mention that a lot of leather is actually just a thin veneer over plastic these days). Then all those different parts need to be shipped to a central location to assemble them, stitching and gluing it all together. It is overproduced, because it is cheaper to overproduce and dispose of any leftovers than it is to 'run out'. And then it all needs to be shipped again, mostly to the other side of the world, either by boat or by plane, and again using up lots of energy and releasing lots of harmful chemicals while doing so. And last, the more complex a product is, the harder it is to recycle.

In contrast, my shoes are plastic, but I get my source material in a reasonably unrefined state (meaning less energy used up), the 3D printing process is incredibly efficient compared to traditional mass-manufactured shoes, and my shoes are a monomaterial thermoplastic, so they 'can' be ground down and then the material 'can' potentially be re-used. Also, if I can grow FUSED, the 3D printers can be anywhere, producing the shoes locally, cutting down on transport.

I'm sorry this was a bit of a rant, and maybe I am coming across as overbearing. But I'm happy to have written out my thoughts. So much in our world these days is just marketing making things look better than they are (recyclability for example), and mass media trying to lay blame on consumers and distracting from the bigger problems being caused by faceless corporations.

Please keep wearing my shoes, and share any feedback you might have. I'll take your advice into account, and find a way to introduce a more comfort-focused design!
Also let me know what you think of this email!