Vivobarefoot launches 3D-printed custom sandal made with Carbon DLS

Clark had his own feet scanned in 2020, and the digital model became a bespoke last. The shoe built on it, with a 3D-knit upper and a 3D-printed sole, convinced him. “I put them on and went for a walk,” he said. Five years later, the same logic has reached a product sold to customers: the Tabi Gen 02, a sandal Vivobarefoot presents as built around the foot rather than the reverse.

The path to this point ran through a failure. The Tabi Gen 01, printed by SLS, sold 120 pairs in 21 days from two scanners, and drew more than 1,300 paid reservations. Clark's verdict on it was blunt: the material was too heavy, abrasive and expensive. Gen 02 was therefore a change of process as much as a new design. Vivobarefoot took its use case to Carbon's pre-development lab in Erlangen, Germany, to test several material directions before committing to production, and Carbon's Chris Robertson says this shortened the route to market.

The manufacturing step went to OECHSLER, which runs a production facility able to take the product from prototype to market. The result, according to the company, is a lighter, more flexible sandal with a toe post, integrated straps and flex zones, and a single-piece build that makes recycling easier and cuts assembly labour and waste. Those are the company's claims; no independent test of comfort or durability has been published, and Clark says grip, abrasion resistance and long-wear durability are still being tested.

For a wearer, the promise is a sandal shaped to one person's foot rather than a standard size; for the brand and its partners, it is a route where the design, the material and the production are tuned together. What it does not yet give is a timetable: the sources name no volumes, no price and no date for wider availability. What the Gen 02 does show is that a limited run has become a product line, and that the next question is whether it holds up over months of walking.