Cellulose microbeads, sequins and eyeware, 3D printed sandals and menswear, biobased adhesives, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of August 21st

#7 Czech student 3-D prints sandals using coconut and pineapple wastes

In the Czech Republic, a graduate student has teamed up with a filament company to produce a biobased, 3-D printed line of sandals.

“We are responsible for each of our steps. Shoes from the Organic collection are based on a simple principle: At the end of their life, you can divide both parts, the upper in a compost and the sole you can recycle, to use it again,” Lucie Trejtnarová, a postgraduate student at Tomas Bata University (Zlín) tells 3D Printing Industry.

The outsoles of the sandals use Malai coconut leather and Piñatex, a fabric made from pineapple waste. She worked with 3-D printing filament company Fillamentum to design the process.

The sandals are also recyclable, which is an emerging trend in the larger shoe industry. “Even Adidas is planning to produce a collection of shoes from thermoplastic polyurethane following the motto ‘made to be re-made’,” Trejtnarová adds.

The sandals are currently on display in London as part of the “Food Bigger than Plate” exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
More on the story, here.