This shoe is a continuation of my exploration into constructing structural textiles completely from digital embroidery. The first shoe I made pursuing this technique was my Digitally Embroidered Sneaker.

 

My inspiration for pursing this fabrication technique came from Nike's Flyknit technology, which allows Nike to fabricate uppers for their shoes with no waste material. I chose to use embroidery as a primary fabrication technique rather than weaving or knitting for several reasons. First, by using the Tajima Pulse Digital Embroidery software, I had total control over both the direction and density of stitches in my final textiles, meaning I was able to create a unified textile upper with unique zones of flexibility and structure. Also, because this upper is comprised of multiple stitch layers, I was able to create variation in surface texture, as well as blend and block colors.

 

After testing the limits of the digital embroidery machine on the Digitally Embroidered Sneaker, I was able to sew out the upper for this shoe on a dissolvable interfacing, so it has no solid waste material.