Feetz on the Streetz Takes Custom 3D Printed Shoes on a Pop-Up Shop Road Trip

At my old job, food trucks would come and occasionally park in our lot for a few hours during lunch, and sometimes we’d get a fashion store’s mobile truck as well. The concept of pop-up shops and stores on wheels is a very popular one these days – why battle busy restaurants or malls when the food and products can come right to you? The 3D printing community has definitely embraced the idea: Louis Vuitton opened a 3D printed pop-up shop in a shopping center last year, Print the Future opened a pop-up shop for its 3D printed furniture in Manhattan this spring, Match.com recently featured 3D printed dates in a romantic pop-up event, and California-based technology company Feetz, which designs custom 3D printed shoes made from recyclable materials, launched its Feetz@DSW pop-up shops last year.

In October, Simon Nankervis, the Chief Commercial Officer of DSW Inc., said, “DSW is excited to bring Feetz’s innovative technology to our customers through this pop-up experience. Feetz uses 22 unique dimensions to create custom fitting, personalized shoes on-demand, which we believe has the potential to disrupt the footwear industry as we know it today. We are pleased to be the first to bring this new concept to the market.”

Feetz, the first company to use mobile technology and 3D printing to create customized footwear, just kicked off a new initiative, which will have them partnering up with DSW again, and Von Maur as well. The company is starting out today on its Feetz on the Streetz end of summer mobile tour across California and the Midwest. The Feetz van will be stopping by select Von Maur and DSW stores to showcase its technology to consumers first-hand.

Not only will visitors to the pop-up shop locations get to check out the company’s new custom-fit styles for themselves, they’ll also get a crash course in how 3D printing technology will be helping to shape the consumer goods manufacturing processes of the future. Visitors will also learn more about how the company is helping to make a better world, as its eco-friendly 3D printing process uses no water and creates very little waste.

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In addition to the announced stops at DSW in California and Von Maur in Midwest states, Feetz will also be “popping up” at various places in California, like corporate campuses, public parks, and DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse locations. Feetz Brand Ambassadors will be available for on-site demonstrations, and there will also be some fan giveaways at the sites.

The mobile tour starts today at a DSW store in San Diego, and will move on to a Von Maur store in Des Moines, Iowa this weekend. Two more Von Maur stores, in Michigan and Illinois, will have visits from the Feetz van early on during the summer tour, but the vast majority of the planned stops will be held at DSW locations across California, including La Jolla, Costa Mesa, Pasadena and San Francisco; you can visit the Feetz on the Streetz tour page to see where all of the stops will be held.

Don’t forget to follow the company on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to follow the mobile tour, and see where the Feetz van is popping up next. If you’re interested in winning a free pair of Feetz shoes, but won’t be in the area of a pop-up shop or are unable to attend, there’s still a way…just show the company how you are helping the Earth! You can take a picture of yourself doing something good for the environment, like conserving water or recycling, and then post it, using the hashtag #MadeDifferent. Feetz will then choose three winners a week who will each receive a free pair of Feetz.

We’ve had a chance to check out some of the original flats-styles of Feetz, gaining an early look and then hitting the streets in Feetz, and will soon be recycling that first pair in anticipation of a first-hand (first-foot?) look at the new styles the company is rolling out next as we keep in step with the story of 3D printed shoes.

Are you close to any of the Feetz on the Streetz mobile tour stops? Let us know in the Feetz On The Streetz forum thread at 3DPB.com.