Print to Wear: Steve Madden Goes 3D with Hilos

Footwear is evolving. That’s how Hilos’ CEO sees it, envisioning footwear as the next big industry set to scale through 3D printing. During this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield 200 competition, where Hilos participated, Elias Stahl announced a new partnership with Steve Madden, saying it relies on its proprietary software and a network of 3D printers to produce shoes sustainably and on demand.

“Reinventing footwear for digital manufacturing at scale will be the thing that spurs that next post-industrial revolution. Footwear is just the toehold in the future of on-demand,” said Stahl, who took the stage as part of the competition but ultimately didn’t take home the win.

Steve Madden has long been a powerhouse in the footwear industry. Known for trendy designs and fast fashion, the brand still keeps its finger on the pulse of what’s cool in shoes. Meanwhile, Hilos is a newcomer that wants to disrupt the footwear market. By leveraging 3D printing, Hilos has found a way to make shoes faster and with far less waste. Together, the duo is ready to change how we buy footwear.

At the conference, Stahl took the main stage to introduce Hilos’ flagship end-to-end product creation platform and showcase the future of on-demand products. For the live demo, Ty DeHaven, Creative Director of Innovation and one of the top minds in footwear went on stage to sketch a shoe in real time. The sketch was then generated in 3D and printed to fit Stahl’s foot by the next day.

Hilos’ Interplay is the first no-CAD platform that allows users to create designs and generate 3D files ready for 3D printing and manufacturing at scale. According to Stahl, users can design whichever way they prefer—whether through hand sketching, VR, or even tools like Midjourney—and Interplay will generate 3D files for production. The platform is focused on highly systematized products, like footwear.

What sets Hilos apart is its commitment to a new way of making shoes that skips traditional steps. Hilos relies on 3D printing to create shoes on demand. That means no big factories, no bulk production, and minimal waste. Every pair of shoes is made when ordered, cutting down on the extra pairs that often end up as waste. And with Hilos’ software, it takes only a fraction of the time to go from design to final product.

The idea is simple: shoes are printed, not stitched or glued. Traditional shoemaking is slow, with materials leftover and unsold products piling up. By integrating 3D printing, they cut the number of materials needed and use a process that minimizes scraps, delivering a sleek, strong, and sustainable shoe.

“Right now, design happens in two very separate worlds, the digital and the physical; in the digital world, a revolution is underway; generative AI allows for sketches, words, and even gestures to become beautiful, even unreal images almost instantly. While in the physical world, it still takes months and years for design to become a product on the shelf,” explains Stahl.

The executive says there is a pressing need to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds, particularly in design. This is especially true in footwear, a $400 billion industry where production lags mean that designs for spring 2026 are happening now. This delay drives massive waste, with billions spent on unsold inventory. In fact, Hilos’ method has already shown that it can reduce waste by up to 90%. Stahl’s mission is to “dissolve this barrier,” making the speed and efficiency of digital creativity tangible in physical products, reducing waste, and bringing design to life faster.

This partnership between Hilos and Steve Madden is expected to create a line of shoes that captures the best of both worlds. With Hilos, Stahl says that Steve Madden will be able to accelerate the product creation cycle exponentially, going from idea to wearable reality in days instead of months and launching into the market at the same speed without making thousands of shoes in advance.

He says the goal is to ensure the infrastructure to scale footwear production the way other industries have. Hilos accomplishes this through three interlocking components. First, it has developed patented assembly methods that simplify manufacturing by reducing parts and labor, allowing production to scale easily across various brands and product lines. Second, Hilos’ digital toolchain reads and segments designs, converting them into printable 3D files ready for manufacturing. Finally, Hilos’ partner-based supply chain can scale production from hundreds to tens of thousands of units. By partnering with a network of providers rather than owning its printers, Hilos allows brands to reserve capacity annually to meet demand without managing physical equipment.

Stahl notes that “jailbreaking” existing 3D printers through close partnerships with companies like HP has enabled Hilos to achieve an unmatched cost structure and scalability in the industry. This innovation makes on-demand production a likely alternative to traditional manufacturing. The partnership with Steve Madden, in particular, highlights Hilos’ ability to match cost-parity with East Asian production, allowing for local, large-scale, and affordable on-demand manufacturing.

HILOS Interplay booth at Vogue Business Fashion Futures. Image courtesy of Hilos.

This collaboration will result in a streamlined, responsive process that doesn’t just chase trends but can shape them. Hilos can ramp up production in real time if a particular style starts selling out fast. If interest fades, they can shift to a new design. It’s an approach that gives Steve Madden flexibility without any commitment to excess inventory.

With up to 30% of footwear bought online being returned in regions like the EU and $740 billion in excess stock across U.S. retailers, the industry is known to produce plenty of unsold inventory. Hilos’ model offers a solution to this issue through on-demand production. For Steve Madden, it means creating and delivering shoes in as little as 72 hours. Both software and hardware allow for high customization, meaning that Steve Madden’s designers can easily tweak the design to fit customer needs. If they want to add a unique texture or create a special color, it’s all possible without changing entire production lines.

This approach also lets Hilos and Steve Madden respond quickly to trends. Traditional shoemaking can take months from design to retail. With Hilos’ technology, designs can hit the market much faster. In today’s world, where trends come and go, this is a game-changer. Plus, 3D printing means they’re never tied to large quantities of one style—if something’s not selling, they can simply print a new design.