Reusch & Carbon Partner to Make 3D Printed Goalkeeper Glove Optimized for Punching

Glove and sports gear company Reusch has partnered with Carbon to make the Attrakt Fusion Carbon 3D. This 3D printed goalkeeper glove has a lattice area on it that’s optimized for punching. The mesh-looking lattice has been optimized to absorb energy when punching the ball. The new gloves cost around $200—a $100 premium over previous high-end goalkeeper glove models.

Christian Hilber, Product Manager at Reusch Goalkeeping, stated,

“The heart of the glove is clearly the 3D-printed punching zone. The high-tech mesh structure not only looks futuristic, but is also highly elastic, tear-resistant and energy-absorbing. The clear advantage over conventional rubber or latex applications lies in the three-dimensional grid structure, which offers unparalleled rebound and energy return while being very light and extremely flexible.”

Carbon Application Development Engineer Jiaqi Ren said,

“What I think was most challenging during the development, was working with our assembly partner to convert the injection-molded component to a 3D-printed one. Within a limited thickness, we used Carbon Design Engine to provide multiple lattice (structural grid) combinations to fine-tune performance. This punch zone component needs to endure continuous flexing throughout the game, so we conducted extensive tests on bonding strength to ensure it meets professional standards. The backhand panel has traditionally been made with drop plastic latex for decades. 3D-printed lattice (structural grid) gave the glove a completely new design language — without sacrificing performance. It offers improved energy damping to help protect the back of the hand, and I believe we’ve only scratched the surface of what this technology can bring to goalkeeper gloves.”

Reusch also makes skiing gloves and general cold weather gloves, so there should be more opportunities for the two companies to work together. This is a very exciting area for additive, since a glove’s important surfaces themselves are small but can significantly alter performance. Notably here, the backhand portion of the glove has a 3D printed component on it, while the all important palm area does not. The palm is still the trusty latex surface that goalkeepers are used to. I’d be very curious to know if they simply could not convince goalkeepers of the new interaction with a new material on the palm, or if they were simply not able to replicate the performance of latex as they should. Business-wise, this seems like a good deal for Reusch. The firm can inject a little excitement and buzz into its marketing, and probably will have a bunch of goalies going to stores to see these gloves up-close.

Punching the ball away is important, as is conserving your knuckles while you do so. But, it is considered a bit of a last resort to punch a ball away, as it brings the risk of an enemy player getting control of the ball near or in the box while the keeper is airborne or on the ground. Grabbing is therefore much safer and gives the keeper control over the situation, and would let them kick or throw the ball far away from the goal, hopefully into possession of a player on their team. So it’s hard to see a lot of people flocking to this glove in droves. If they would have superior grip when wet, or something like this, people might be more inclined to get them. It would be interesting to see if Carbon can engineer more grippy surfaces in the future. Could it perhaps use textures to offset some of the friction issues in further iterations?

Carbon is doing well here by once again showcasing how to develop products with partners. So far it has found success in bike seats, backpacks, and shoes. By mastering software, design, and application development in tandem with materials science, the company is able to engineer the right performance for many sports applications. This is a bit of climbdown from earlier ambitions, but its sports performance arena is vast, and 3D printing could play a significant role in its future. By making it painless to partner with Carbon, the company is setting itself up for a string of further partnerships in headgear, grips, and gloves. EOS is doing a little work in this area, as is HP, and I love what Kupol is doing in helmets as well. But, given that through small additional additive parts we can greatly increase the profitability of some sporting goods firms, I think a lot of firms are underestimating the size of the opportunity here.

The total sporting goods industry is perhaps a $480 billion opportunity. Not all of that can be printed of course, and the area in which 3D printing could play a role represents perhaps only 3% of the sporting goods industry. Still, that is an industry segment that’s about the same size as the additive industry, of around $15 billion a year. With small parts adding significant pricing and marketing value, investing in additive is a simple strategy for these firms. Imagine the sponsor dollars or marketing efforts they’d have to do for a commensurate gain. This is relevance on the cheap, for a few phone calls and meetings, with Carbon doing all the work. Now, that is an easy way to get into 3D printing—you don’t have to jump in the pool with your millions, just dip in your toes.