Vivobarefoot Co-Founder and Design Director Asher Clarke presenting Vivobarefoot x Balena at Biofabricate Paris Summit, January 2024. Image: Biofabricate/Robert Leslie.
Design Like Nature: Compostable Scan-to-Print Footwear Presented by Vivobarefoot & Balena.
Footwear manufacturer Vivobarefoot and material science company Balena take the next step toward regenerative bare-footwear with an industry-first partnership which aims to deliver the world’s first 3D printed and made-to-measure footwear that is fully compostable. This footwear will be made-to-order, made-to-measure, made locally and made with Balena BioCir®flex - a biobased, compostable, thermoplastic material for durable and high-performing products.
"The world doesn’t need new shoes. We need a new system and new materials. This future is literally at our feet and this footwear enables us to reconnect to nature, move as nature intended and return footwear to nature when you’re done.’’
Shoes are trashing our feet and the planet - made in off-shore ‘subtractive supply chains’ they are slow, complex, wasteful and have an upfront environmental cost. With an estimated 20 billion pairs ending up in landfill each year, due to their complexity and severe lack of end-of-life solutions.
Vivobarefoot acknowledge that we are part of the problem but also part of the solution with initiatives like VivoBiome, which in contrast will be fast, digital, efficient and an additive process, meaning you only use what you need when you need it - this person by person foot by foot approach is critical to changing the wasteful status quo and unlocking future circular footwear solutions.
Now, two companies have come together with a shared purpose of using technology and science as a force for good in a (R)evolutionary next step towards regenerative bare- footwear. Balena (material science company) and Vivobarefoot are developing the world’s first 3D printed, made-to-measure and completely compostable footwear made using a patented scan-to-print computational design system that enables them to make on-demand footwear for individuals not mass markets.
VIVOBIOME - a radical scan-to-print circular bare-footwear system.
VivoBiome by Vivobarefoot derives from the term "biomimetic" - "bio" (meaning life or living organisms) and "mimetic" (meaning to imitate or mimic). Vivobarefoot, a barefoot footwear pioneer, has developedVivoBiome — 'a radical scan-to-print circular bare-footwear system'. VivoBiome is not just another product; it's a new way to completely redefine how footwear is made, used and experienced. The vision is to one day realise Vivobarefoot’s regenerative bare-foot-wear goal - a radical vision for a scan-to-print, circular, system that completely reimagines how footwear is created.
Vivobiome has just launched their generation one Pioneer program where 4000 applicants applied and only 200 selected on a pay-to-play, 8 months wear test program ; where they will receive 3 pairs of biome footwear and get access to the new mobile platform to scan their feet, try on in AR, vote on new colors and feedback on their footwear experience.
In the future VivoBiome footwear will be made-to-order (on-demand) made to measure (bespoke fit), made locally (on-shore) and made to be remade (circular). Products that truly enable enhanced natural movement and will one day have a net-positive impact on not just human health but our planet too. It's a digital, sustainable, and personalised approach to footwear that will fit for your feet and the future. Precise scans of a customer's feet, which will be sent to 3D printers for local fabrication. VivoBiome will kick off with a hub in the UK, with Germany and the US to follow. Local manufacturing will reduce shipping, while 3D printing cuts down on manufacturing waste.
About Vivobarefoot
Vivobarefoot is a footwear and natural health lifestyle brand on a mission to reconnect people into the natural world and human natural potential. Created by two cousins that come from a long line of cobblers, Vivobarefoot draws upon simple barefoot design principles: wide, thin and flexible, for optimum foot health and natural movement. As a certified B Corp, Vivobarefoot is also on a mission to become a regenerative business, for people and the planet. Learn more at Vivobarefoot.
About Balena
Founded in 2020, Balena is a material science company that offers biobased, compostable, recyclable, thermoplastic materials range BioCir® for diverse industries, which uniquely combines the high-performance properties such as durability and flexibility of traditional plastics with the ability to biodegrade safely in industrial compost facilities when the products reach their end-of-life. Balena partners with leading consumer brands on a mission to create a circular model for durable goods, replacing polluting plastics with materials that easily decompose at the end of their life cycle, and reducing global waste and pollution. Learn more at https://balena.science
BioCir®flex
BioCir®flex is an advanced, flexible, fully compostable, and recyclable thermoplastic elastomer, reducing toxic, fossil fuel-based materials conventionally used in the consumer goods industry. BioCir®flex can be scaled for mass production through injection molding, extrusion, and for 3D printing using filaments or pellets.
Products made of BioCir®flex reach their end-of-life responsibly in a biological recycling mechanism, including full decomposition and biodegradation of the material back to the ground safely in an industrial compost environment, and by that, completing a fully circular process required for a sustainable future. This method of controlled and safe biodegradation complies with tests for the ASTM D6400-04 and the EN 13432 certifications.
BioCir®-3D:
Balena's BioCir®flex-3D is a biobased thermoplastic material that maintains high flexibility similar to TPU, providing reliable and long-lasting 3D-printed products. At the same time, it is compostable, reducing the environmental impact of discarded prints and for the first time enabling 3D printing of high-performance, flexible, and durable items while giving them the unique property of biodegradability, whereas TPU is non-biodegradable and contributes to plastic waste.
“About 4 years ago, I heard Asher on stage with his amazing vision for VivoBiome, and it was clear to me that in order to enable consumer product companies to achieve true sustainability, there is a need to advocate for a clearer circular economy model with a fundamental change in the materials we use, and that's what Balena is all about. Seeing that collaboration become a reality fills me with immense pride.”
David Roubach Founder of Balena
“Our goal at Vivobarefoot is to develop performance footwear that is both durable and fully compostable. This first-of-its-kind collaboration moves us a step closer to that goal, giving us the ability to make product design and development decisions based on science, which we’ve never been able to do before.”
Asher Clark, Vivobarefoot Co-Founder and Design Director.
The production of penicillin (and other antibiotics) by fermentation requires specific installations to regulate temperature, hygrometry, and the sterility of the air. The construction site work was contracted to a specialist: Jean Barot, who had in the 1930s created the Laboratoires Debat in Garches and the Coty perfumery in Suresnes.
The laboratories for research and control (Carrel and Raulin buildings), as well as the offices, were located in long buildings whose floors were lit up by openings in the form of strips. They contrasted with the vertical nature of the bays of the Cuvier building which housed several fermenters containing more than 150 m3 and which were more than ten metres high.
The smooth running of the fermentation workshops as well as the laboratories was covered by a battery of compressors which made it possible to maintain the air at temperatures between +2° and -60°C. The complete system was powered by a hydraulic network which supplied 10,000 m3 of water pumped from more than 100 metres depth, as well as by a coal fired power station with an electrical output of 2500 Kw.
At the end of his life, Gaston Roussel received official acclaim by being elected to the Medical Academy, in the veterinary section, on 24 April 1945. His son, Jean-Claude, a young pharmacist of just 24 years of age, continued to further develop the activities and in 1962 he founded the holding Roussel-UCLAF. At the time of his death in 1972, the company had become a true pharmaceutical empire. A later merger with Rhône-Poulenc resulted in the creation of the current group Sanofi.
