3D Printing Helps Make Ski Boots More Comfortable

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Anyone who’s ever gone skiing knows how uncomfortable rental ski boots can be. Rental boots never fit quite right and they pinch badly.

Until now, the only alternative to uncomfortable rental boots was to shell out a load of cash for new ski boots, or to go with costly custom-designed insoles.

New start-up company ALPrint is set to change all of that. ALPrint is ready to launch a new app that will allow you to create custom 3D printed insoles for ski boots by snapping photos of your feet. This allows for ultra-comfortable 3D printed insoles to be created quickly and efficiently, cutting costs without sacrificing quality.

Here’s how it works. The app allows you to take cellphone photos of your feet while standing on a “calibration mat” that can be printed at home. This mat allows ALPrint to calculate dimensions of the feet from the photos. Other information such as weight is also used to create bespoke insoles that ALPrint will 3D print and mail directly to you. Because the insoles are custom designed for individual feet, they are comfortable.

“All skiers know the relief of taking your boots off at the end of the day, but we at ALPrint believe that the best part of the day should be when you’re on the slopes,” states ALPrint’s website.

Unlike a new pair of boots, or costly custom-molded insoles, the 3D printed insoles will be affordable. Chris Balmer, one of ALPrint’s founders, says that creating bespoke soles with ALPrint will only cost around $40.