We’ve been hard at work filling orders and adding new services and features, and we thought we’d take this opportunity to give you all a general update.
Levels of Shoe Last Customization
Perhaps the best thing about 3D printing shoe lasts on demand is that it makes a high degree of differentiation feasible. In fact, the 3D printing time isn’t affected at all by whether it is a standard shoe last of a common size or a totally bespoke shoe last. But a challenge for us has been figuring out how to present the various possibilities on our website. What we have finally settled on is three options: Standard sizes (which includes the full range of widths), custom (you provide shoe last measurements), and bespoke shoe lasts (you provide foot measurements and other data). Any of these can be applied to any of our shoe last styles via the “level of customization” drop-down. If you’d like a more in-depth explanation of these, please see this page: levels of shoe last customization.
Flattened Insole and Upper Patterns
We’ve added the option to order both flattened insole and upper patterns matching any given shoe last ordered from us. Molding and then flattening shapes can be a time consuming and frustrating step to do manually. So why not let a computer do it? All of our patterns are digitally flattened and numerically cut from thick card stock.
Extra Space for Insoles/Orthotics
Inserting insoles and orthotics into shoes is very common these days. And the presence and thickness of these has an impact on how much space there is in the shoe, and thereby the dimensions of the shoe last to make the shoe. That’s why we’ve added in the option to build up the bottom of the shoe last to your specs to make space. More accurately, we actually just drop the bottom, so the insole pattern is maintained exactly.
More Shoe Last Designs
We have a slow but steady incoming stream of shoe last designs, which can be found on our Shoe Lasts for Sale page. A while back we also added filtering options, so if you’re looking for orthopedic shoe lasts, for instance, you don’t have to sift through our entire collection.
Shoe Last Measurements
We’ve added a grading chart so you can check your shoe last measurements before you order. Please note though that in certain instances measurements will deviate. For instance, our pointed toe shoe lasts will have longer lengths to make more space for the toes. We’re working to mention deviations in the various shoe last descriptions. But for now please double check with us if you want to verify.
Shoemaking Schools
We’ve added a page where we’ll start to list shoemaking schools we’re starting to collaborate with. If you are just beginning you’re shoemaking journey, these could help you start out on the right foot. And even if you’ve been making shoes for many years, it might be inspiring to learn some technique’s from another shoemaker and participate in a community. The first school we’ve listed is Jennifer Allison’s Art and Sole Academy, located in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Please Send us Your Shoe Pics
To those of you who have purchased lasts from us, we are very eager to see what you have been doing with your new shoe lasts! Please kindly send us your pics! You can send them by contacting us here or we’re also on Facebook and Instagram (we recently signed up and are really impressed by the huge community of shoemakers there). We’ve also added a projects page here on our website to start to showcase some of our customers work.
Podohub Affiliate and Influencer Program
We feel that we have a fairly unique and helpful offering with our highly customizable 3D printed shoe lasts (and soon components) and we’re eager to get them out into the world. So we’re looking for as much help as we can get. For these reason, we launched an affiliate/influencer program that gives out a commission for successful referrals. If you have a customer base or audience that includes shoemakers, please contact us so we can figure out how to collaborate. Or if you know of someone who might be interested, please let us know that too!
Coming Up
The shoe last is at the core of what we envision for Podohub. But it isn’t all we plan to do. Stay tuned for all kinds of matching components. And if you have any suggestions at all for what we might start to work on next, please let us know in the comments below. Thank you valued customers and readers!
