Under Armour announced a partnership this week with EOS, a supplier of industrial 3D printing equipment and consulting services, to ramp up the sportswear company’s efforts to bring 3D-printed sneakers to market.
EOS will provide Under Armour, which recently announced its first connected running shoe, with advanced laser sintering technology, an additive manufacturing technique in which a laser builds objects using powdered materials.
“This partnership is set to achieve Under Armour’s goal to industrialize and scale 3D printing of performance footwear,” Glynn Fletcher, President of EOS North America, said in a statement. “True additive manufacturing has come to Under Armour; no other athletic brand can make this statement.”
In addition to using EOS technology to print powdered-based parts for its footwear, Under Armour and EOS’s consulting division, EOS Additive Minds, will work together to develop new polymer-based materials that can be used with EOS laser sintering technology, which may ultimately find their way into Under Armour products.
Upon announcing the partnership, Under Armour showcased UA ArchiTech Futurist footwear (pictured below) that illustrates the kinds of products the two companies are aiming to produce together.
Under Armour/EOS shoe
This partnership adds to a slew of efforts Under Armour has taken in recent years to add technology to its existing line of traditional apparel, accessories and footwear.
While 3D printing enables the company to more cost-effectively scale the manufacturing side of its business, Under Armour has also announced a line of direct-to-consumer connected fitness products that assist users during workouts.
Connected fitness is still a tiny portion of Under Armour’s overall business by revenue, but its quick pace of growth (up 16 percent last quarter compared with an 8 percent decline for apparel) signals a new area of focus for the company centered on using technology to enhance its products and manufacturing process.
