Zellerfeld cites manufacturing-grade data quality in Volumental investment
Recently confirmed commercial partnership integrates Volumental's scanning platform into Zellerfeld's custom 3D printing pipeline
Custom-fit footwear has been technically achievable for years, yet it has remained a niche offering. According to Zellerfeld, the obstacle has not been print technology — it has been data quality.
A shoe manufactured to an individual foot is only as accurate as the measurements describing it, and the company stated that the precision threshold required to build a shoe from scratch is materially higher than what is needed to match a customer to an existing size run.
That distinction drove Zellerfeld’s exhaustive evaluation of foot-scanning providers before it entered a commercial partnership with Volumental, a Stockholm-based company whose 3D foot-scanning platform operates across thousands of retail locations in more than 60 countries.
Under the agreement, foot geometry captured through Volumental’s in-store and smartphone-based scanning tools feeds directly into Zellerfeld’s 3D printing pipeline, with each shoe printed to the specific contours of the customer’s foot.
Three criteria, one selection
Zellerfeld stated that it reviewed every credible foot-scanning provider globally before selecting Volumental. The evaluation centered on three criteria specific to manufacturing rather than retail fit recommendation: the precision of the underlying measurements, the accuracy of the resulting 3D foot model, and the ease with which a customer could complete a scan without specialist assistance — whether in-store or via smartphone.
“We looked at every credible 3D foot-scanning option in the world before selecting Volumental,” said Cornelius Schmitt, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zellerfeld. “It was the clear choice because the precision and accuracy of their scans are what custom 3D printing actually requires, and the experience, in store or on a phone, is simple enough that any customer can complete it.
“They have spent more than a decade building the fit technology layer the footwear industry needs. Partnering with Volumental lets us focus on what Zellerfeld does best: turning precise foot data into custom 3D-printed shoes at scale.”
“Zellerfeld has built something the footwear industry has talked about for 20 years and never actually delivered at scale: shoes manufactured to your foot, not the average foot,” added Alper Aydemir, Chief Executive Officer of Volumental. “For that to work, the foot data has to be right.
“Zellerfeld evaluated the entire field and chose us — that means a great deal to us. There is no better partner to make individually-fit footwear the default, not the exception.”
The companies have claimed the partnership sets a new public benchmark for what foot-measurement data should meet when manufacturing, rather than recommending, footwear.
Zellerfeld customers are now able to capture foot data for a custom-printed pair via their own smartphone or at a participating retail location running Volumental’s scanning platform.
