Design, research and development of a collection of women's high-heeled shoes using polylactide 3D printing

The first part of the paper Design, research and development of a collection of women's high-heeled shoes using polylactide 3D printing presents the design research of the author's collection, and this second part describes and visually documents the process of developing and producing prototypes of women's high-heeled shoes. The introductory part of the paper briefly describes the process of fused deposition modelling (FDM), the characteristics of desktop 3D printers and the application of additive manufacturing (AM) in shoe design. The experimental part of the paper describes the process of designing CAD models of heels and their production on a desktop 3D printer made of polylactide (PLA) using the example of two realised prototypes of women's shoes as well as the construction of shoe uppers using traditional techniques and processes in shoe production. By using 3D printing, the author's idea should be quickly and easily translated into the production of more complex shapes of heels. The paper also aims to show how modern technologies are impacting all areas of human endeavour, including the footwear industry. The need for fast and innovative solutions on the market is emphasised by the constantly growing number of fashion models and the shortened product life cycle. In this context, additive manufacturing (3D printing) enables the production of products in a short time directly from a computer model (e.g. Computer Aided Design - CAD) without additional tools, as the results of the work on examples of prototypes of women's high heels show.