A methodology to use digital tools for design and manufacturing of shoe parts as heels

Offering consumers custom-fitted clothing improves customer satisfaction with well-fitted products and waste reduction. Among a wide variety of products, footwear plays a pivotal role in human body health and the high requirements they must fulfill in terms of fit and comfort. Designing footwear products is a complex process that merges the creative part for aesthetic purposes and the technical part for fit and comfort. The spread of using digital tools in footwear production is helping companies to improve their performance and aligns with the sustainability goals required by the footwear industry. This work presents a methodology to design heels as part of a project to use digital tools for footwear products. The first case encompasses the use of the base of a standard heel and creates new heel models. Meanwhile, in the second case is depicted the heel designing based on the surface of the bottom part of the second half-insole. In both cases based on the new shapes, a pattern engineer goes further by creating heel shapes as a complex fantasy. The digital tools part of 3D modeling software presents an easy and efficient way to create these new models. Direct digital manufacturing, like additive manufacturing, presents advantages such as reducing dependence on external manufacturing companies, offering product customization, or waste reduction. They depict the important role of technology as a key driver of the fashion industry