I've tried some footwear! These had a really soft rubber soles, but I've also made ones where the soles were cut from a sheet of hard Vibram rubber: https://self-assembly.fi/canvas-shoes

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adityaathalye 4 days ago | parent [-]

So cool! So, I buy this brand of thin-sole shoes called Xero. Their Do It Yourself kit is a simple Vibram sole I can cut to size, a hole punch to find the right fit, and a long lace that I can tie in many different ways, including as a slipper, or sandal, or greek-style laced-up huarache. Tie style, with different colour combinations of sole and lace make for distinctive personalisation.

Your stuff takes it to a whole other level. It makes me imagine a constructible footwear that can morph from a flip-flop (band across foot) all the way up to an all-weather knee-length boot.

No doubt you have already imagined how experimentation with materials and sealing/binding techniques could yield a design system that everyone can make their own; from the multi-spectral La Sape, to baby wear for those fast-growth years, to field equipment for the extreme adventurer.

(edit: fixed broken sentence)

	▲	m-a-t-t-i 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah, morphing is really the key idea here. You don't have to make all design decisions beforehand, but can wear something for a while and then make changes based on your needs & observations. I haven't quite figured out how to apply this thinking to seam sealing though. The current garments that have taped / waterproof seams are locked into the taped configuration. For tents I have some geometrically water repellent structures (that guide the water away as long as it's coming from above), but for the soles of footwear, you might want something 100% sealed.