Case Study: adidas achieves scalable, performance-tuned 3D-printed midsoles with Carbon

The perfect fit Carbon + adidas collaborate to upend athletic footwear

Adidas partnered with Carbon to overcome the limitations of traditional additive manufacturing—slow throughput, unsuitable materials, and restricted design freedom—by using Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) process and the EPU 40 printing material to develop Futurecraft 4D, the world’s first production-ready 3D-printed midsole produced at scale.

Carbon set up an incubator factory to validate print methods, materials, and post-processing, delivering tuned lattice midsoles that vary cushioning, stability, and flexibility based on athlete data. The result, Futurecraft 4D, met Adidas’s durability, energy-return, and comfort targets, enabled production stability for global distribution, accelerated concept-to-production timelines, and unlocked continuous design iteration—demonstrating Carbon’s ability to scale DLS for high-volume footwear manufacturing.

Adidas

Eric Liedtke

Group Executive Board Member Responsible For Global Brands