Barefoot Sneakers

Versions

April 2nd 2026: v2.12

• improved geometry on the outside of the foot (less buckling)

• better print orientation and support placement 

Opening the Project

I'd recommend downloading the .3MF project file and opening it in PrusaSlicer. The advantage of this method is that while you don't have to add the modifier meshes and paint on supports manually, you can still tune settings like infill density easily.

To add modifiers manually, right click on the model select "add modifier" and upload the correct file. The alignment should be correct by default.

If your shoe size (refer to Size) is too large the shoe might not fit inside the print volume. If that happens, rotate the shoe forward around the x-axis (red arrow) until it does.

I printed the two shoes at once (out of time constraints and hubris) but I'd recommend to print one at a time since you don't waste that much filament if something goes wrong and you won't encounter that much stringing and rough seams.

(Multi) Material

For the final shoes, I used TPU 85A since that is fairly easy to print while still giving the shoe the flexibility it needs in order to feel good on your foot.  If you don't have that at hand (or if your printer doesn't reliably print it), you can also try out different hardnesses.

Now for the supports: while printing the supports in the same material as the shoe basically works with 0.2 mm contact distance, there are some things you'll need to be aware of:

1. Depending on your printer and shoe size, the print is going to wabble a lot once you reach a certain height. That problem is even worse for bed slingers with softer materials.

2. Be careful with support removal. You can easily tear the rim while removing the supports.

If you have a tool changer, these problems can be solved by using PLA as support material. Not only does it prevent most of the wabble, in most cases it's even way easier to remove than traditional supports.

My Settings

These are some settings you could use for orientation. Depending on how much filament you want to spend on your shoe, you can change the infill density. For me, Zig Zag to worked best, but let me know if you found something that works even better.

Global Settings

• Top/Bottom Layer: 0

• Walls: 0

• Infill: 35% Zig Zag

• Infill Anchor Length: 1000 (unlimited)

• Supports: Organic

Modifier Settings

• Mesh Infill: 20% Zig Zag

• Sole Infill: 100% Rectilinear

• Rim Perimeters: 5

Size

Measuring your Foot (recommended)

Since you can make your own custom shoes, using predefined shoe sizes won't give you the best results. Instead, I came up with an equation that will convert the dimensions of your foot to a scale factor for your shoe. If you don't want to do that, just skip this passage. 

Only scale the model in the upright position! Otherwise wired things will happen. 

Proceed by measuring the length of your foot. So the maximum distance from heel to toe, parallel to the ground plane and your mirror plane (I'm sorry, I know biology doesn't work like that) 

Then, just divide your measurement (in millimetres!) by 255 mm and that's your scale factor.

scale_z = length_foot / (255 mm)

Now you can either just go with that as the global scale factor or you switch to uniform scaling and continue by determining the x- and y-factors. In most cases the z-factor should be enough, though.

Nevertheless, here's how to get the other dimensions right: 

scale_x = width_foot / (95 mm)

scale_y = height_ankle / (90 mm)

The Table (optional)

Questions and Feedback

Did I forget to mention anything of importance? Or do you have trouble with the sizing? Just because it works for my feet doesn't mean it works well for yours too, so please let me know if you encounter any issues with this print. 

The shoes in the pictures above are version 2.8 and don't exactly resemble the design I've uploaded. There have been slight geometry changes in the toe area and I've added a solid rim modifier to prevent tear of the rim.