A computer-aided design system for foot-feature-based shoe last customization

There has been a growing trend among shoe manufacturers to introduce customized shoes to satisfy varying customer style, fit, and comfort needs, thus to increase the product’s added value. This study presents a computer-aided design (CAD) system for designing a customized shoe last based on the chosen shoe style and customer’s foot features. The CAD system first automatically extracts 18 important foot features from a laserscanned customer’s foot. Then, it applies a global grading with a local deformation approach that can deform the base shoe last with the customer’s chosen style to the customized shoe last based on the extracted foot features while maintaining the customer’s chosen style. Finally, the system evaluates the final foot shoe last fit and represents the fit in a contoured figure. The experimental results show that the proposed CAD system can be adopted by shoe manufacturers to make customized shoes with the customer’s chosen style and foot size and shape.