Finding a shoe that fits your style is pretty simple. You know what you want, and you know what looks good. But finding a shoe that fits your foot can be an entirely different challenge.
Too wide, too narrow, too much room by the toe or bad arch support can ruin that pair of kicks that caught your eye. But Chicago startup Mohop can 3D carve a custom shoe for even the most unusual foot size and shape, and all you need is to snap a pic of your foot outline.
"I can tell you, I have analyzed a lot of peoples' feet, and peoples' feet are crazy," said Annie Mohaupt, CEO and co-founder of Mohop. "They are all sorts of different shapes. I can’t believe that we’re all expected to shove our feet into one width."
Mohop combines body scanning technology with 3D digital fabrication to create customized shoes on demand. Customers select the type of shoe they're looking for (Mohop mostly specializes in sandals for women, with a few styles for men), print out the custom template, and trace their foot on the page. Then you just snap a picture with your phone, and upload the image during the checkout process.
Then in about 1 week you'll have shoes that perfectly fit your feet sent in the mail.
"Sometime down the road it's going to be kind of weird to think that you used to go to the store and buy a shoe off the shelf that's supposed to fit everybody," Mohaupt said.
Mohop, which is part of 1871's WiSTEM program, launched in 2005 after Mohaupt left her job as an architect to make shoes. Bouncing around from craft fair to craft fair, Mohop didn't add a "tech" component to the small business until 2008 when Mohaupt bought her first CNC machine to keep up with the demand. And it's only recently that the company has incorporated smartphone scanning to help make the perfect fit.
Mohop makes shoes in its Chicago warehouse as they are ordered, which cuts down on unused product and makes for a truly on-demand shoe ordering experience--and one that Mahaupt hopes will eventually include same-day delivery.
"It's a totally different way of doing things where we’re actually producing based on the customer's demand," she said. "We’re never making things that nobody wants. That's a huge savings and efficiency there."
Mohaupt wouldn't comment specifically on sales figures, but said the company is gearing up for added exposure thanks to two national TV shows. Mohop has appeared on How It's Made, which airs on the Science Channel, and it's set to appear on Handcrafted America, which debuts in March on INSP.
The company was also recognized by AT&T as a small businesses that's using technology in a unique way.
Mohaupt said Mohop's popularity coincides with the Maker Movement happening across the country and in Chicago particularly, with the DMDII and companies like Inventables leading 3D manufacturing efforts in the US. And with cost of CNC and 3D printing machines continuing to drop, small business manufacturing in the US has never been easier.
"I believe strongly in American manufacturing, but not just out of some sort of patriotic notion, but because it does not make sense anymore (for us) to manufacture abroad," she said. "In the last year 3D fabrication tools have become more accessible than ever."
