Arkema and Carbon have extended a materials partnership now running more than 13 years, splitting the work so Arkema supplies the UV-curable chemical base and scale-up capacity while Carbon formulates the elastomeric resins that run on its Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) printers. The pitch to brands is faster concept-to-retail timelines for lattice-structured footwear, sporting goods and other consumer parts tuned for cushioning, support and energy return.
The clearest production example is Vivobarefoot’s Tabi Gen 02, a scan-to-print barefoot sandal made to order from individual foot scans and manufactured by Oechsler. Switching to DLS brought the sandal to roughly 91 grams with a 2mm sole, and the companies frame the made-to-order model as cutting the inventory and material waste of stock-based manufacturing.
Carbon’s CTO Jason Rolland said Arkema’s material science and scale-up work let his team “focus on developing elastomers that unlock new levels of performance, comfort and customization.” The companies did not publish resin pricing, mechanical test data for the new elastomers, or a production volume target for footwear applications.
Carbon says the approach has already produced more than one million 3D printed cycling saddles across 11 brands. Rivals are building similar chemistry-plus-hardware pairings: New Balance and Formlabs developed Rebound Resin for athletic footwear, LuxCreo tested its elastomer for Asics’ ACTIBREEZE HYBRID sandal to one million cycles at 2,000 newtons, and Farsoon worked with PEAK Sports and Wanhua Chemical on a sintered TPU midsole. Lubrizol has partnered with Lore Cycle on personalized cycling shoes. Across these deals, the chemical supplier’s formulation work, not the printer hardware, is becoming the differentiator brands are buying into.