Oneday shoes: a maker toolkit to understand the role of co-manufacturing in personalization

Personalization of shoes is of increasing importance to designers, researchers, shoemakers and manufacturers as mass customization progresses towards ultra-personalized product service systems. Many attempts have been made to design co-creation platforms that allow end users to personalize their own shoes. concentrating on color preference. This research takes a different approach by designing a toolkit for maker-oriented users to co-manufacture their own shoes. The toolkit was deployed worldwide to different users via crowdsharing. Backers (n=237) were surveyed before deployment and thirty users were interviewed after two years to understand personalization over a full cycle of making and use with the crafted research product. We found that users who have higher quality tools and materials in their toolkits are more likely to personalize their shoes while co-manufacturing. The research provides insights for researchers and designers creating toolkits for designing personalization product service systems/configurators and engaging in tangible bespoke processes.