My mom bought me a 3d printer for Christmas when I was 12 years old, and combined with my love of shoes and basketball I would then spend the next 2 years trying to 3D print a basketball shoe. After interning for World famous Sneaker designer Salehe Bembury I started YoungSponge in the summer of 2023.
For the next 2 years I would focus on trying to perfect 3d printing shoes. I wanted to make the most comfortable, coolest, and weirdest looking shoes I could dream of. I also got really into customizing shoes and was able to work with NBA players including Duncan Robinson, Mason Plumlee, Quenton Jackson, and Jay Huff.
After interning for Salehe and actually talking to many Nike designers like Brain Moughty (Head of color design at Nike basketball), Chris Hill (Nike basketball PE designer), and many other industry experts, I came to the conclusion that Nike sucks.
Ever since the 1970’s Nike has been making their shoes in sweatshops, this leads to low quality crappy shoes that you pay 100x what it costs them to make. To be fair Nike is not the only one, almost every major sneaker company makes their shoes in sweatshops. These sweatshops also take advantage of their underprivileged workers in 3rd world countries.
My goal is simply to make better, more comfortable shoes affordable for everyone. I want to make 3d printing the industry standard because then our goals of a better industry can be achieved. It may not happen in my lifetime or yours but I want to take down Nike and make them file for bankruptcy.
The future of footwear is not made in a sweatshop, it's being 3d printed in my mom's basement as you read this.