BioPods Stimsole Sneakers

Sun Jul 17 '22 Announcement
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 04:46:20 AM

Hello Backers,

The production lasts and molds for the outsoles, midsoles, and and Urban Flex lacing straps have all been completed. The molds are currently being tested (parts are made and validated for size) prior to starting production. 

The yarns for the knitted uppers have been dyed and patterns for the various shoe sizes have been made.

The outsole, midsole and upper parts for the varous sizes are then test fitted to the lasted knitted uppers.

We expect the factories to complete the mold testing and testing fitting with the uppers by around July 25th. Once the testing is complete, the factories with then begin production of the various parts, (enough parts to make 8,000 pairs).

Once the parts are made they will be shipped to the footwear factory that does the final assembly. All the factories are in the same city, so there will be no shipping delays.

The factory that does the final assembly has indicated that they should be able to begin assembly during the first week of August. Once the assembly process begins they will  ship the finished shoes to us on a weekly basis. The sneakers for our Kickstarter backers will be made first.

As soon as we receive the shoes we will immediately ship them to you, along with any socks and insoles that you may have ordered.

Thank you again for your patience and support. 

The Biopods Team

Thu Jun 16 '22 Announcement
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jun 16, 2022 at 12:12:53 PM

Hello Backers,

The completion of the molds for all sizes is on schedule, as noted in the previous update. The Last issues have been fully resolved. The Lasts for all sizes, widths, and volumes have been made. With the Lasts completed, the factory finished the sneaker uppers' patterns. The knitting factory uses the patterns to make the individual uppers, per your Custom Size Codes. 

The knitting factory that makes the uppers was scheduled to begin knitting the uppers last week. However, they could not start because they had not received the dyed recycled yarns from their supplier. The knitting factory informed us on Tuesday (June 14th) that the yarns had not arrived. We were provided the reason for the delay and a revised mid-July delivery date following day (yesterday).

In March 2022, we ordered enough customized yarns (made from recycled plastic bottles) to make 20,000 pairs of sneakers. When we placed the order, we were advised that it would take 60 days to complete the raw yarns and then 30 days to dye them to our color specifications (with delivery by the end of May or early June). The raw yarns were completed on time and shipped to another factory for dyeing, where color samples were approved. 

Matching our color requirements took longer than the factory expected. While the dying process will be completed next week, the dyed yarns still need to go to another factory for final finishing. We have been advised that this finishing process will take two and three weeks. However, we are trying to expedite this process. 

At the moment, that is all the information that we have. We will provide updates as we learn more about the timing of the final assembly.

Thank you again for your support and patience.

Wed May 11 '22 Announcement
almost 2 years ago – Wed, May 11, 2022 at 06:19:37 AM

Hello Backers,

The pre-production is moving ahead pretty much as planned. The first set of outsole, midsole/pin and Urban Flex Lacing strap production molds were made and tested during the last week of April as planned. The testing for all molds produced good parts. The first production insole mold has been made but testing has been delayed by one week to this week.

The outsole, midsole/pin and Urban Flex Lacing strap production molds production molds for six sizes were started last week and another six sets will start this week. Once the insole mold has been validated, the additional molds for the various sizes will be made (5 to 6 sizes per week).

We have had a bit of a delay with the Last manufacturer as a result of their inability read our CAD files due to their outdated computer software. Lasts are plastic models of the inside of the shoe. The Last manufacturer uses a CNC machine to make the lasts based on CAD files. To enusre that our shoes fit correctly, we have 9 different Lasts sizes for each shoe size (3 different widths and 3 different volumes per width). We require  hundreds of Lasts for the shoe assembly process. To address the CAD file issues we are 3D printing the Lasts for each size. The Last manufacturer then digitally scans the 3D printed Lasts and uses that data to create digital CAD files that are compatible with their software and CNC machines. This has caused about a 10 day delay in the footwear assembly process.

All other materials are on hand or en route. We will provide an update in a couple of weeks as we get closer starting the shoe assembly.

Thank you again for you support and patience.

Sun Apr 10 '22 Announcement
about 2 years ago – Sun, Apr 10, 2022 at 10:28:27 AM

Hello Backers,

We are in the final stretch to begin the sneaker production. The raw materials have been ordered and are either on hand or will be delivered by the end of April. The remaining thing required is the completion of the production molds, which is currently in process.

Due to the significant differences in the foot Width and Volume measurements that we received from you, we have decided to make the sneakers in three outsole widths rather than two. This will ensure a perfect fit for everyone. However, the additional outsole width requires significantly more molds than we anticipated, increasing the time required to make all of the production molds.

As we have advised in our previous updates, the industry-wide EVA supply issues have caused significant delays. These issues have been resolved, the EVA material has been ordered and is on the way. However, due to the EVA supply uncertainty, we could not begin making the production molds until we could validate the EVA's expansion rate. This validation is critical because every EVA blend expands at a different rate during the injection molding process. For example, when EVA parts come out of the mold, they can grow between 140% and 160%. Therefore, the molds must be designed to account for the EVA material's specific expansion rate.

While all of these issues have been resolved, the additional molds required for the extra outsole width have increased the time it will take to make all of the production molds. This has affected the timing of the sneaker production as follows:

• Mold sets for the 12 most common sneaker sizes and widths should be completed by May 7th, with sneaker production for these sizes beginning immediately afterward. This represents about 89% of the orders received. We expect to ship these sneakers before the end of May.
• Six mold sets for the next most common sneaker sizes and widths should be completed by May 14th, with sneaker production for these sizes beginning immediately afterward. We expect to ship these sneakers by early June.  This represents 7% of the orders received.
• Six mold sets for the next most common sneaker sizes and widths should be completed by May 21st, with sneaker production for these sizes beginning immediately afterward.  We expect to ship these sneakers by mid-June. This represents 3% of the orders received.
• Six mold sets for the least common sneaker sizes and widths will be completed by May 28th, with sneaker production for these sizes beginning immediately afterward. We expect to ship these by mid-June. This represents 1% of the orders received.

Attention Backers who have not yet responded to the BackerKit questions, we can't make your sneakers until you do.

We will keep you posted as things progress.

Thank you again for your support and patience.

The BioPods Team.

Mon Mar 14 '22 Announcement
about 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 14, 2022 at 12:14:39 PM