VIVOBIOME by Vivobarefoot x Balena
VIVOBAREFOOT x BALENA, THE WORLDS FIRST SCAN-TO-PRINT BIODEGRADABLE FOOTWEAR.
VivoBarefoot, a global natural health lifestyle brand, and Balena, a next-gen circular materials science company have partnered on a radical scan-to-print innovation project - VivoBiome - to reimagine how footwear is designed and made by creating the world's first on-demand 3D printed, personalised made to measure fit, and biodegradable footwear. VivoBiome’s digital design system utilizes biomimetic design principles, computational code, additive manufacturing methods and Balena’s biobased and biodegradable BioCir material to produce the world's first bespoke and circular footwear. BioCir®flex is a high-performance, flexible, certified biobased and industrially compostable, recyclable thermoplastic elastomer.
Balena is a material science company, developing innovative high-performance compostable, biobased, recyclable, thermoplastic materials for scaled durable goods production through injection moulding, extrusion, and 3D printing, on a mission to create a circular model for consumer goods industries.
Balena’s optimised BioCir material allows for the printed footwear that is not only durable and high-performing but also environmentally responsible, enabling consumers to simply return their worn-out footwear to controlled compost environment where they will naturally decompose.
Balena’s BioCirflex3D® is a bio-based, industrially compostable, recyclable thermoplastic that safely biodegrades at the end of its life. Products made of BioCir®flex responsibly reach their end-of-life through complete decomposition and biodegradation in industrial compost facilities, leaving no waste or negative impact on compost quality.
COMPOSITION: The biobased content component of these materials is derived plant-based sources such as castor bean oils and polysaccharides.