Sneakers aren’t just shoes. To many people worldwide, they’re culture, identity, and community; the kind of everyday object that has meaning far beyond its function. From limited-edition drops to streetwear collabs, sneakers have long been about much more than just walking. Now, a new partnership is testing how 3D printing fits into that particular world.
Bambu Lab has teamed up with Los Angeles design-tech studio Presq to release Fig.(0), an open-source shoe designed to be 3D printed and actually worn. Unlike many past 3D printed footwear concepts, Fig.(0) is fully functional and customizable. The design files, available starting September 29 on MakerWorld, come ready to print on Bambu’s H2D desktop machines, making it possible for anyone with the right setup to produce their own pair at home.
A Drop You Can Print?
The idea isn’t just to show that 3D printers can make shoes. It’s to literally hand over the culture of sneaker drops to the community. Anyone can download the base files and print them on TPE 85A, a specific grade of rubber-like plastic known as Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE). The “85A” is its Shore A hardness rating, so basically, lower numbers like 70A are softer and stretchier, while higher numbers like 95A are firmer. 85A is in the middle, so the material is comfortable and soft enough to walk in but strong enough to hold its shape. From there, users can “remix” the sneakers by adding textures, changing colors, creating attachments, or adapting the design to fit their own style.
Fig.(0) 3D printed mules using TPE 85A.
Instead of waiting for a drop, this release shifts ownership. Presq and Bambu Lab are “introducing new audiences to the possibilities of domestic manufacturing and planting the seeds for how 3D printing can redefine consumer culture itself.”
For Presq, the shoe isn’t just a product but a platform: “By pairing [Bambu’s] performance with our design system and creative direction, we’re giving creators a practical path from imagination to a real product that people can wear,” said Adam Saleh, Presq’s founder.
Then, Bambu’s role is to make sure the technology holds up. The company’s H2D printers are capable of using the flexible materials needed to make the design work. But as Bambu’s Head of PR, Nadia Yaakoubi, put it, what makes this launch stand out is that the design itself is “beautiful, wearable, and culturally relevant,” not just a proof of concept.
Green mule Fig.(0) 3D printed on a Bambu Lab H2D printer.
A Test for 3D Printing’s Future
The open-source shoe is more than a design experiment; it’s more like a test of whether people want to treat 3D printing as a tool for culture. If Fig.(0) takes off, it could show how future products, from accessories to apparel, might follow the same model: open, remixable, and community-driven.
The launch centers on one question: what happens when sneakers go open-source?
For now, the answer starts with Fig.(0). The first release includes U.S. Men’s Size 10 files, along with a scaling table so the design can be resized accurately for other sizes. According to the companies, a pre-sliced .3mf file is also provided, optimized for Bambu’s H2D printers: it uses matte TPE 85A as the primary material, with PLA as a support that peels away cleanly for a durable, wearable finish. However, since Presq and Bambu are sharing Fig.(0) openly, they are offering much more than a product. The base model can be remixed with new textures, attachments, or performance tweaks, turning a shoe drop into a “starting point for co-creation.”
Presq studio microfactory.
The shoes are designed to run on Bambu’s H2D, the dual-extrusion model in the company’s new H2 series desktop printers, which the company has pitched as its most versatile yet. The H2D is built for speed and reliability, but also tuned for tougher jobs. It can handle flexible filaments like TPE thanks to improved cooling, and it uses automated calibration to cut down setup time. With two extruders, users can switch between rigid and flexible materials in the same print, making it possible to produce a shoe that combines strength and comfort. By pairing Fig.(0) with the H2D, Bambu and Presq are trying to show that “wearable consumer products can come straight off a desktop printer, not just prototypes, but items ready to use in daily life.”
The files are free to download here; the printers are ready, and 3D printing has just had its first authentic streetwear moment. The shoes are designed to come straight off a desktop machine as something people can actually wear. Since sneaker culture thrives on originality and hype, it will be fascinating to see how Fig.(0) gets remixed and how quickly those experiments start showing up across social media posts.
Images and video courtesy of Presq/Bambu Lab