IAMBIC RECEIVES $1 MILLION NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT FOR PRECISION-FIT FOOTWEAR

Custom shoes have been around as long as there have been feet. Names like Berluti, Loake, and John Lobb dominate the luxury footwear industry. Los Angeles-based designer George Esquivel offers a made-to-order program with a rock-and-roll flair, while Texas-based Parker Boot can create the cowboy boots of your dreams. Sneakerheads, correct me, but Nike ID, now Nike By You, first disrupted the market with custom designs in 1999. Like all custom work—from suits to shirts to jeans—the custom footwear consumer ranges from those who want to make a singular style statement to those who are simply hard to fit. Yet, the moment one has had a custom-fitted garment of any type, it’s hard to go back to off-the-rack, even for basics.

Iambic was founded with the bet that a superior fit in a classic, wear-everywhere shoe, would disrupt the footwear industry. Proprietary AI algorithms drive the company’s sizeless, precision-fit footwear. Of course, to make shoes fit requires measurement of some sort. To that end, the company has announced that the team has been awarded approximately $1M in grant funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. This substantial funding enables Iambic to scale its cutting-edge precision-fit shoe design and manufacturing, setting the stage for transformative changes in footwear and fashion.
Advancing Technology and Manufacturing

Co-Founders Maeve Wang, CEO, and Chaudhry Raza Hassan, CTO, have spent over four years building and perfecting their proprietary approach to footwear, using robust AI technology and science-led, data-driven design features—for a shoe crafted precisely to the individual’s foot shape and biomechanics.
“NSF accelerates the translation of emerging technologies into transformative new products and services,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “We take great pride in funding deep-technology startups and small businesses that will shape science and engineering results into meaningful solutions for today and tomorrow.”
Driving Scale and Collaborations

Iambic is now poised to set a new standard in the footwear industry. The precision-fit technology promises to disrupt traditional manufacturing methods, leading to a more efficient, sustainable, and health-focused industry. This funding will facilitate the expansion of Iambic’s capabilities, bringing AI-tailored shoes to a broader market, working with other footwear and fashion brands, and paving the way for mass personalization.

“This sets the stage for our next phase of growth as we scale manufacturing, expand our innovative product collection, and grow our footprint through exciting industry collaborations,” said Wang.

Delivering AI-Tailored Shoes

“We are thrilled to be delivering our precision-fit shoes to customers now,” said Wang. “Our shoes are designed to be truly personalized, and we believe Iambic breaks the mold with the power of data, science, and technology.”

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Wang and Hassan. At that time, they used a scanner that looked like something out of a Star Trek episode to create a digital model of my feet. It was the high-tech equivalent of having a custom-made last created from a mold of my feet. For that ultimate “Savile Row” treatment, the measurements were sent to the company’s factory and made into a pair of test shoes, which I got to try on a few months later. Those were to be tweaked for the final take-home pair.  (I should point out that any delays between steps were purely driven by my crazy schedule, not Iambic’s.) What I thought was the genius, analog, old-school touch, though, was that once a pair of Iambic sneakers has been worn for a while, the company asks the customer to bring the shoe back so that they can analyze the wear pattern on the bottom of the shoe for further adjustments to fit and design.

The product collection, including the Model T style, uses technology developed with previous NSF support and is now enhanced with new funding. This automated solution for precision-fit footwear includes (1) a smartphone app that scans feet and collects customer fit preferences using AI, (2) automated personalization of the shoe mold to ensure a perfect fit, and (3) adaptable shoe components that adjust to unique foot shapes.

For now, the shoes are a simple black or white sneaker model, but again, it’s a classic style that, especially with today’s comfort-oriented dress codes, can be worn just about anywhere.

Shoes are currently being shipped. To learn more about the complete Iambic experience, visit iambic.co.