Puma has come up with a shoe that incorporates “biologically active materials” – that is, living microorganisms – in the upper. The resulting “dense nanosensor net,” as the German brand calls it, mirrors the heat and sweat on the wearer's foot down to the “microscopic level.” The resulting image generates a “matching ventilation pattern.” The effect increases over time. In other words, the more you wear the shoe, the greater the match with your sweat and heat patterns, and the better the ventilation. The concept behind such materials dates back to June 2017, when Puma initiated a joint research project with Innovation by Design, a firm that was founded in 2014 as a spin-off from the MIT Design Lab and now has offices in Boston, Milan and Seoul. The concept's current iteration, which goes by the name BioEvolution, derives from a more recent joint project: with Fraunhofer, an “application-oriented research organization” that was founded 70 years ago, is based in Munich, Germany, and explores biological transformation and programmable materials, among other things. Puma's BioEvolution shoe is being presented at Material ConneXion Italia's “Materials Village” exhibition at Milan Design Week 2019, scheduled for April 8-14. The shoe is a prototype. Puma has not yet developed a product for the market.

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