Picking up from the digital fashion theme earlier in the week, perhaps there’s more possibility in this technology that seems immediately obvious. Fashion custom designed, sized and printed for you is one thing – but clothes that could break world sporting records? Well, that’s quite another.

Luc Fusaro, a final year masters student in design at London’s Royal College of Art has designed a running shoe for Selective Laser Sintering manufacturing technique that could, by being specifically designed for the athlete’s foot, boost her running speed. The athlete’s foot is scanned, and then the shoe design and manufactured in a single piece.

Based on pre-existing studies into performance and footwear engineering, Fusaro suggests that speed could be boosted by up to an impressive 3.5%. That’s a level that would see world records falling fast.

Could we be at the dawn of an era of computer-designer, custom printed sports, endurance and work wear? It’s an intriguing possibility…

[via Kottke]