A Ukrainian Designer 3D-Printed Wearable Summer Sandals From a Single Flat Piece

Fashion Meets the Print Bed

Most 3D-printed shoes still look like a science fair project. Sofia Rousinovich's latest pair of summer sandals does not. The Kyiv-based designer created a fully wearable, 3D-printed sandal that prints as one flat piece with no supports and no post-print assembly. You pull it off the bed, lace it up, and wear it.

Rousinovich printed the sandals on a Bambu Lab H2D using ultra-flexible 75A TPU. The material choice matters: 75A TPU is soft enough to flex with a foot but tough enough to survive pavement. She deliberately engineered the geometry to sit flat on the build plate, which removes the need for disposable support structures. That cuts print time, reduces waste, and avoids the rough surface scars that supports usually leave on flexible prints.

From AR Lenses to Physical Fabrication

Rousinovich's background is not the typical maker-story path. She holds a master's degree in fashion design and previously worked with Ukrainian studio FFACE.ME to build augmented reality experiences for Fendi, Bershka, and Dolce & Gabbana. When Russia's full-scale invasion escalated in 2022, she left Ukraine as a refugee with little more than an old computer and taught herself 3D modeling from scratch.

After winning a global Snapchat Lens competition, she turned toward physical fabrication. She saved for a Bambu Lab H2D, waited over six months for it to reach her in Ukraine through complex European routing, and kept learning slicer settings and CAD geometry while she waited. Back in Kyiv, she now designs and prints functional fashion between air-raid alerts and shelter visits.

When I did not have a printer, I ordered samples from local print shops in Kyiv, and they always told me, 'We cannot do this.' So when I bought my printer, I made all the ideas they told me were impossible.

Why This Design Works

The sandals use a few clever tricks that make them more than a novelty. The upper has geometric cutouts for airflow. The sole flexes because of the material, not because the walls are too thin. The whole thing prints flat, so bed adhesion is easier to manage and warping is less of a risk. And because there are no glued seams or assembled straps, there are fewer failure points.

Bambu Lab featured the project on its blog as part of its user-story series, and it is easy to see why. The story combines several threads the 3D printing world loves to talk about: sustainability, wearable design, flexible filament, and the democratization of manufacturing. But it also carries a sharper edge. Rousinovich is not printing in a comfortable studio. She is printing in a city where air-raid sirens are part of the workday.

A Step Toward Local Manufacturing

Rousinovich says the sandals are part of a larger goal: opening a creative tech space in Kyiv where local designers can turn digital ideas into physical objects without waiting on factories or fighting gatekeepers. That vision is ambitious, but the sandals themselves are a proof point. They show that a single desktop machine, a roll of TPU, and a well-engineered file can produce something wearable, functional, and genuinely good-looking.

For the rest of us, the project is a reminder that 3D-printed fashion does not have to mean chunky cosplay armor or awkward lattice sneakers. Sometimes the best use of the technology is the simplest one: a flat file, a flexible material, and a designer who refuses to take no for an answer.