Inspired by the remora fish’s ridged suction mechanism, this insole provides enhanced footing and cushion during high-intensity matches. An auxetic heel cup maximizes contact area to reduce injury risk. Algae-based foam speculates on the future of high-performance materials.
Problem
12.5 million pairs of football boots are dumped in landfills annually (Source: Sokito).
That's 12.5 million insoles.
As outsoles and uppers have evolved toward higher performance and better aesthetics, the out of the box insole has remained still. If a more optimized insole is desired, it's bought separately as a replacement— rendering the standard insole as waste even before use.
Beyond this, the underlying materials are mostly petroleum-based: EVA foam, synthetic rubber, and adhesives that accumulate in landfills, taking hundreds of years to decompose.
Process
What if performance and material life cycles were designed together from the start?
Two organisms defined the biomimetic direction: the remora fish and algae.
The remora fish clings to sharks via a ridged suction disc that grips under pressure and releases when pressure lifts. This texture and mechanism became the foundation for the forefoot of the insole.
Extracting the curves of the remora suction cup for Grasshopper parametric modeling
Algae-based foam challenges what performance sportswear is made of. Algae is one of the planet's most efficient carbon sinks and fastest growing organisms, sequestering CO₂ at rates that outperform land-based plants. Cultivating it as an industrial feedstock means the material is net-positive before it's ever processed. Unlike petroleum-derived products, the insole could be composted at end of life.
An auxetic geometry in the heel cup addresses how directional changes concentrate high-impact pressure at a single point, contributing to injuries like plantar fasciitis. Auxetic structures compress inward rather than expanding outward, increasing material thickness where and when impact is greatest.
Oystra’s insole weighs the full lifecycle as heavily as its on pitch performance.
Imagining a world beyond the object
How might factories utilize natural sunlight alongside artificial conditions?
What might it look like to be producing this foam at scale?
How do traditional manufacturing processes adapt to bio-based materials?
Renderings generated using Midjourney and Gemini to imagine large-scale factory growing algae for algae foam, injection molding, and foam samples
Modeling with Rhino and Grasshopper
Compared to the AI images, the auxetic heel cup was modified in the modeling phase to better enable the behavior of the auxetic geometry.
Demonstrating the challenges when establishing the Grasshopper parameters for the auxetic structure. The dumbbell shape was easily lost, which would consequently remove the desired auxetic behavior.
Exploring modifications to the tween curve approach to achieve the rectangular cut outs that provide additional breathability.
Render of Grasshopper parametric modeling of insole in Rhino
Outcome
The project exists, for now, as a speculative object. However, algae foam is in research and development, auxetic geometries are appearing in performance and therapeutic footwear, and the pressure on the industry to move away from petroleum-based materials is accelerating.
Future steps
With more time, I would refine the details of the 3D modeled insole by tapering the ridges near the edges of the insole and including the rectangular cut outs between the ridges for additional breathability.
