--- title: "This sneaker uses no glue, so a failure can still come apart" locale: "en" url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/udrb-glueless-repairable-sneaker-en" markdown_url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/udrb-glueless-repairable-sneaker-en.md" category: "creative" tags: ["footwear", "repairability", "3D printing", "TPU", "modular design"] published_at: "2026-08-23T18:01:00.000Z" author: "Léa Perrin" translation: "https://irz.fr/fr/articles/udrb-sneaker-sans-colle-reparable-fr.md" --- # This sneaker uses no glue, so a failure can still come apart UDRB separates its printed sole, leather boot and rope fastening. Repair becomes a local mechanical problem, even though full circularity remains unproven. Most sneakers become difficult to repair at the moment their assembly is completed. Layers of foam, textile, rubber and reinforcement are bonded into one object, leaving the owner to separate interfaces that were never intended to open when a single region wears out. UDRB starts from the opposite condition, with Daniyar Uderbekov's sneaker held together as **three separable modules**: a 3D-printed TPU sole, a leather inner boot and a rope that tightens the whole assembly around the foot.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb)[2](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/) None of those three components needs to be glued permanently to the others. The construction alone says nothing yet about measured durability, recycling throughput or cost, although it does make one rarer quality easy to inspect: **the repair path is visible before anything breaks**. ## Three pieces The sole acts as the chassis and is 3D-printed from thermoplastic polyurethane, or TPU, whose flexibility lets Uderbekov alter geometry and cushioning without making a new molding tool for every variation.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb)[2](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/)[3](https://3druck.com/en/fashion-2/modularer-sneaker-kombiniert-3d-gedruckte-tpu-sohle-mit-klebstofffreier-konstruktion-23161578/) Inside it sits a leather boot inspired by makhsi or ichigi, forms of flexible footwear associated with Central Asian and Caucasian traditions.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) This is more than an upper that disappears into the finished sneaker: the designer says the boot works on its own as house footwear or as a light outdoor shoe.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) The third component is almost aggressively simple: climbing rope passes through and around the sole, securing both the boot and the foot with no additional rigid fastening structure.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) UDRB also presents the rope as a reference to the mountainous landscape around Almaty, where Uderbekov works.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) > **Three modules** > - printed, flexible and replaceable sole: TPU > - independent boot inspired by makhsi / ichigi: Leather > - replaceable fastening that holds the assembly together: Rope > - no permanent bond between the three modules: 0 glue > The official project page also emphasises three primary material families. The result behaves less like a sneaker cut into pieces and more like a system in which every part keeps its identity after assembly; **in exchange for** a visibly unconventional fastening, UDRB keeps those interfaces accessible enough to reopen later. ## Visible joints The important change comes from more than 3D printing, because the way the parts meet determines whether they can still separate after assembly. In a bonded shoe, the joint is an intermediate layer that the wearer cannot see and is never expected to reopen. UDRB's rope does almost the reverse: it **exposes** the joint, showing where tension travels and how the structure is held together. > Illustration: Disassembled UDRB sneaker with printed sole, leather boot and rope shown separately. Repairability is readable because the three functions remain separate. Removing the rope makes the sole and leather boot independent again. Credit: [Daniyar Uderbekov / UDRB](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/). That becomes valuable during maintenance, because a damaged rope can be replaced while leaving the sole intact; by contrast, a worn sole can come away without cutting the boot apart, and leather repair can happen after the boot has been removed from the printed structure.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb)[2](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/) The 2026 iteration specifically refines this fastening system, with Designboom reporting additional adjustment and improved stability relative to earlier versions, while UDRB keeps the same fundamental split between the three components.[2](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/)[4](https://www.designboom.com/design/3d-printed-sneakers-daniyar-uderbekov-users-soles-climbing-rope-lacing-udrb-08-26-2025/) Modularity therefore matters before end-of-life as well, because an interface can evolve while the rest of the product remains unchanged. ## Print the sole 3D printing has a fairly precise job here: rather than manufacturing the entire shoe or giving traditional footwear a futuristic surface, the printer is reserved for the sole, where it avoids locking every variation to one industrial mold. UDRB says geometry and cushioning can be adjusted for different feet and even printed from an individual footprint.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) 3Druck points to the same manufacturing advantage: changing the sole does not require new molding tooling.[3](https://3druck.com/en/fashion-2/modularer-sneaker-kombiniert-3d-gedruckte-tpu-sohle-mit-klebstofffreier-konstruktion-23161578/) > Illustration: UDRB components showing the white sole, black leather and green rope. The printed TPU carries the complicated geometry, while leather and rope remain separate components handled with more ordinary processes. Credit: [Daniyar Uderbekov / UDRB](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/). This division of labour matters more than the technology alone, because additive manufacturing is reserved for the part where geometric variation can be useful; leather keeps the properties of a soft boot, while rope remains a trivial consumable to replace. **The cost of** changing one function therefore need not include the other two. UDRB thereby avoids a common trap in “fully printed” products, where repairability disappears again because several functions have been fused into one complicated component. ## Recyclable, really? The public claims deserve more caution once the discussion moves from repair to recycling. UDRB describes the TPU sole as **fully recyclable** and emphasises the complete absence of toxic glue.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) Designboom says the TPU may return to processing and printing again,[2](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/) while separating the material families clearly improves the starting condition relative to a shoe in which foam, rubber, textile and adhesive remain bonded together, because a larger **share of the** product can leave the assembly without destructive separation. But “recyclable” first describes a material property and a design intention, and public UDRB material has yet to document an operating loop in which worn soles are collected, identified, ground, reformulated and turned into new soles whose performance is then measured. The same reservation applies to endurance: UDRB describes each component as repairable or replaceable, while the primary material reviewed by IRZ publishes no comparative abrasion or TPU-fatigue protocol and no leather-wear test against a conventional sneaker. > **Shown / still missing** > - glue-free assembly and physical separation of three modules: Visible > - TPU, leather and rope retain separate functions: Documented > - recyclable and reprocessable TPU: Claimed > - take-back loop, LCA and comparative service life: Not published > The construction makes circularity easier; it does not yet prove circularity at commercial scale. UDRB itself appears to be in this transition, and Designboom describes the current version as moving from experimental prototypes toward **preparation for potential production**, which is more cautious than claiming an established manufacturing programme.[2](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/) ## Repair first The reference to makhsi or ichigi is useful for another reason: UDRB does not treat tradition as decoration applied to a printed sole. The leather boot brings an already separable construction principle, while 3D printing supplies contemporary support and cushioning, while the rope provides a reversible connection between the two.[1](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb)[5](https://udrb.tilda.ws/) The mixture works because the techniques keep separate jobs: TPU supplies elastic geometry, leather remains a soft boot, and the rope stays visible instead of disappearing beneath a decorative shell. This also makes the repair logic credible: **material boundaries coincide with functional boundaries**. **In the long term**, a genuinely circular sneaker would still need to solve collection, wear, replacement cost, sizing, production and the behaviour of recycled TPU after repeated cycles, questions that UDRB has not yet answered publicly. It has, however, dealt with the problem that comes first: when the sole eventually wears out, the rest of the shoe can remain intact. ## References 1. [UDRB, official sneaker page](https://udrb.tilda.ws/sneakersudrb) 2. [Designboom, modular glue-free sneakers connect 3D printing with traditional Asian craftsmanship](https://www.designboom.com/design/modular-glue-free-sneakers-3d-printing-traditional-asian-craftsmanship-udrb-daniyar-uderbekov/) 3. [3Druck, Modular sneaker combines 3D-printed TPU sole with adhesive-free construction](https://3druck.com/en/fashion-2/modularer-sneaker-kombiniert-3d-gedruckte-tpu-sohle-mit-klebstofffreier-konstruktion-23161578/) 4. [Designboom, 3D printed sneakers adjust to users' soles with climbing rope lacing](https://www.designboom.com/design/3d-printed-sneakers-daniyar-uderbekov-users-soles-climbing-rope-lacing-udrb-08-26-2025/) 5. [Daniyar Uderbekov, UDRB portfolio](https://udrb.tilda.ws/)