rayfish footwear brings customization to a whole new level, by offering customers the opportunity to generate their own pair of personalized sneakers made from genuine stingray leather.*

though they have allegedly been in operation for more than a decade, 2011 marked a milestone in which the company successfully engineered their first fully bio-customized stingray using a technique which the have developed that allows you to design your own transgenic stingray. at the rayfish footwear labs, they purportedly use the DNA which the have stored in their genetic library, to identify the genes responsible for color and pattern, implanting the synthetic ‘supergene’ cluster into fetal rays before they are born. as they grow and mature, they express the predetermined patterns on their skin. markings and coloration from dozens of varying species can be combined, resulting in an infinite variety of shoe designs.

using the brand’s online ‘grow sneaker tool‘ you can select elements from dozens of animal patterns and remix them into something that nature itself could never have even imagined. working on the manufacturing principle of ‘one fish, one shoe’, rayfish footwear raises stingrays in their thai aquaculture facility where the family-run business creates these handcrafted shoes.

keep reading for more info and video…

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays detail image via fastco.design

shoes made from genetically engineered stingrays up close look at the genuine stingray leather image via fastco.design

the genetic foundation of the company’s work and its press relations raise high suspicions about the veracity of the project. extremely interesting conceptually as a look into a possible future, the company and its customizable grown sneakers also raise real, relevant questions into the practices of the leather, fashion, and design industries.

video simulating the bio-customization process

via fastco.design