Photo Courtesy of: Vatsal Soin
Serial footwear tech innovator Vatsal Soin expands his patented technologies into a unified platform combining modular customization, biometric fit intelligence, and AI-AR personalization. It enables 100% size accuracy, 0% returns, and real-time offline or same-day online delivery. Fully modular and interchangeable, the system fits virtually all global styles, cuts waste, ends sizing guesswork, and is legally fortified and prototype validated.
Global Patent Coverage and Strategic Filing
Vatsal Soin has built a formidable IP fortress with 15 strategically filed patents, including 3 fresh utility applications filed in 2025 across the U.S., India, and under the PCT system. Innovations are now protected by patents granted in India, Japan, and South Africa—the latest issued on April 30, 2025.
The broader portfolio spans filings, publications, and examinations in the U.S., India, China, Russia, Australia, Brazil, and through the EPO, which covers 39 member states including the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
With post-grant opposition periods lapsed in India and Japan, core utility patent is fully enforceable for 20 years-deterring imitation, infringement, and replication.
“This isn’t just a new invention—it’s the Android of footwear, redefining how the world walks,”says Vatsal Soin, the India-born inventor disrupting over a $400 billion market (Statista 2024) with a platform unlike anything the global footwear market has seen.
The Evolution of Inventions: A Chronological Masterclass Customizable Modular Footwear
Vatsal Soin’s modular breakthrough reimagines footwear as a fully customizable system—where detachable uppers, interchangeable soles, and patented dual-zipper strips enable seamless transitions across styles, functions, and environments. The detachable strip rewrites footwear anatomy, acting as a flush coupling interface between upper and sole, with each module independently replaceable. Soin exemplifies: “A base of just 3 soles, 6 uppers, and 4 strips creates 72 unique pairs. Add more modules, and personalization scales exponentially—offering limitless potential for style, fit, and function.”
What sets this system apart is its intelligent volume modulation—adjusting height and width via thickness variations across strip, sole, or upper to match individual biometric profiles. Compatible with nearly all global styles—from formal to flip-flops, sneakers to loafers—it forms a universal platform. Modularity enhanceable through alternate fasteners like slide-ins,snap-fits and magnets. Prototype components duly tensile-tested for secured attachment.
Dynamic Fit Index (DFI): The Science of Precision Fit
Vatsal Soin’s DFI reimagined the age-old sizing system and replaces EU, US, UK, and Mondopoint’s one-size-fits-none standards with AI-powered biometric precision—scanning foot height, width,length adjustments, modular strips, angular profile sole molds, AR/AI integration for real-time fit precision.
AI-AR-VFI-SSC: The Apex of Footwear Innovation
Building upon a legacy of the above disruptive inventions, Vatsal Soin’s latest invention—the AI-AR-VFI-SSC Modular Footwear System—redefines the future of personalized footwear.
At its core, the platform integrates AI and AR visualization, and predictive fit algorithms with the proprietary Volume Fit Index (VFI) and Shareable Size Card (SSC), unlocking a new era of real-time personalization, frictionless omnichannel retail, and a future where product returns are virtually eliminated.
VFI (Volume Fit Index): A New Global Standard in Scientific Sizing
The VFI is an AI-driven sizing protocol that leverages multidimensional foot data—length, width, girth, arch height, pressure mapping, and gait. It adapts in real time to each foot’s biomechanics, delivering precision-engineered, hyper-personalized fits beyond static norms. Left and right foot are individually scanned, enabling AI to correct asymmetry with tailored recommendations. VFI code, arch angle (°), toe box depth (mm), width/girth (mm), and volume (mm³) define its core metrics—establishing a new gold standard in footwear engineering.
Shareable Size Card (SSC): A Universal Passport for the Perfect Fit — Anywhere, Anytime
The SSC is a revolutionary digital ID for footwear sizing, offering instant accuracy across brands and platforms. One biometric scan ensures universal compatibility by storing a user’s full VFI profile—including gait and multidimensional foot data. SSC removes guesswork, returns, and sizing errors. Future versions may integrate blockchain and encrypted biometric safeguards. Whether in-store or online, one scan unlocks a perfect global fit.
“To illustrate proprietary AI/AR enhanced biometric charts : a Male UK 7 with a 255mm Mondopoint measurement, high arch, and wide forefoot is coded as Base + 2H + 3W—corresponding to a VFI profile that includes a 22° arch angle, 22mm toe box depth, and 2700mm³ internal volume,” explains Soin.
He adds, “The resulting data instantly updates the user’s SSC profile, enabling real-time fit matching and fulfillment across modular components.”
The Modular Footwear Race: How Others Fall Short
While major brands are experimenting with 3D-printed midsoles and robotics-driven manufacturing, they often deliver monolithic shoes with zero modularity. Others, like eco-footwear startups, prioritize material sustainability but lack any dynamic fit intelligence. This is the only platform to combine detachable architecture, biometric precision, AI logic, and robotic compatibility—redefining footwear from factory to foot.
A Phygital, AI-Powered Ecosystem
What sets this system apart is not just the modularity—but its phygital interface. Using augmented reality (AR) mirrors, in-store kiosks,sensor-sync wearables and remote 3D scans, users can virtually try on shoes, see modular variants, and lock in their SSC code. The same SSC can be used in physical stores, online platforms, or even in the metaverse.
“This is where fashion meets fintech. You own your digital fit identity just like your crypto wallet,” observes Soin.
Engineered for Robotics, Built for Sustainability and Regenerative 3D Printing
In a world moving toward smart factories, Soin’s platform is robotics-ready.
“The modular components—soles, uppers, strips, layers are precision-engineered for robotic assembly lines and robotics-aligned modular manufacturing,” outlines Soin.
These modular components are structurally compatible with both traditional and 3D printing methods. This enables regenerative manufacturing, precise personalization, and circular reuse.
Beyond Fashion: Medico, Military, and Motion
From orthopedic rehab centers to pediatric growth needs and tactical gear for high-altitude or desert terrain, the same modular strip adapts across use cases. Custom outsoles for shock absorption, breathable uppers for diabetic patients, or insulated builds for Himalayan trekkers—the system is one part footwear, one part futurewear.
For Kids, Clinics, and Climbers
The strip enabling fashion versatility supports pediatric growth, rehab, and climate-specific needs. Interchangeable soles, breathable fabrics, and sensor-enabled support deliver tailored solutions—while future extensions promise prosthetic fit, haptic feedback, and inclusive tech for differently abled users.
Footwear-as-a-Service (FaaS)
With Footwear-as-a-Service (FaaS), users can subscribe to periodic upgrades—like new cushioning, uppers, or soles—prolonging product life and unlocking recurring revenue for brands within a zero-return, data-optimized retail model.
Beyond the Sole: Emotion, Energy, and Intelligence
Upcoming layers include energy-harvesting soles, self-cleaning surfaces, biometric locks, mood-responsive systems, E-Ink displays, and phase-change fabrics. Future variants may feature piezoelectric cushioning, biodegradable modules, thermochromic skins, modular textures, and auto-lacing with biometric triggers—enabling next-gen functionality.
A Continuum of Innovation, Strategically Envisioned and Protected
The concepts—morphing uppers, smart insoles, 3D-printed soles, biometric locking, digital avatar fitting, and seamless structures—are evolutionary extensions of the AI-AR-VFI-SSC Modular Footwear System. All visible or embedded components are structurally covered. Technologies like shape-memory polymers, self-healing and bio-responsive materials, piezoelectric cushioning, haptic recovery, and phase-changing fabrics have been structurally, functionally, and commercially anticipated within the system’s modular roadmap.
Anticipated Extensions and Material Coverage
All materials—leather or non-leather, transparent or opaque, visible or embedded—are structurally covered within the modular framework. The system further anticipates modular socks featuring detachable zones, smart fabrics, adaptive compression, and integrated sensors—designed to work seamlessly with the AI-AR-VFI engine.
Formal public disclosure of such advancements—establishing them as prior art, preempting independent claims, and reinforcing the continuity, authorship, and proprietary evolution of the invention. Any subsequent attempts to patent or isolate these features will be deterred and disqualified by this publication’s precedence.
“Implementation follows strategic phases—evolving from basic height-width options to fully modular, cloud-connected retail ecosystems,” adds Soin.
Conclusion: A Step into the Future
When Artificial Intelligence calculates and modularity constructs, fit becomes personal, comfort becomes standard, and returns become history.
