Customized footwear, and systems and methods for designing and manufacturing same

A method of manufacturing at least a portion of an article of footwear customized for at least one of a foot of a user and an athletic motion, the method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining experimental data representative of a performance characteristic of the foot of the user during at least a portion of a ground contact phase of the athletic motion, the experimental data comprising at least one of pressure distribution measurements below at least a portion of a sole of the foot of the user and force distribution measurements between at least a portion of the sole of the foot of the user and a ground surface during at least a portion of the ground contact phase of the athletic motion;
• processing by multiplying the pressure distribution measurements and the force distribution measurements to determine at least one performance metric relating at least in part to at least one angle and at least one magnitude of an interaction between the foot of the user and the ground surface during the athletic motion at a plurality of locations on the foot of the user;
• determining at least one customized structural characteristic of at least a portion of a ground-contacting sole element of the article of footwear based on the at least one performance metric, each customized structural characteristic comprising a distribution of traction elements for the ground-contacting sole element of the article of footwear;
• and
• manufacturing for the user at least the portion of the article of footwear with the customized structural characteristic.