Coats - Visualising Hidden Footwear Innovation Through Interactive 3D
Client: Coats
Agency: Viital
Role: Creative & Technical Lead
Formats: Interactive 3D Website / CGI Product Animation
Communicating the Value of Components That Customers Never See, but Which Underpin Product Quality.
Coats is a global leader in industrial threads and high-performance materials, supplying the apparel, footwear, and composites sectors. While their materials play a critical role in durability and performance, they are typically invisible within the final product.
Coats Footwear aimed to increase awareness of their cutting-edge in-shoe materials—threads, reinforcements, and composites—by visually communicating their benefits to designers, engineers, and procurement teams.
I led the creative and technical development of the interactive experience, from concept to final execution.
I was responsible for experience design, 3D direction, and CGI animation, working closely with the agency and client teams to ensure technical accuracy, visual clarity, and cross-platform performance.
Turning Invisible Innovation into an Interactive Product Story.
The experience was centred around a digitally deconstructed sports shoe, designed to reveal the internal layers and hidden innovations that make up a high-performance product.
Users could explore the shoe interactively, uncovering how Coats’ materials enhance durability, structure, and flexibility without being visible in the final form.
To support this, we produced a CGI animation that brought the stitching and bonding processes to life. It helped translate technical precision into a clear, engaging narrative—especially valuable when presenting to non-technical stakeholders or in remote sales contexts.
The experience was built as a fully interactive, web-based 3D tool. It was supported by photoreal CGI motion content and optimised for smooth performance on both desktop and tablet.
Positioning Coats as an Innovation Partner Through Immersive Storytelling.
The project became a central component of Coats’ digital sales and communication strategy. It was used to engage major footwear brands in virtual meetings, strengthen internal training processes, and support the company's positioning as a strategic innovation partner rather than simply a material supplier.
The interactive format elevated the perception of Coats' role in the value chain by making its often-invisible contributions feel tangible.
The experience was built as a fully interactive, web-based 3D tool. It was supported by photoreal CGI motion content and optimised for smooth performance on both desktop and tablet.
The modular design made it easy to align each part of the experience with specific product features, enabling tailored conversations with different types of audiences.
Why it matters.
Clients worldwide gained deeper insights into Coats' advanced knitting yarns, composites, and threads, strengthening the company’s reputation as an industry-leading supplier in the footwear manufacturing market.
By translating Coats’ innovations into an intuitive visual experience, we helped reposition the brand as a forward-thinking partner and brought clarity to conversations that would otherwise rely on static PDFs or technical jargon.
