3D Printing has been the biggest buzz word in product
development in the last few years. While you can find lots of little machines
that squirt out plastic toys, can you really see it making what we might
actually wear every day?
Shapeways is one of the leading 3D printing services that
independent fashion designers are using to produce jewelry, shoes and other
accessories using metal in addition to the typical plastic-like filaments. They
can also produce a ceramic finish or laser cut leathers and wood. You might
have seen Shapeway’s
collaboration with Victoria’s Secret to create the dramatic angel wings at
their fashion show.
Knitting machines from companies like Stoll
were already producing full finished garments with their programming, before
3D printing was a catchphrase. If you really watch the process though, it is
very similar in how it uses a yarn and shoots it out to in layers to knit a
finished sweater. There are also companies developing a silicone coated yarns
as a material for true 3 printers.
How about a silk wedding dress? Though it hasn’t happened
yet, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology has managed to produce huge dome of silk by working
with CAD software and a network of silkworms. Reprogramming them to weave
actual clothing seems very close to being a reality (though they might have
done it by now).
It’s not just fashion that has seen new developments from 3D
printing. A woman at Harvard is crowd-funding a project that lets you 3D
print your own cosmetics at home. I can’t even tell you how fast I want
this project funded!
Savvy designers are mixing 3D technologies to create
fashion. Sid
Neigum used a mix of laser cutting and origami for his Toronto Fashion Week
show. Iris
Van Herpen used a combination of magnetic field, injection molding and
laser cutting for her spring 2015 collection to amazing effect.
If you can dream it, fashion innovators can build it (or
design it, print it, etc.) Style makers have always been at the forefront of
technology and 3D printed fashion is just another tool fashion designers are using to
make you look good.
Images from: Steven Keating.Shapeways blog, Grace Mink, Mariana Leung, Iris Van Herpen images from Dezeen.com
has absolutely no intention of playing with the rest of the industry. Their big presentation is for the purpose of pure spectacle and Wednesday night, they proved they do it best.
