Although I understand that the probability of me being able to wear 3D printed outfits any time soon is minuscule, I still cannot help being excited at the idea. Every time I need a dress for an important occasion, I spend hours looking at Google images trying to figure out what it is that I want. However, this is the easy part. Complications begin when I start actual shopping: going from store to store looking for my perfect dress. Hours later, frustrated and in most cases disappointed, I either settle for a dress that is slightly similar to what I was looking for or just give up completely. My husband, who is probably the most patient man in the world, has accompanied me on such “dress hunts” too many time. Needless to say that even he gets a little anxious every time I say: “Babe, I need a dress.” That is why it would be absolutely amazing to just print out the dress I want and avoid the folly of shopping malls altogether.
Besides the apparent benefit that 3D printing offers in terms of convenience, there is also a number of green advantages. Accoding to Jasmin Malik Chua’s article
“Are 3D-Printed Fabrics the Future of Sustainable Textiles?” the ultraviolet beams used to fuse layers of powdered, recyclable thermoplastic into shape, leave behind virtually no waste. Its localized production and one-size-fits-all approach also racks up markedly fewer travel miles, requires less labor, and compresses fabrication time to a matter of hours, rather than weeks or months.
Designer Jiri Evenhuis, in collaboration with Janne Kyttanen of Freedom of Creation, was the first to toy with the idea of using 3D printers to create textiles. “Instead of producing textiles by the meter, then cutting and sewing them into final products, this concept has the ability to make needle and thread obsolete,” Evenhuis has said.
A decade later, designer-researchers like Freedom of Creation in Amsterdam and Philip Delamore at the London College of Fashion are cranking out seamless, flexible textile structures using software that converts three-dimensional body data into skin-conforming fabric structures. The potential for bespoke clothing, tailored to the specific individual, are as abundant as the patterns that can be created, from interlocking Mobius motifs to tightly woven meshes.
Freedom of Creation’s 3D textiles at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City:
