Fashion designers have been presenting clothes, shoes and accessories made on 3D printers for several years now. The article will tell you about the history of 3D printing in the fashion industry, the advantages and disadvantages of several such production methods. And also examples of 3D printers for printing clothes will be considered.
Application history
In February 2013, dancer Dita von Teese - the "queen of burlesque" - attended the Ace Hotel conference in New York. On this day, her appearance had a doubly dramatic effect: the woman was wearing a 3D-printed black nylon dress adorned with Swarovski crystals.
The dress was 3D printed by Shapeways, a New York-based company. The production used the method of selective laser sintering (SLS).
The dress seemed to fit the model quite naturally - this effect was achieved thanks to almost 3 thousand hinges. The outfit, according to witnesses, looked unreal.
The dress was not very comfortable - the model was having difficulty sitting down. To create it, it took 12 pieces to be printed separately. Then they had to be manually glued, painted black and decorated with crystals.
And yet, it was a step forward - attempts to produce clothes on a 3D printer at that time usually boiled down to printing bulky "cases" that had only a distant external resemblance to the usual dresses. From the slightest wrong movement, such products could crumble. The variant presented by Dita von Teese was created on the principle of chain mail. Although the outfit was a constraint on movement, it could be put on and off in the usual way.
No production waste
A serious problem in the modern garment industry is the high percentage of waste (both in textile material and in finished products). With 3D printing, clothing manufacturers can only limit the amount of material they need for the final result.
About 3D printing in cosplay
The level of cosplay is growing, and 3D printing is taking an active part in this. At any convention, you can meet cosplayers who are convinced from personal experience that printing and assembling a costume is not so easy, but very interesting.
If you are constantly engaged in the manufacture of unique things, it is not so easy to find the right equipment and materials for your tasks. If you do not need your own equipment, simulate and print the necessary elements, for example scar replica, costumes and accessories are available in designedby3d.com.