Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
3D printing — additive manufacturing — makes a three-dimensional object by laying down successive layers of material under computer control, working from a 3D model or other electronic data; a 3D printer is a type of industrial robot. Jewelry designers have outsourced quick modeling jobs to printing companies for years, and printed pieces now appear on runways as finished product, not just prototypes. Whether printed clothing disrupts mass fashion production depends on speed and cost: traditional manufacturing stays cheaper at large quantities, while ready-to-wear's smaller runs and artistic impulse are the ideal space for the method to take root now.
3D printing is not entirely new to the fashion industry, as jewelry designers have for years outsourced quick modeling jobs to printing companies. But as 3D-printed pieces begin to pop up on the runway and in presentations outside of fashion week as the finished product, it’s worth asking why the method stands a chance of proliferating among designers.
3D printing (additive manufacturing or AM) is any of various processes used to make a three-dimensional object. In case you are not certain clothing, shoes, fashion accessories, and jewelry are considered “objects”. Therefore, we can use 3D printers to create 3D printing fashion, etc.
3D printing in the term's original sense refers to processes that sequentially deposit material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads. More recently the meaning of the term has expanded to encompass a wider variety of techniques such as extrusion and sintering based processes. Technical standards generally use the term additive manufacturing for this broader sense.
In 3D printing, additive processes are used, in which successive layers of material are laid down under the control of computer technology. These objects can be of almost any shape or geometry, and are produced from a 3D model or other electronic data source. A 3D printer is a type of industrial robot.
3D printing clothing will disrupt mass fashion production, only if it becomes much quicker and less expensive. At the current time, traditional manufacturing of clothes is more cost effective if producing large quantities of garments. Machinery, methods, and techniques for making 3D printed clothing is relatively new technology and continues to improve and evolve. This method of printing clothes and accessories will only become a major disruption to cut & sew production if it becomes cheaper and more efficient than current manufacturing methods. Ready-to-wear, however, with its smaller production runs and impulse toward the artistic, is the ideal space for 3D printing to take root now. It is also a good alternative for creating garment samples and prototypes.
Previous news article about 3D printing fashion:
3D Printing Fashion Expo (2014)
Learn more about printing in the fashion industry here on Apparel Search in our manufacturer section.
You may also want to learn about digital printing which is also known as direct to garment printing. DTG printing is completely different than 3D printing fashion, but something that may be of interest to you.
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The honest assessment carried on this page is a conditional one: 3D printing clothing will disrupt mass fashion production only if it becomes much quicker and less expensive, and machinery, methods and techniques continue to improve and evolve toward that point. Until then, the technology's fashion footprint is concentrated where its economics already work — jewelry modeling, runway one-offs, accessories, samples and prototypes. The news reports linked here, from 3D printed rings and printed footwear soles to the 2014 fashion 3D printing expo in Russia, mark that frontier as it stood when the coverage was written.
Technical standards generally use the term additive manufacturing for the broader family of processes, reserving 3D printing as the popular name. Objects can be of almost any shape or geometry because the design lives in a file rather than in tooling — the property that makes the method attractive for customization, which the companion page on 3D printed shoes explores through footwear fit. Readers comparing print methods can continue to the manufacturer section's printing coverage and the direct garment printing term.
Additive manufacturing applied to fashion objects: clothing, shoes, accessories and jewelry built up layer by layer from a digital model. The term originally meant depositing material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads and now covers extrusion and sintering processes as well.
Ready-to-wear runs are smaller than mass production and lean artistic, so the method's current cost and speed fit there first. It is also a strong alternative for making garment samples and prototypes before committing to conventional production.
They are entirely different processes. 3D printing builds a solid object layer by layer; digital printing — direct to garment printing — prints an image onto an existing garment or fabric. The two are often confused because both are digital and both are covered in the printing sections of Apparel Search.