A design studio has figured out how to use a 3-D printer to print a plastic dress that flows and sways like real fabric. Nervous System marries the software system Kinematics with the techniques of origami, according to CNN.
Normally in dress creation, a designer would pin swatches of fabric to a body form, but Kinematics uses a 3-D computer model. Triangles (swatches) are placed using a Javascript-based tool. When the designer is ready, the triangles are compressed to reduce printing volume by 85 percent.
The dresses take two days to be printed and they emerge in a dusty heap from the printer. The plastic is cleaned then dyed and you have a LBD (little black dress) or a cute swingy white dress, according to CNN.
Jessica Rosenkrantz, the dress designer, didn't want the dress to be considered a gimmick. Rosenkrantz donned 3-D printed jewelry for weeks to test the comfort of certain pieces and shapes. She started with a bracelet then made her way up the fashion food chain to a full dress, according to CNN.
New technology provided a boost in the tailoring process. Scans of the models' bodies provided a perfect fit. The print quality was monitored by the company Shapeways. The emerging garment was such a success that one resides in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
"We were able to do so much design-wise without ever printing anything," Rosenkrantz told CNN. "We knew not only exactly what the final piece would look like but also how it would behave.
"Frankly, when you work on something complex like this in a completely digital world for so long, the biggest surprise is that it actually works as intended, from the compressing to the fit, draping, and movement."
Software and machinery had to be revamped as well. Materials usually used for 3-D printing are stiff and sturdy. Plus, the expensive machines burned out during the long print process. "We've been working with Nervous and our community over the years to push the machines to their limits," Carine Carmy of Shapeways told CNN. "From how densely we can pack the trays so you can print 1,000 products at once vs. just one, to how long you need to run them so we can produce products more quickly, to how precise and detailed the prints can be so that you can design with micron precision."
Think you'd like to sport a 3-D printed dress to your next event? If they were on sale, you'd have to pull $3,000 from your purse. "That is a very high number, although perhaps considerably lower than the price of most other 3-D printed garments," Rosenkrantz told CNN. "We're hoping to bring the price down before we start selling clothing."
