3D Printing Weaves Its Way into Fashion

The latest runway fashions aren't made with a sewing machine, but with a printer.

3D printing has been around for decades, but it has just started to weave its way into the world of fashion. A technology once used primarily for prototyping is now spitting out wearable items. Already, 3D printers are used to make jewelry and high-end apparel, and it may not be long before people can print out clothing from the comfort of their living rooms.

In fact, consumers will be printing their own clothing by 2020, according to inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil

Printed attire

In February, burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese made a dramatic entrance at a conference held at the Ace Hotel in New York City, wearing a 3D-printed, black-nylon Swarovski-crystal-studded dress. Designers Francis Bitonti and Michael Schmidt (who has designed outfits for Lady Gaga and Tina Turner) collaborated to create the gown, which was printed by the New York-based company Shapeways.

The dress has almost 3,000 independently movable joints. It looks kind of unreal, Bitonti said. "There's a precision we're not used to encountering in the physical world," he noted.The chainmail design makes the dress very flexible, so it can be put on and taken off as an ordinary dress would. Still, it's not exactly street attire. "You don't wear a chainmail dress out to the grocery store," Bitonti told LiveScience.

To create such a futuristic garment, designers made computer drawings that were fed into a 3D printer, which created the interlocking design by laying down thin layers of nylon powder and fusing them with a laser — a process known as laser sintering. They printed the dress in 12 pieces, which were dyed black and superglued together by hand.