100% Recycled 3D Fashion by Aoife Guiteras

While going over the class readings it is incredibly evident how desperately there needs to be an environmental change within. Most people in the industry do not like to acknowledge the effect their beloved and profitable businesses take on the environment and humanity. It is hard to find the exact numbers on the toll it takes. Although it seems challenging to tell the exact amount of waste that comes from the fashion industry, it is easy to see that it is one of the most damaging industries. It holds an impressive environmental scope running through agriculture with land and animals, petroleum, forestry, mining, construction and distribution. Fashion is also one of the most influential industries and sustainability needs to be the next movement. Again and again the articles mentioned how much goes into one garment and the amount of emissions it takes for one garment to go to factory to factory across the globe to be finalized and shipped to distributors when finally most clothes get thrown out. While reading about the fourth industrial revolution I became inspired on a few ways fashion and technology can combine for ethically smart decisions. 3D printing has become more advanced and accessible. I thought of the idea of clothing being designed on a computer and completely and fully being produced and finalized in one spot by one machine. Cancelling out all the unnecessary travels garments take in this day and age while creating a substantial reduction on the pollution that comes along the way. Recently clothes have become so disposable. A factor in this is due to clothing becoming more and more commercial, losing the personal feeling and becoming broader and broder in style and size in order for producers to generally make more sales. 3D printing of a garment could change this when clothes are virtually scanned by a shoppers body. Creating the perfect fit and a meaningful, lasting product. I looked into this idea and found some designers have started to play with the idea of creating clothing with 3D printing. When the idea first comes to mind one attaches the idea of stiff clothing but that is not the case. Using Filaflex, a thin and flexible rubber printing finely and the designed to weave and make fabric like prints the 3D production of clothing has become possible. Danit Peleg is a designer who has created a few collections of 3D printed garments. She is the first to provide an online option for anyone to plug in their dimensions and design a personal outfit made from a 3D printer. . Finalized fabrics are similar to the creative differences of lace. This fourth industrial revolution has opened a new exciting world for fashion. Opening doors to immediate personal designs with so much more to be to be developed. It is a new exciting revolution for fashion but also sustainability. The few designers who have already started to participate in 3D fashion do not seem to realize these environmental revolutions more so the fashion revolutions. But still by producing clothing this way they are cutting out on a lot of the problems produced in the fashion industry such as emissions from travel, sizing, longevity and inhumane production of most clothing. Still there is the fact that 3D printing is made with plastic which takes a huge toll on the environment. I came across a sustainable designer who uses 3D printing as a environmental movement for furniture and art. Dirk Vander Kooji uses recycled synthetic plastics grouping them, then melting them down to reuse with a 3D printer. My idea merges these recycling concepts with 3D printing for fashion. Finding use for the plastic that is thrown out and left to pollute the environment and recreating it into a lace like fabric for clothing. Using 100% recycled materials to create 3D printed clothing. Adding to the sustainable possibilities of this fourth industrial revolution.

By: Aoife Guiteras