P-25

3D Printing your customized garment?

M.I. Timmermans, T.H. Grevinga, G.J. Brinks

Smart Functional Materials Research Group, Saxion

In the fashion industry the awareness of the fact that sustainability is not an option but a necessity is rising. There is a huge overproduction, currently one third of all the produced clothes is not even sold. The classic way of designing and producing garments keeps going on though. Innovation on all levels within the textile sector is therefore necessary.

One way to avoid overproduction is in garment production on demand, creating the possibility to produce locally and in smaller amounts. Through new technologies customers can design their own garments. This new way of producing will become a platform to self-expression and looks, for an individual identity. A big challenge within production on demand or mass customization is to ensure quality and production time and still offer interesting items for the customer.

Due to the advantages of 3D printing, offering big opportunities for production on demand, research group Smart Functional Materials is exploring the possible benefits of 3D printing in the manufacturing process of textile and textile products. There are different possibilities; one is in the printing of the textile substrate itself. Would it be possible, with current 3D printing technologies, to print a woven, knitted, or other structure that can be a serious replacement of existing textiles for garments?

In this research several approaches have been elaborated. With SLS a ‘knitted’ dress has been printed. Students translated this approach to FDM to make a 3D printed bag, to be made of recycled plastics. The products were followed up by a research to different geometrical structures that create a similar flexibility. Can a next group of students develop an app in which your own body scan can be uploaded, the design of a garment adjusted, and sent to the printer for direct production of your desired T-shirt?