3D printing revolution in fashion industry
3D Printing Revolution in Fashion Industry
Last week, I went to London Science museum, there was an exhibition of 3D printing showing the completely new image of fashion in the coming 20 years. 3D printing has been developing rapidly, now it is way more than printing plastic. It prints something that I cannot even believe: structural thing like house, complicated thing like gun, huge thing like aero plane and guess what, lively tissue. As 3D printing becomes more mainstream, its applications are broadening (Rachel 2013). It started to hit the world of fashion, besides 3D printed handbags, dresses, we can see 3D printed high-heel shoes and bikinis in the latest fashion shows. As Stephanie (2014) mentioned, the mix of apparel and technology shows the innovative soul of fashion, the future of fashion is truly tricked out with 3D printing technology. As this evolution continues we can expect to see a 3D printing revolution in our fashion industry. In the following sections, this essay is going to illustrate the revolution in production, supply chain and design aspects.
Beginning with the first step of manufactory, production method in fashion field will be totally changed. According to some researches, 10% of all consumer products by the year 2025 will be made by the 3D process. Richard (2013) discussed that since applications of the technology spread and prices decrease, more products will be manufactured at their location of purchase or consumption. Indeed, consumers will be printing their own clothing by 2020, according to inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil (Tanya 2013). This implies that new household-level production will emerge. On top of it, production will no longer includes labor force, capital, natural resources, but only the printing machines, raw materials and programs which lead a huge reform.
Based on the change of production method, the supply chain will eventually be modified. “The world will transform from a macro-manufactured supply chain to a
Last week, I went to London Science museum, there was an exhibition of 3D printing showing the completely new image of fashion in the coming 20 years. 3D printing has been developing rapidly, now it is way more than printing plastic. It prints something that I cannot even believe: structural thing like house, complicated thing like gun, huge thing like aero plane and guess what, lively tissue. As 3D printing becomes more mainstream, its applications are broadening (Rachel 2013). It started to hit the world of fashion, besides 3D printed handbags, dresses, we can see 3D printed high-heel shoes and bikinis in the latest fashion shows. As Stephanie (2014) mentioned, the mix of apparel and technology shows the innovative soul of fashion, the future of fashion is truly tricked out with 3D printing technology. As this evolution continues we can expect to see a 3D printing revolution in our fashion industry. In the following sections, this essay is going to illustrate the revolution in production, supply chain and design aspects.
Beginning with the first step of manufactory, production method in fashion field will be totally changed. According to some researches, 10% of all consumer products by the year 2025 will be made by the 3D process. Richard (2013) discussed that since applications of the technology spread and prices decrease, more products will be manufactured at their location of purchase or consumption. Indeed, consumers will be printing their own clothing by 2020, according to inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil (Tanya 2013). This implies that new household-level production will emerge. On top of it, production will no longer includes labor force, capital, natural resources, but only the printing machines, raw materials and programs which lead a huge reform.
Based on the change of production method, the supply chain will eventually be modified. “The world will transform from a macro-manufactured supply chain to a