We’ve seen many 3D printed clothes before. Whether it is the 3D printed Chinese traditional cheongsam or the water-themed fashion dress, they all amazed us with their unique charm.
Today we are going to introduce a piece of clothes that requires even more advanced technology. The garment, called AMIMONO, was designed by Japanese IT fashion tech company STARted in collaboration with Free-D, a Japanese tech design brand run by 3D designer Masaharu Ono (known for his popular 3D jewelry and fashion pieces).
We can see from the feature image that this garment looks extremely like a real vest with a knitted texture. So how did they make it? In the past, Makers usually 3D print different parts of a garment and then connect them together to form a finished piece. The biggest difference in creating AMIMONO, however, is that it is actually produced by having a 3D printer knit together TPU filaments as threads. To put it in another way, the designers would first get a digital design of the kintted texture using an algorithm. Next, they use thermoplastic polyurethane, known as TPU, as the material to 3D print the garment. The material TPU resembles a thread in our daily knitting.
According to the official web page of STARted, it is super challenging to print such a garment because on the one hand, the structure is complex, on the other hand, there are very limited 3D printers that are able to print TPU. It turns out that they had to seek overseas 3D printing factory to accomplish the printing process.
The garment is said to be the most potentially wearable 3D printed clothes to date. This could possibly due to the TPU’s properties —— elastic, stretchable, durable —— comparing with previous 3D printed clothes.
Here is the video from STARted of this incredible garment. It might not be easy for us to wear 3D printed clothes at this stage, but as technology evolves, who knows what will happen in the future.
Feature Image: STARted
