Dutch designer Pauline van Dongen believes that fashion desperately needs a revolution. In her view, the fashion industry is too concerned with producing inventory, and no one has enough time to rethink the process of making clothes. That’s why van Dongen uses emerging technologies to boldly design and produce her clothes. Van Dongen has recently been experimenting with 3D printing technology to see if it can make clothing fit snugly and respond to people’s movements. She detailed her experiments with 3D printed fashion at this year’s South by Southwest conference and said there is still a lot to do before 3D printed clothing is on the market. But she hopes her experiments will inspire other designers to explore.
Below is a demonstration of Van Dongen’s new concept.
Sleeve design
Van Dongen’s first foray into 3D printing fashion was relatively simple: she printed a sleeve. But she didn’t want a sleeve that only served as a cover, so she designed the sleeve to be stretchable. Van Dongen printed the sleeve using an Objet Connex multi-material printer. Sleeves are made of a stretchy, rubber-like material and strong plastic.
The effect after wearing the sleeves
Van Dongen collaborated with Paola Tognazzi and Ralph Zoontjens on the effect of wearing the sleeves. She wanted the sleeve to embody people’s movements, so she installed sensors on people’s arms to record their movements. Then, she used Grasshopper software to simulate on the computer how the cuff would react after a person puts it on. The end result is a sleeve that can visually represent a variety of gestures, and will change shape according to the person’s movement. For example, when the wearer lowers his arm, various parts of the sleeve will either expand or contract (as shown in the figure) ).
Flexible structure
Van Dongen’s second 3D printing project, Ruff, was a collaboration with architect Behnaz Farahi. They wanted to use 3D printing technology to create a dynamic, flexible form that moves around the body. However, the materials used for 3D printing are often stiff and break easily. To solve this problem, van Dongen and Farahi tried printing multiple spring-like plastic shapes. These structures are to be more durable and flexible.
Responsive wearable clothing
Van Dongen and Farahi created the “responsive wearable garment” in collaboration with 3D Systems’ Los Angeles studio. The garment’s spring-like structure wraps around the body, giving the impression of deep-sea coral moving through the ocean.
The science behind motion
To make the garment move, van Dongen installed springs made of nickel-titanium alloy into the garment. Nitinol has shape memory properties. At a certain temperature, NiTi alloy will deform, but when heated to the “deformation temperature”, it will return to its original shape. By attaching a nickel-titanium spring to a small wire, van Dongen can adjust the temperature to expand or contract the spring. The effect is like a “breathing organism” attached to the wearer.
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