How 3D Printed Fashion Will Improve Sustainability

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MANIFESTO

TREND FORECASTING

OLIVER SOUTHALL

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HOW

3D PRINTED FASHION WILL IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY BACK

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CROSS INDUSTRY ANALYSIS HOW MATERIALS CAN BE USED IN FASHION MOOD IMAGERY & COLOUR PALETTE

HOW THIS TREND WILL IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY BACK

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My chosen trend is the advancement in 3D technology in fashion to improve sustainability - the way in which technology is moving forward in terms of 3D printing is astonishing and I can clearly see how this can be moving forward so effectively in the industry to create a new vast trend as a way of making fashion more sustainable for the future. I’ve gone through many current trends based on sustainability including recycling clothing and lab growing materials to make them more eco-friendly for our future but I’ve found through Israeli Danit Peleg’s work and focusing on Adidas’ 3D printed ocean waste “Ultra Boost” shoe that 3D printing is the most logical trend to follow for the upcoming years in technological advancement.

INTRODUCTION

Danit Peleg’s work introduced me to this trend - a fashion design school student from Israel who first got introduced to the idea during her senior year, she designed and printed an entire collection purely from 3D printers after 9 months of experimenting with different patterns to create the sheets of garment and have different forms and textures to the textiles for the 5 different looks in her collection. This inspired me hugely - if brands could do the same as Danit but on a mass level with experts working on the patterns and creating the garments from scratch using up-cycled ocean materials it would not only cut down on hard labour in developing countries but it also has huge possibility to be completely sustainable and recyclable if the correct resources are used. From Adidas’ “Blue Planet Effect” up cycled ocean waste 3D printed sole, it gave me the idea of using collected ocean waste as the resource for the 3D printing of the clothing so there is NO new material used whatsoever due to the extreme mass amount of ocean waste. It also inspired me in what’s possible with 3D printing in what materials we can replace with with the technology instead of just replacing the sole, is it possible to replace the other components of the shoe making the shoe completely 3D printed and completely sustainable.

With this trend, I believe not only can we save hard, badly paid and inhuman labour in developing countries but we can develop even better technology to allow brands to easily produce sustainable 3D printed clothing but to those who have/invest in 3D printers can do it from home and can just purchase the clothing patterns from brands to assemble at home and the resources from a cheap retailer making it simple, accessible and sustainable for the whole world.

There is also huge opportunity for brands to invest and indulge with the trend by giving away printers to influencers globally to get the trend seen and desirable worldwide.

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Introduction 4

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CROSS INDUSTRY ANALYSIS With the current advancement in 3D printing as a technology, it’s being applied in many industries and sectors as the future and mostly is being developed in terms of materials it’s using as filament in the printers. In the medical industry, 3D printing has been developed so much that it’s now being used to create replacement organs, bones and major body components with the potential to create almost anything to go in the body if the correct filament is used so the parts are suited for a human body. The technology is developing different materials to print with which shows potential for materials in different sectors such as dentistry, aerospace, art and developing through into fashion.

The technology is being developed thoroughly through all industries with bone printing and functional organ printing being the new innovation for hospitals and teeth and brace

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printing being the new innovation in dentistry, the world of health science is developing with the technology.

The 3D printed components are completely unique and made-to-fit perfectly because of the modelling technology used to create the products being so specific and accurate the organs, bones and teeth are perfect for the patient. For example, this innovation is currently being used in trial operations for bone cancer - 3D printed segments of bone are replacing the tumorous part of the bone stopping the cancer from spreading and helping heal the bone properly because of the accurate printing. This not only shows how the new technology can go as far to save lives if it continues developing but also shows me that the development of materials can be further applied to fashion with new materials like cotton, rubber and polyester being developed to print.

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MINIMISING VISUAL POLLUTION

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The up-cycling of pre-existing materials from the ocean such as loose fishing wires, plastic waste and unbelievable amounts of non-sdegradable material is shocking and could be converted into something we use and wear everyday if we simply collected and converted the waste. In clothing, there’s a mass amount of textiles and materials used to create garments and especially shoes having 3 main components - plastic for detailing, rubber for the sole and fabric to form the upper, laces and inside of the shoe.

I feel with 3D printing, we can work to replace all the elements needed to create a simple shoe at first; first seen from Adidas with their up cycled ocean waste 3D printed sole “Ultra Boost” but with the technology developing and world resources available, we can work to create a completely 3D printed fashion world.

3D printers use generally rigid plastic filament for the resource to print with - with Adidas’ “blue planet effect” scheme I was introduced to the initial idea of up cycling current waste where most of it is kept which is affecting the world’s mass waste issue in that inevitably, there will be no more space for any waste so to reduce our plastic intake and reduce increasing waste, we can use what we’ve got. Companies can be set up in order to collect and convert the waste from the ocean surface with boats and deep sea where

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HOW MATERIALS CAN BE USED IN FASHION areas are most affected with teams of divers and use of nets similar to fishing. The recycled waste can be broken down and converted into filament used in 3D printers making simple 3D printing completely recycled and recyclable. The only down fall to this sustainable concept is the issue with the material itself when printed - the plastic is quite rigid and sharp when printed so would need to be printed in a way it would be strong yet soft on the skin to act as a replacement for current softer textiles almost always used like cotton. Danit Peleg, an Israeli fashion school student in her final major project was the first to have really explored the potential in 3D printed fashion creating her full 5 piece collection for her final project.

Her 9 months of experimentation with regular filament used in most common 3D printers lead her through a path of discovery of how to create a textile-like sheet of “fabric” from a regular 3D printer. She examined and really learned the structure of cotton and cotton blends of how they’re structured from thread to thread to create the textile.

She experimented with various patterns and shapes printed

and working together when she finally came to a pattern of print that was soft on the skin because of the space between “threads” and was stretchy and durable like a fabric. With this pattern, she developed her collection and simply printed the patterns of clothing with the new-cotton pattern and joined them together once printed to create a full garment solely 3D printed. This shows how much potential 3D printing has within fashion with basic filament - with the development of materials from resources like the ocean, 3D printing can revolutionise fashion.

With the development of science alongside with technology, materials could be combined with up cycled plastic to change the materials printed form to make the printed material potentially stronger, softer or more resilient. This means that 3D printing has the potential to grow to replace more and more materials within fashion through shoes, clothing and accessories.

In shoes rubber-like materials

are already being developed to replace the shoe sole seen by big name brands like Adidas, New Balance and Under Armour.

What isn’t being done though is the replacement of the rest of the shoe - the sole is sustainable but the rest of the shoe isn’t and the goal of 3D printed fashion is to create a totally sustainable shoe that can be completed if the correct materials are developed to replace the upper elements of the shoes to maximise aesthetic and comfort. Taking inspiration from the medical industry, rubber-like material is already developed to 3D print things like organs which with a simple change in the material density and texture in the way the material is developed into filament this could simply replace shoe rubber also. The simple technology is already being used in mass in fastfashion stores with accessories like earrings, sunglasses and bags because it’s cheap and fast to produce and simple and stylish in today’s current fashion trends.

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I wanted my trend mood board and visual communication style throughout this manifesto to reflect clear oceans as a result of our innovation in the re and upcycling of ocean waste using charities such as The Ocean Clean Up and converting them into current and future fashion. I communicated this with a palette of navy through blue and aqua with contrasting white to show waves and cleanliness of the oceans and pink as a high contrast and because of current fashion trends baby pink is extremely mainstream as a key trend colour. The colour blue represents freedom and clarity which is the goal of this trend to reduce the ocean’s waste giving us clearer and cleaner oceans again and freedom to print to any extent because the materials are totally sustainable.

TREND COLOUR SWATCH

All imagery used throughout comes from Tumblr because of the certain aesthetic most images give with archived fashion images from high end brands Raf Simons, A Cold Wall and Nike and mood images of the ocean and key colour themes seen in the clothing throughout my trend.

All fashion images represent

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how I feel the style of the trend would look with a contemporary aesthetic using fitting, textures and cuts of garments making the trend innovative in the fashion industry too. I used elements of plastics and potential for plastic throughout with accessories and detailing on things like shoes clearly showing how 3D printed fashion could look.

I took mass inspiration from graphic designer David Carson from his extreme experimental style with use of collage images using blending modes and use of high contrasting text working within the images to maximise use of space. I also used the Swiss design style in my mood board and throughout the design style because of their use of grids and rulers to keep the text and images tidy within the space to keep the design clear to the reader.

TREND MOOD IMAGERY

I feel my visual communication throughout communicates the theme of my trend and the key fashion style is shown also through imagery working with mood imagery and text as one to create a clear theme to my trend.

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HOW MY TREND WILL IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY

MENU Today’s technology is moving forward so much so that we can develop usable materials from almost any waste - as a result of this, we can use mass amounts of waste to our advantage to create new material for tools like 3D printers to reduce increasing waste of current unsustainable materials. In the today’s waste management,“The world cities generated 1.3 billion tonnes of waste annually with Asia accountable for 1 million tonnes per day. With current urbanisation and population growth rate, the global waste generation is estimated to rise to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025” (Global Waste Management Complex, 2017). To me, this shows the impact of the world as a whole on being irresponsible with waste from materials being unsustainable and non-recyclable and from us as a human race not taking care of what we do have in disposing and hugely overbuying. Edge Expo quoted that “Consumers throw away shoes and clothing, an average of 70 pounds per person, annually. A few communities have textile recycling programs, about 85% of this waste goes to landfills where it occupies about 5% of landfill space and the amount is growing.”

(2018). 3D printing fashion offers a solution to both of these issues both removing waste - the up-cycling of current materials (plastics) from badly polluted oceans into filament for the printers and the fact that clothing will take longer to create and will last longer will mean that the purchase of clothing items would be less often because of user experience in the new-tech-age of fashion.

With approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution finding their way into our oceans every day, (Surfers Against

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Sewage, 2019) ocean waste is slowly becoming out of control and isn’t being stopped anytime soon with recycling being inconsistent throughout the world and most plastic products not being biodegradable - we should be using this problem as the main source for new plastic production no longer increasing plastic production and simply recycling from our oceans. With brands like Adidas leading the revolution of the “Blue Planet Effect” up cycling our ocean waste, nonprofit companies like The Ocean Clean Up clearing our waters of the waste and with developing companies for recycling changing the waste into filament for printers the 3D printed concept and trend will become a fully accessible reality.

Adidas in 2017 revealed and sold the first ever up-cycled ocean waste shoe being developed through to 2018 where they created both a pair of “Ultra Boosts” with completely up-cycled fishing wire and with a 3D printed sole made from upcycled plastic from bottles. This is the first example to follow in the 3D printed fashion future as it shows it really can be done with simple use of pre-existed resources and brands need to be innovative with simple recycling of resources like Adidas using the wire as the thread for the trainer’s upper but brands also need to look at ways to use the up-cycled plastic filament for the printers but for the clothing to be printed with a certain textile pattern and cut to create the clothing.

The other major issue with waste is the world’s huge obsession with over consumption because of fast fashion being so easily accessible and so cheap to buy and keep on buying in attempt to keep up with trends. Second to oil, the clothing

and textile industry is the largest polluter in the world (Edge Expo, 2018) which is solely down to a huge increase in fast fashion as of the past decade down to high street names like Zara, Topshop and H&M now being in direct competition with big online name brands like Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Nasty Gal to have the cheapest clothing with the most selection ultimately ending in massively increasing waste. The Guardian stated that “The volume of clothes bought rose by nearly 200,000 tonnes to 1.13 million tonnes in 2016, causing 26 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from production to disposal and putting clothing fourth after housing, transport and food in terms of its impact on the environment”, a scary statistic for some new wardrobe pieces.

3D printed fashion offers a solution to this because of its sentimentality and user experience - products take time and effort to make from the printing process to the creation of the garment because of the assembly of the 3D printed pattern cut. This makes an experience out of buying new clothing meaning people will spend more time designing with colours and fits from scratch or whether they’re purchasing the item pattern online from specialist stores and the assembly of the garment. By this process is complete, the consumer will not only have a memory going with the garment of it’s creation giving it sentimental value encouraging the customer to take care of it and love it but also means the time spent designing and creating the cloth for them has taken their mind away from mainstream fast fashion brands encouraging more fast fashion from occurring thus reducing waste.

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