Ted Talks - 3D Printed Clothing

Ted Talks is a media organisation that posts talks delivered by experts online for anyone to access. If you’re ever bored it’s such a great alternative to Netflix because you can actually learn new things whilst you watch. If you haven’t yet been on Ted Talks then you really need to as soon as! One of my favourite parts of TED is the ‘topics’ section which has a range of topics from Astronomy, to Fashion, to Geology… Anything you want to hear a talk on will more than likely be on TED.

I came across a talk in the fashion section titled ‘Forget shopping. Soon you’ll download your new clothes’. The talk is given by designer Danit Peleg who created the first 3D-printed fashion collection. She spoke about her internship in New York at a fashion house and that they were working on a few 3D printed dresses. She found that they came across many problems as the dresses were being made from hard plastics so they were easily breakable and uncomfortable for the models. Eventually she began to learn about filaments, which is the material that you ‘feed’ the printer. After months of experimenting she discovered Filaflex, which is a strong and flexible filament. So she began using this, alongside an open source file (almost like a sewing pattern) to create her garments.

What do you think will be the future of 3D printing? I think its so fascinating but I also love the texture of fabric so I can’t imagine liking 3D clothes all that much if they feel like plastic!

Hollie Rose x