Interview with Valérie Vriamont
Valérie Vriamont
Business Developer & Innovation Consultant
Materialise
Business Developer & Innovation Consultant
Materialise
3D printing allows for high freedom of design
Belgium-headquartered Materialise puts 27 years of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services. The company's flexible solutions enable players in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design and consumer goods, to build innovative 3D printing applications. Business developer and innovation consultant Valérie Vriamont discusses 3D printing technologies in fashion and footwear.
How would you describe the market for 3D printing in fashion? What is the size of the market?
I think 3D printing in fashion stands on two pillars. On the one hand, we have high-end fashion or couture, the side of the market where end-consumers are willing to pay a higher price to wear unique pieces. 3D printing is the perfect technology to create these special pieces because it gives a lot of freedom to design. Designer Iris Van Herpen is a great example of this and so is our collaboration with Miles and Lineapiú, where we used the traditional art of lace to create delicate 3D-printed details on the clothes designed by Miles. On the other hand, there is the mass-customisation market segment, where 3D printing can bring integrated functionality for smaller parts of a design. In these cases, you don't print a whole garment, but you can develop parts of the piece where personalisation makes sense, and integrate 3D printing there. The potential for 3D printing in fashion is huge. With more advances in technology, speed and materials, the market will expand rapidly. The growth that we can reach in 3D printing for fashion still depends largely on the development of machines and materials. Last year, we established a strategic partnership with BASF for the development of new materials.
Where do you see the application of 3D printing in fashion growing-accessories, footwear, clothing?
There is a growth in wearables that can be also considered as fashion pieces, and that can be totally customised, like insoles or eyewear. Eyewear used to be a utility product and now it has become a fashion item with democratised prices and a wide offering in the market.
3D-printed mass-customisation makes a lot of sense in this case because eyewear designers need to be responsive to market demands.
A flexible manufacturing technology like 3D printing enables them to bring products to the market faster and iterate designs more easily than with traditional production methods. There are some examples of 3D-printed textiles in couture, but the most frequent are cases like the one where we worked with Miles, where 3D printed items are mixed with traditional methods and fabrics to improve and create new textiles.
In what ways can 3D printing transform the fashion industry?
First of all, 3D printing can bring flexibility for designers because it allows for high freedom of design. Not just designers will profit from the flexibility of 3D printing, from a manufacturing point of view, 3D printing makes on-demand production possible and shortens the development cycles. 3D printing is also a digital technology that makes it easier to adapt trends continuously with multiple iterations on a design. Another aspect where 3D printing can transform the industry is in making it more sustainable. 3D printing technologies generate less waste and the on-demand production creates less dormant stock.
What technologies and printers do you use at Materialise?
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is the most common 3D printing technology used for fashion and 3D-printed eyewear. This technology offers design of freedom and also makes high quality finishes possible. Another material we use for 3D-printed fashion is TPU, a more flexible material. We worked on a project for 3D-printed personalised midsoles with Adidas in this material.
Which are your major markets for 3D printing in fashion? Which geographies are still warming up?
Couture projects are focused in Europe, and we also work mostly with European eyewear designers. 3D printing in fashion will grow in the future and more countries will become relevant.
What kind of fabrics and materials are used for 3D printed garments? What are the challenges in terms of designs, aesthetics, fabrics?
One of the most common materials used with laser sintering is PA12. This polyamide material is flexible and yet very resistant-it doesn't break easily. To illustrate the advantages of this material we can say that in traditional eyewear there is a 5 per cent of remakes of glasses due to broken or damaged pieces while for 3D-printed eyewear this is less than one per cent. The main challenges in terms of design for 3D printing come from understanding the process and what's possible with the technology. We must break the "mindset silos" and designers have to see that 3D printing is not just a different way of doing what's been done before or a replication technique.
In terms of aesthetics, the biggest challenge is that the 3D-printed parts, off the printer, don't meet the requirements of the market and they have to go through a finishing process. We have already changed the mindset of our company, that has an industrial background, and now we must make sure that we offer quality consistently. This will change in the future because new materials will be developed for 3D printing. We have a design and engineering team and an R&D department focused on the development of new materials and finishes to reach a market with more diversification. We also signed a collaboration with the BASF in 2018 to develop new 3D printing materials. This will have a huge impact on the possibilities of 3D printing in fashion.
What is the level of adoption of technology especially in apparel and footwear? Has it moved beyond prototyping?
The adoption of 3D printing in fashion is way beyond prototyping. A good example of this for 3D-printed eyewear is the fact that when we started some years ago, opticians and end-users were not used to the materials for 3D printing because they always worked with acetate and titanium. Back then, we used to add titanium pieces on the frames so that they would look more familiar. Nowadays, 25 per cent of the independent eyewear brands have established a 3D printing production line; so, it's an established technology, well integrated into the market.
Are 3D printed garments wearable or just high-fashion runway items? Are they washable?
As I mentioned, 3D printing is a great technology for 3D-printed couture, but it can be used also as part of other fashion pieces produced with traditional methods or as customised accessories, like eyewear. We make sure that the 3D-printed garments and accessories are adapted to the purpose of use. For example, eyewear needs to be washable because it's always in contact with the skin. So, we process it for this purpose with a special finish.
Any major experiments or collaborations in progress in fashion and textiles?
This year we started a collaboration with designer Julia Koerner. Ruth Carter won an Oscar for her work in Black Panther, a film where we also collaborated with Julia to create a 3D-printed crown and a mantel for the character of Angela Basset, who plays Queen Ramonda. For eyewear, we have many collaborations with well-known designers like Hoet Design Studio, Lasnik, Impressio, and Safilo. We are working on other 3D printing fashion projects at the moment, but we can't talk about them yet. (HO)
Published on: 18/04/2019
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.