While 3D printing has been transforming traditional manufacturing processes for several years, the fashion industry was a little slower in recognizing its potential. However, 3D printing has now well and truly arrived, and brands are using it extensively and in a variety of innovative ways.
3D printing is a textile industry technology that allows for incredibly intricate designs, enabling brands to add elaborate decorative embellishments and performance-enhancing features. For instance, 3D printing has considerably impacted trainer design, allowing designers to create lightweight but strong soles by allowing detailed cut-outs.
- Smart textiles
We are all familiar with wearables—from FitBits to Apple Watches- and they are everywhere. These devices monitor our heart rate, temperature, sleep quality, and other biometrics. Until recently, these wearable devices were typically incorporated into watches, bracelets, or similar accessories. Now, smart textiles are taking their place.
Featuring an array of tiny sensors, smart textiles can monitor the wearer’s health metrics or external conditions, providing consumers with important information and feedback. We could soon see a t-shirt that alerts the wearer when they need to apply sunscreen or records their daily exercise. This textile technology is already widely used in medical and military applications. Over the next few years, we expect it to become more common in everyday consumer clothing, becoming one of the fastest-growing textile technology trends.
- Anti-odor clothing
When we sweat, the damp, dark conditions make textiles the perfect breeding ground for odor-producing bacteria. Fabrics also soak up environmental odors, like body odor, smoke, and cooking smells. That’s why our fitness clothing or workwear gets smelly pretty quickly. Clothes that smell bad also affect our comfort and self-confidence, often preventing us from fully focusing and fulfilling our potential.
Fortunately, new anti-odor additives offer a solution. While antibacterial solutions, like Polygiene StayFresh, tackle those odors caused by bacteria, Polygiene OdorCrunch™ attacks environmental smells. It does so using natural silica particles. These silica particles attract the molecules responsible for environmental smells (most notably sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen), absorb them, and crunch them, breaking them down and releasing them.
