Why 3D printed fashion is more sustainable and can revolutionize the fashion industry?

I had a great and inspiring time preparing for my talk at BBC 100women conference. I was confronted again with staggering stats about the current dire situation of the fashion industry and its impact on the world and in particular with regards to women.

I learned, for example, that only 1% of fashion garments today are recycled - the rest end up burned or in landfills. In the US alone, 15 million tons of clothes are thrown away every year! And the working conditions are women producing our clothes are oftentimes very difficult.

I believe that to solve this challenge we need to make massive changes in the way we manufacture our clothes. We can’t just optimize our current process or make small changes along the manufacturing process. I think we need to hit the reset button and look for technological solutions like 3D printed fashion or other alternatives that can change fashion and make it circular by design.

Thank you again @bbc100women for this incredible opportunity that allows me to explain my vision and the potential power of 3D printed fashion.

Best,
Danit

[morphinebeats]

Danit, good presentation, but take into consideration the weather conditions. 3D printed clothing is perfect for concept designs, not everyday use. The YouTuber (Krizia over at SewPrinted) makes use of this tech also.

[jnv]

Shima Seiki makes Wholegarment knitting machines for over 20 years and I program these for a living. They are zero waste machines by nature, giving you the most flexible, breathable, warm and 99% fully finished garments. Combine this with a completely bio degradable yarn (100% wool is a great example) and you have the most sustainable, low power consumption and sweatshop free textile possible. I'm afraid 3D printed textile is trying to reinvent the wheel.

[thetenthltr]

I'm excited about this! ❤️ It is however important to consider the ppl you mentioned at the top of the presentation --- *Impoverished women who work for menial wages.* But how will those women manage when they're replaced by machines? Our Earth conscious fashion revolution will negatively impact the ppl that make a living in our current environment.

[jwebstersmithii]

Is there a way to recreate substances like cotton, through 3D printing? Imagine being able to buy a pattern from a designer, then fitting it to your current body scan, and then being able to print it. Bespoke.

[vitunachishi]

Glade that she thinking about the women working class but what will happen if machine replace labor... Does she have an alternate job for those workers thats better then they are in now...??

[finnschneider]

Well yes but actually no. She has no idea about the technology. Printers are still very unreliable machines to operate and are not at all plug and play. The materials are polymers, which can be flexible but are not breathable materials. Therefore the clothes will get very uncomftable on the skin especally when sweating. Mesh material could fix that, but they do not offer any protection. And no, new materials will not magically solve these problems. Also there is this lie about recycling 3d prints, for which we have no infrastructure right now, and producing filament is not something easy to do, because it has to be precise to a hundredth of a milimeter. So all in all, no regular fabric will not be replaced by polymers, no, 3d printers will not magically be plug and play for everyone who has no idea about it, and no, polymers are not very easy to recycle especially not if you want to mix them in an item and then need to seperate it again for recycling. also she conviniently left out the part where you have to connect all the pices of the puzzle with a 3d pen or a soldering iron which is not easy or fast and produces a lot of fumes in front of your face. It is one of the stupid idea of solving an environmental problem with tech that does not exist yet when the easy solution would be to just buy less shit.

[clared]

This is the future. I am so excited to see where science takes this technology!

[Andy-tqi]

it is a nice mental exercise, but she did not think it all the way through. it is solving the wrong problem. why not solve the problem of fast fashion in its core: we produce too much. if you replace the workers by 3d printers than the workers and their kids will be exploited in a 3d printer factory. with this proposition she just tries to clean up her industry by sweeping the actual problem under someone elses rug. the real problem lies within our economical system...

[bugblud]

She has some good points but ignores the fact that not everyone will have access to a 3D printer, even now there are people who struggle to afford a regular printer never mind a 3D printer. Clothes would also probably become more expensive, especially as you would have to buy your own materials to print the design.

[smylyface]

I'm barely one minute in and I'm already shaking my head. Regardless of how wonderful and innovative this may be, there is no chance that countries that still use slave labor, especially that of their prisoners, will switch to 3D printing. They do not care about the environment nor do they care about the quality of life of their citizens. In fact, they prefer the quality of life in their prisons be as horrific as possible because it is meant to be a punishment that will deter other citizens from committing crimes. This will not improve the lives of women in those countries because their government views expensive 3D printers as financial waste when they get the same outcome for free by using slaves. And yes, it is free. The tiny amount of money they "pay" their current "employees" is used by the government to pay for room & board, food and basic necessities for each slave.
Yes, it's a great concept but trying to sell it with lies is not the way to go. We can't change the way foreign countries operate, we can only change what we do ourselves and hope others follow our lead.

[GBobFree]

How does this help the people working in the textile mills that you showed at the beginning? Seems like you are just taking away their jobs rather than improving their jobs?

[dsstudio]

No, thank you. I stick to my regular fabrics, my beloved sewing machine and my hand embroidery. I’m a fashion designer for over 20 years and those “clothes” look pretty cool on their aesthetics, but zero in practicality or confort. She presented wearable art and not real clothing.😉🇧🇷🇺🇸

[talithakumi]

As an old style designer Im very impressed by your speach & your vision of fashion in the future

[GlobalTubeTruth]

What is she wearing and where did it come from? Why isn't she wearing her own fashion designs? Because it is ridiculous. Nobody wants to wear that ugly mesh crap. Obviously, she doesn't either. Try getting some sheep and a loom.

[PrisnaLutomu]

Omg 😃😍🙊 yesss i'd love to see that in the future!!

[mariamgarawany]

Can anyone tell me the kind of the printer?

[SeraphineClarisse]

I'm not sure it's big corporation's interest to make this concept real... I mean they make way too much money out their sales

[noraapelgren]

You rock! I think and hope 3D printed fashion changes the world :-)

[avantikatiwari]

I doubt on the durability of the garments ! Well for fast fashion it' s top notch- Customisable designs & 100% biodegradable!

[jeorane]

I am a tailor, and you are wrong, these garments you made are no wearable, they cannot replace any piece of clothes that someone wear nowadays.
Look at the blouse you are wearing, millions of that are made everyday, this is the reason the clothes are cheap and poor people can buy it.
Do you think millions of workers should be unemployed?
The clothes you produced in 3d printers are meshes, this is the reason that it fits well, these 3d garments cannot never supply the need of protection of hot or cold or anything, it don't ever hide the body, It is only an exotic curiosity made by a fashion designer.
You are far from reality, nothing you said can help to fix the problems you shown at beggining of this video