The 3-D printing is been viewed as a faster and cheaper way to print complex things. The future world may possess 3D printing as a vision that empowers individuals, mini business and cooperatives with creativity and supply.
Most of the industries outside of manufacturing, medicine and a few DIY arts and crafts sectors have been in a lag to adopt 3-D printing. Slowly, more and more industries came on track and fashion is one such industry leading the charge.
3-D technology allows faster visualization and prototyping of new fashion designs. 3D technology is used in retail and could deliver a competitive advantage where the customers can generate customized products on the spot utilizing 3D renderings for the clients to preview before purchasing them.
A commercial-grade, high-quality 3D printer for prototyping cost much more a few years ago. Now, high-end SLA desktop 3D printers is available for under $5,000. This economic technology has empowered smaller designers in their business. 3-D printing was first used in the jewellery industry and the athletic shoe industry before larger fashion design houses showed their interest.
This happened only because 3-D technologies translate directly into time and money savings for the new designers. One of the most time-consuming phases of designing process is the creation of product samples. Also, fashion industry is one of the faster growing industry among all mostly in the sense of season. So 3-D modelling and printing can reduce months from traditional development timelines.
For larger fashion firms and brands, these will be cost saving in a huge sense which is a larger company size with hundreds of stock keeping units delivered to their stores in each and every season. Major benefits of using 3D printing in fashion are speed, low cost, single step manufacture, complexity and designing freedom, reduced risk, accessibility, customizability and sustainability compared to other methods.