Both Ministry of Sound and Kniterate are offering the chance for you to wear 3D printed clothes but is this lasting fashion or just a fad?

Everyone now knows that fast fashion is unsustainable and further contributes to climate change. So, could a better option be to create our own clothes at home or rely on companies who cost a little more but offer a better fit?

Rather than having to get busy with a needle and thread, Kniterate offers you a digital knitting machine on Kickstarter. It‘s supposed to bring you “an affordable and compact version of industrial knitting machines to your workshop.”

Basically, you can now make your own Christmas woolly jumpers and other fashion items that come to mind. It seems there is already a huge interest in the machine as its Kickstarter campaign has raised $152,325 so far and smashed the funding goal of $100,000. The founders claim the machine has already been tested in production in China where it worked flawlessly.

3D Print Your Own Style

As well as Kniterate, Ministry of Supply wants to offer customers 3D printed clothes too. The company, which was also initially funded on Kickstarter, have unveiled a 3D robotic knitting machine in their Boston store.

Customers will be able to create their own blazers using the technology. CEO Aman Advani said: “We’re starting off with blazers, but the beauty of the machine is that, once you develop this core product, you’re able to make extensions to it very easily.”

Ministry of Supply developed their blazer printing machine in partnership with the Shima Sheiki team. This company drew attention after creating the first computerized flat-knitting system.

With such a robotic knitting machine, customers can simply design and print a blazer to their liking. However, will this fashion take off? Although it offers a lot of personalization, the process is not as quick as simply heading into a local store and picking up a cheap, sweatshop made jacket.

To create a blazer, a customer chooses their design and then printing begins. This process takes around an hour and a half. As well as this, the blazer needs time to allow the fabric to set. There is currently only one machine in store too, meaning only one blazer can be printed at a time.

Although there are negatives to this idea, Advani is so far very positive. The store is the first place to offer large pieces of clothing, completely 3D printed.

As well as this, the process produces very little waste. Traditionally creating a pattern would take a considerable amount of time. Instead, using a machine means this process is not required and a lot of time can be saved.

However, the price of your slowly printed, a custom blazer would be $345. However, alternatively, to receive a Kniterate machine from the Kickstarter campaign, you’ll be looking at paying $4,699 or more.

Would you be willing to spend $345 to be kitted out with the latest 3D printed blazer? Check out Ministry of Supply’s website here. You also still have time to back Kniterate on Kickstarter.

Source: Digiday