Loughborough project aims for fast fashion in 3D

This is the goal of Loughborough University, which has teamed up with the Yeh Group, a global textile and garment manufacturer, to embark on work in 3D textile printing that could fundamentally change how clothes and footwear are made.

The 18-month project - dubbed 3D Fashion - will see Dr Guy Bingham, senior lecturer in Product and Industrial Design, produce wearable, full size, Additive Manufacturing (AM) textile garments and footwear with design input from a major fashion house.

According to the University, advances in AM textiles have made it possible to produce 3D print ready-to-wear, net-shaped garments directly from raw material in a single manufacturing operation that doesn’t require garment finishing.

In use, the technology has the potential to reduce waste, labour costs and CO2e, and modernise clothing production by encouraging localised manufacturing and production.

The East Midlands institution adds that garment manufacture generates 1.8 million tonnes of waste material, or the equivalent of 70kg per UK household, with 6.3 billion m³ of water used in the process.