Hi steemians! In my last post, i wrote about a food 3d printer and how 3d printing can be useful at home in future. In this post, i am shifting focus to how 3d printing can revolutionize the fashion industry.

Engineering meets Fashion

Fashion industry has its quirks for some highly complex, creative and futuristic designs which are not possible to fabricate in the past via traditional manufacturing methods. 3d printing comes in very useful to produce a wider range of highly customized and complex pieces of jewelry, accessories and shoes. Just to list a few fashion designers who have used 3d printing technology to make their designs and their bold products. Iris van Herpen, a young and budding dutch fashion designer is known for being the first designer to use 3d printing turning her designs to reality.

Iris van Herpen “Crystallization” July 2010 3D Printed topSource

Another aspiring fashion designer is Cristina Franceschini, an italian fashion designer who 3d printed shoes, jewelry and other accessories.

Cristina Franceschini 3D printed shoes in nylonSource

Are you an aspiring independent designer? There are a few options where you can upload your designs and own a piece of your very own jewelry. Or if you would like to sell your designs, you even set up an online shop with 3d printing services retailers. i.materialise who worked with Iris van Herpen on the world's first 3d printed dress is a good place to start. Shapeways is also another great outlet for you to set up shop with them.

Luxury brand retails foray into 3d printing

Leading fashion designers who pioneered the use of 3d printing technology has inspired retailers in the luxury market to do the same. In fact, Wollers report forecasted that the jewelry industry using 3D Printing will reach USD$11 billion by the year 2020. A few luxury brand retailers have started their 3d printed collections. VOJD Studios started their futuristic 3d printed jewelry collection.

Tranlucent 3d printed jewelry by VOJDCommons Attribution 4.0 International License

Karl Lagerfeld from Chanel introduced wonderful pieces of 3d printed tops during the Haute Couture show in 2015. Just this year, Daniel Christian Tang, a Canadian luxury brand also showcased a set of stunning 3d printed luxury jewelry collection See their 3d printed pieces here.

Value of scarcity

Heard of the luxury brand, Hermès Birkin? According to this article, a research company called baghunter conducted a study and concluded that it is less riskier to invest in Hermès Birkin bag than in gold or stocks. Mind you, one Hermès Birkin bag can cost up to USD$150,000! Proclaimed as one of the most exclusive handbags in the world, it is so highly valued that it has become a collectible and an investment. Such ultra luxury brands have become collectibles for one reason – unique and scarce. 3D Printing is capable of making unique jewelry in a variety of different complex designs and precious metal. That being said, a worry about 3d printing in the fashion industry is that with the easy sharing of digital design files in the internet, there is a high risk of copyrighted designs being produced illegally. Hence, are the exclusive 3d printed jewelries going to stay "exclusive" for long?

Or perhaps an important question to ask is if if the consumers in the luxury market are buying them?

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