Right now there's something even cooler than 3D printing that's taking place in
the fashion industry. It's called 3D knitting and it's amazing!
Imagine making whole outfits without any seams, all knitted in full color. 3D
knit technology is making it less complicated than ever before to build textile
products quickly at low cost. This technology will undoubtedly spur innovation
in wearables. Here's a review of a few must-know things about 3d knitting.
First, 3D knitted products are to fashion what 3D printed goods are to plastics.
It's hard to manufacture fashion products in the United States. The costs are
high, and the quality is just as good going through Asian sources. But in
corporations like Nike and UnderArmour, 3D knitting allows products to be
created and manufactured in the US without sacrificing on margins. Some iconic
products are actually selling, such as the Nike FlyKnit and UnderArmour's
Speedform Gemini shoes, both seamlessly knitted on 3D knit machines.
Now how does 3D knitting do the job?
Essentially a lot of individual strands of most any material, organic or
synthetic, are fed into a sophisticated machine that manipulates teeny knitting
needles. A machine head goes back and forth along the line of needles to build
up layers of fabric, thus creating virtually knit style. These types of
computer-driven devices harness the power associated with 3D CAD software to
build products visualized in a computer system.
The truly amazing part of this production process is that products are knit
without any seams. Sometimes 3D knitting is called "seamless" or "wholegarment".
Once a product is designed in the software, all it takes is the click of a mouse
to fire off a round of production.
3D knit products appear in almost many forms: shirts, pants, dresses,
lingerie... and there are more and more every day.
The technology is highly effective for creating sportswear. However it is just
as easy to make most types of outfits, even winter apparel like overcoats that
come with pockets knitted as a single article with no seams. Amazing!
At this time the fashion marketplace is based almost entirely on merchandise
which can be slice along with sewn in concert. Using this method gets to be
useless along with 3d images knitting. Right now apparel are imprinted within
one-offs along with can even be fully personalized on the individual purchasing
them.
On account of your creativity associated with proficient manufacturers along
with engineers around the world, your technological know-how is starting to
spread. It's possibly accessible right here in the united states, along with
we're going to tell you where to find it. Read on.
Another must-know fact about 3D knitting is that it makes fashion production
less expensive than ever before.
Forget about sewing products together. With 3D knitting, your new fashion comes
fully finished out of the machine! No longer do you need to make huge capital
investments to produce an item. Prototyping and testing your design is cheaper
than ever before, letting you go from design to a scaled creation in as little
time as a day.
How is this possible?
CAD software allows design and layout to combine with complex knitting
machinery, making the technology accessible to anyone who can learn to design on
a computer. It is an innovator's dream.
New marketplaces are opening for 3D knitted goods. Some key companies provide
the machinery and software, including Shima Seiki, Stoll, Karl Mayer, and
Santoni. There are three basic types of 3D knitting too: flat knitting, warp
knitting, and circular knitting.
There are some excellent YouTube videos demonstrating the technology on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4P6R0zTAw0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-ocEt_j9jY
And finally, ff you want to learn more about 3D knitting, head over to
http://comfedesigns.com/3dknit for an in-depth look at the technology as well as
some helpful information and networking resources.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alan_Destin
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8976797
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