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3D printing clothes |
3D printing is slowly but surely changing the fashion world as we know it, from the runway to online retail. Some of today’s loudest fashion statements are coming fresh out of a 3D printer. Beyond just being utilized to create printed garments and accessories, 3D printing technology is also being looked upon as a muse to help innovate classic techniques, such as knitting. One company that has reinvented the historic knitting machine is the Central London-based Unmade, located in the Makerversity an incubator and service provider for various tech-based startups in the London area.

Unmade borrowed the general mechanics and functionality behind 3D printing technology, taking the relative coding and implementing it into their knitting machines, which in turn has made these old-school devices transform suddenly into a new and innovative machine.“Knitting is the future of textiles,”Unmade’s Ben Alun-Jones tells The Guardian “All the things people dream of doing with 3D printers is one of the oldest things going.”By re-engineering these knitting machines to function like a 3D printer, Unmade is able to run personalized designs through specialized software and ‘print’ personalized knitted designs to order.
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The Unmade team |
Not only does the art of knitting become more efficient with this reinvented technology, it also allows for less material waste and more personalized products. Unmade’s consumers are able to choose and customize a product, at which point it will be knitted to order, ensuring that the company only makes product that are destined to sell right away. By placing the power in hands of the user, Unmade’s consumer base will be able to own a product that was specially printed just for them.“We are building a completely new experience for the customer where you can be part of the creation process,” said Alun-Jones.
“We have made our own file format that is like an MP3 is to music – we have created a .KNIT which is a file format for knitting.”

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