3D Printing Clothes & Furniture: Designs, Not Products, As Brands
February 21, 2014
A couple of PSFK stories this past week have me wondering about what constitutes a "brand" in categories seen for so long now as immune to digital media disruption: Fashion and furniture.
First up, news that a company called Electroloom hopes to launch ready-to-wear clothes that you could print from your 3D printer at home. And second, a look at what happens when this technology eventually results in home 3D printers (or even "bays") capable of printing out furniture (see YouTube video above).
Set aside the implications for retailers like The Gap or Ikea - which are immense - what happens when Ralph Lauren, for instance, no longer sells physical clothes, just creates the designs for them, and sells them 100% online - for instant print out in exactly the right size?
Granted - this is a giant "if" and a considerable "when." But the fact that this kind of technology is being rolled out so quickly, product brands of all should be gearing up for an age when books aren't the only things disrupted by the digital+physical connection, now that 3D printing is more than just an idea.
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