WTF

[galia]

^ #meta

[naturalalmonds]

I'm sorry that I had to bump this thread with a Kanyeism after it just dealt with one, but:

"This is what I'm afraid of right here, 3D printing. Because the Internet destroyed the music industry and now this is what we're afraid of right now with the textile industry. There will come a time where people are making the shoes at home." – Kanye West

[Extreme Mildness]

TBH, I don't think that's so ridiculous. Sure, there will always be demand for high-quality handmade or even #artisanal garments, but I think 3d printing is definitely going to impact production methods for just about everything. Decentralised production, where companies (or individuals) just sell blueprints to consumers to print at home seems like a definite possibility (and in some ways, less wasteful than current production chains). In fact, that's the vision of the future advocated by Jeremy Rifkin, as the so-called "third industrial revolution".

[jap808]

Printing the new red-ish tee by BBS at home?
So, no praying that it won't be sold out before I take a trip to Milan, or Florence, or Berlin? No online shopping and truck shipping?
It doesn't sound that bad...

[gregor]

i'm kind of against it in terms of higher end clothing, especially those in which the intricacies and slight differences and quirks of the pieces are meant to be there, and add to the look and feel of the garment. i actually quite hope it makes an impact in the lowest end of the clothing industry (though that's a double edged sword in and of itself), but nothing will beat the human touch, though it will probably diminish the demographic currently buying from brands that use it.

as much as i hate people giving kanye more credit than his thoughts are worth (which isn't a whole lot to me), he does bring up an interesting conversation a lot of people aren't yet having.

[Arkady]

3D printing doesn't have to render a perfect result every time (well, on a technical level it can't yet) and in most cases the human touch is the touch of a human operating a machine.

[naturalalmonds]

The idea though that it will destroy the industry? Like how the music industry has been completely destroyed, even though all his success and fame came in the post-Napster era? Come on. It will change the industry, maybe. "Pirating" clothing will at best be an extreme niche.

[bukka]

The idea though that it will destroy the industry? Like how the music industry has been completely destroyed, even though all his success and fame came in the post-Napster era? Come on. It will change the industry, maybe. "Pirating" clothing will at best be an extreme niche.

Do you consider pirating music as an extreme niche? Can't really see why it should be different for clothes when technology will be ready to make it possible at low/no cost.

[HugAndWug]

Do you consider pirating music as an extreme niche? Can't really see why it should be different for clothes when technology will be ready to make it possible at low/no cost.

Pirating clothing is already huge. There have been tons of fakes and replicas for years but now they're getting much better at it. How designers and stores cope with constantly increased volume of fakes is going to be a major concern in the fashion industry as technology and replication skills improve.

[Arkady]

The idea though that it will destroy the industry? Like how the music industry has been completely destroyed, even though all his success and fame came in the post-Napster era? Come on. It will change the industry, maybe. "Pirating" clothing will at best be an extreme niche.

Low barriers to entry and saturation effects have done just as much to "destroy" the music industry, though really the music industry is very much alive we just earn on performances now rather than record sales. No easy analogue with clothing there, but to say that pirating plans for decentralized production will be an extreme niche is to betray a limited concept of the technology I think.

[Faust]

I think all you 3D geeks forget something about fashion - the glam, the glory, the theater, fetishizing the designer, the creator, the exclusivity, and so on. You will be able to reproduce apparel, sure - but fashion? Never.

[gregor]

faust well put, and something i think i was trying to get at.

it's super easy to reproduce something with a similar look, but if you betray the underlying reason it's produced and consumed, then you lose a large segment of the population.

the people who spend 500+ on tee shirts won't go making them at home, and most definitely not in large enough numbers to effect the brands that produce said shirts.

[Arkady]

I think all you 3D geeks forget something about fashion - the glam, the glory, the theater, fetishizing the designer, the creator, the exclusivity, and so on. You will be able to reproduce apparel, sure - but fashion? Never.

No, that's what I'm driving at exactly -- you'll have your MP3 but vinyl and cassette will still reign supreme when it comes to quality reproduction.

Now I'm really interested in what happens to all the underpaid sweatshop workers who put in 18 hours a day once fast fashion cuts them out of the assembly line in favor of a domestic 3D printer. Does their overall situation improve or worsen? Hard to say in general terms.

[naturalalmonds]

Do you consider pirating music as an extreme niche? Can't really see why it should be different for clothes when technology will be ready to make it possible at low/no cost.

It will be an extreme niche because of the barrier to entry (cost of machine, cost of raw material). For an MP3 you just click a button and it's just bits. It's not made up out of something physical.

You can already buy knitting machines, where are all the people knocking off sweaters for themselves in their homes?

This is a different discussion than talking about some enterprising individual/company knocking things off at scale. We're talking about some guy in his home printing out a shoe (how said machine is going to do anything other than a pair of crocs is beyond me, though)

[Arkady]

You don't need a computer and internet access to download an MP3? There's your cost of machine and cost of raw material.

We can already 3D print human heart valves, houses, skin, guns -- but pants with danglers are a stretch, huh?