Technology Trends Transforming Fashion Designing

With technology becoming increasingly influential in artistic fields, fashion being an art form that permeates everyone’s day to day lives, is no exception. Mass produced fashion apparel has always depended on the latest technology to get the heavy lifting done. But the finer aspects of fashion, involving elaborate planning or intricate execution, remained more in the traditional domain. This began to change, of course, when Computer Aided Design (CAD) was taken up as an industry standard.

Now, technology is present in every aspect of fashion. A simple example of this would be hand sketching having been replaced by Adobe Illustrator. Up and coming Indian designers like Masaba Gupta would be a prime example of the results of such transitions. Her use of computer generated graphics is an example of the use of both computer design and the latest digital printing technologies in fashion. Labels such as blackmilkclothing also employ printing technologies in their own innovative way so as to provide a niche range of fashions. They bring out varied styles of lycra-spandex clothing in a combination of their own designs as well as licensed merchandise that they produce in-house, with their own technologies.

3D printing is also a new technology that is finding applications in fashion in various different ways. Many intricate designs that were not possible to execute without bulky structures holding them together can now be achieved with 3D printing processes such as laser sintering utilizing materials where TPU 92A-1 is an example. Body scanning allows for use of 3D printing to make fitting technologies even more precise in combination with the use of density variation.

The development of new materials and manufacturing processes is not only affecting innovation in fashion. Materials that have long been used in alternative fashion are now finding new applications due to the emergence of technologies that can manipulate them in new and creative ways. Soft polystyrene, which is commonly known as EVA foam, had been used in cosplay communities and prop making for years due to its malleable nature. The emergence of new cutting and molding technologies are now making it more conducive for constructing elements of actual clothing.

The use of parametric modeling software is allowing designers work complex patterns into their designs. Derived from architectural design, designers with architectural backgrounds such as Julia Korner, Daniel Widrig and Neri Oxman are pioneering the use of such technologies in fashion. Having created various collections featuring intricate geometric patterns that are a result of custom written algorithms, Korner sees immense potential for further, more varied uses of 3D printing in fashion.

Its easy to tell from instances such as these that fashion is all about being on the cutting edge. Several brands are using recycling technology to make denims out of recyclable synthetics that are both soft and durable. With growing concerns about non-biodegradable plastics crowding the earth, innovation such as this really paves the way for the future of fashion.