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manufacturing

Fashion Tech Path Mainstream Culture Adoption
Fashion

Fashion Tech’s Path To Mainstream Culture

Wearable Tech

While we couldn’t make the trek across the Atlantic for yesterday’s Interlaced 2015 runway show and discussions, it is a great opportunity to look at fashion tech and contemplate what the future might hold. Theoretically fashion tech has so much potential, but currently it feels nonexistent in our daily lives. Besides enhanced textiles, there are very few fashion tech items being sold to the public. Part of that is a technology and cost issue, but it also is a perception issue, and that is changing.

The past 12 months have been huge for wearable technology. Up until now, most devices have been $150 or less and were extremely specialized in functionality. With the release of a slew of Android Wear devices and the Apple Watch consumers are beginning to become more comfortable with wearing technology and paying a premium for it. A smartwatch is really the first piece of personal technology that is on display. A phone is thrown into your pocket, but a watch is in plain sight constantly. There is no discrete way to use it, once you raise your wrist to look at the time or interact with it, it is obvious you are using a smart watch. From personal experience,  

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Shoes

3D Printed Flexible Sneakers

3D Printed Recreus Sneakers

Recreus has released plans for a 3d printed sneaker.  Utilizing a new, extremely flexible extruded material, the Sneakerbot II is pushing the ball forward on what 3D printers are able to accomplish with footwear.  No longer hard and rigid, Recreus’s Filaflex material claims to be “the most elastic filament on the market.”  Indeed, a video posted along with the plans on Thingiverse shows the sneakers being crumpled into a ball and then retaining it’s shape. While impressive, Recreus’s website is light on information about the new material (displaying only countdown to the website’s launch…in over a year!).  Also it is worth noting that the size of the shoe is going to be limited by the size of your printing platform, so don’t expect to see these on your favorite NBA player anytime soon.  Head past the break for a video of the sneaker being printed.

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