3D Printing and the Future of Fashion + Commerce
2 Min Read
What if we carried our wardrobe around like music on an iPod?
Michael Harvey floored the room, yet again, with a crowd-pleasing keynote at Fashion Digital New York, a two-day semi-annual conference that brings together innovators and executives in fashion ecommerce and technology. His talk, “Wardrobe in the Cloud,” started by discussing exciting commerce innovations in the fashion industry (like shoppable windows at Kate Spade Saturdays or real-time Facebook “likes” on clothing hangers in Brazil). He then delved into the fascinating capabilities of lesser-known 3D-printing technology and what the effects may be for the fashion industry in the near future.
With the patent on 3D printers set to expire in 2014, Harvey suspects the technology will take off, initially making it easily available for businesses but eventually for consumers too. It’s not that far fetched to imagine a future where clothing manufacturers sell software rather than sewing patterns and fibers instead of fabric (meaning consumers have a completely custom wardrobe on demand); a future where designs live on smart phones or tablets, and are ready for printing whenever and wherever, negating the environmental damage of traditional manufacturing and shipping processes. 3D Printing has the potential to disrupt not just fashion design and manufacturing, but supply chain too and even shopping as we know it.
“Michael Harvey’s opening session at Fashion Digital NY made me open my eyes,” wrote Tim Parry of MultiChannel Merchant. “3D printing will change everything we’re doing in the world of commerce.”
Photos via Flickr, GreenPearl Events; Iris Van Herpen; Kerrie Luft; Protos; Shapeways
Corra, a Publicis Sapient company, is the global commerce leader and SI helping brands and organizations grow by evaluating, building, and optimizing their digital commerce ecosystems. Our vast experience with composable and headless implementations speeds time-to-value and provides technical freedom to our clients. Our TotalCare managed services program provides gold-standard support, enhancements and ongoing commerce strategy. We are strategic thinkers, accomplished engineers, and award-winning experience designers. We believe outstanding customer experiences can’t exist without flawless technology, and that flawless technology is pointless without beautiful, human-centered design. Our clients are an integral part of our team. Together, we remove the obstacles that are limiting growth and discover new opportunities. We don’t rest until our clients achieve their full potential. Our clients’ KPIs are our KPIs. We have 20 years of experience in commerce technology, but we also know that customer expectations are constantly evolving. For this reason, we’ve built future-proof solutions and refined an agile execution process that helps our clients achieve more with less. As a Publicis Sapient company, Corra joins a global network spanning 20,000 people with 53 offices around the world enabling us to accelerate our clients’ businesses through designing and building the experiences and services their customers demand.
