6: 3D printed flexible fabrics
It will be a while before we see new biotech materials on the market, until then there is still more than enough to explore with regular 3D printing. For instance, as we find more flexible materials for 3D printing we also find printers used to create all kinds of stretch materials that look like new kinds of knitwear. They can either be printed in sheets or these 3D structures can be used to construct an entire shoe. At SLEM we are generating a lot of these materials to create shoes with and also experiment with 3D printing directly on textile, not just for aesthetic but also for functional reasons.
These are just a couple of examples of innovations from the SLEM Future of Footwear forecast, if you are interested in the full forecast you can download it here or contact Nicoline van Enter from SLEM at nicoline@slem.nl. If you would like to discuss chemical technology to support those concepts then we will be more than happy to join you in your search for the best solution possible. We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.