Fashion + Tech

[Dannyalcatraz]

Slow and pricey, yes, but a killer of a success as a proof of concept. As this video spreads, more will be inspired.

There have been futurists talking about what 3D printers may be capable of doing as the list of materials they can work with broadens. The biotech and pharma industries are, in many ways, the most interesting. For instance, if a printer can print drugs with the right formula and chemicals, that will mean a tectonic shift in both the legitimate and illicit drug industries and infrastructure.

Biotech, OTOH, will be limited by what they can fit in the chamber. But what this dress's construction shows is that "what fits" is possibly much greater than people think. Imagine, for instance, how much of an artificial mesh (designed to support organs of those afflicted by diseases that attack the body's connective tissue, like Marfan's) could be made in that fashion?

Hmmm...

 

[Thunderfoot]

Dunno, I think that dress doesn't look to different from some of the haute couture I've seen over the years. <SNIP>[ /QUOTE]
Paper dresses were function fashion too, just so long as it didn't rain. :/

 

[Scott DeWar]

Dunno, I think that dress doesn't look to different from some of the haute couture I've seen over the years. Trying to use unusual materials in fashion is an ongoing thing. And as long as you wear something under that printed dress it's actually 'wearable' - which sometimes cannot be said of haute couture. I actually think it looks rather intriguing, particularly considering it's mostly a technology demo.

Dunno, I think that dress doesn't look to different from some of the haute couture I've seen over the years. <SNIP>[ /QUOTE]
Paper dresses were function fashion too, just so long as it didn't rain. :/

Thunderfoot, you got ninja'ed! At least a polymer-hinged dress wont dissolve in the rain like paper.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Slow and pricey, yes, but a killer of a success as a proof of concept. As this video spreads, more will be inspired. There have been futurists talking about what 3D printers may be capable of doing as the list of materials they can work with broadens. The biotech and pharma industries are, in many ways, the most interesting. For instance, if a printer can print drugs with the right formula and chemicals, that will mean a tectonic shift in both the legitimate and illicit drug industries and infrastructure. Biotech, OTOH, will be limited by what they can fit in the chamber. But what this dress's construction shows is that "what fits" is possibly much greater than people think. Imagine, for instance, how much of an artificial mesh (designed to support organs of those afflicted by diseases that attack the body's connective tissue, like Marfan's) could be made in that fashion? Hmmm...

as proof of concept it is going to go really far in helping the market

bio materials: If cliniqus and hospitls had acces to sterile medium and equipment to produce polymer mesh of the size and mesh size needed, it would be great! one of the problems of the second mesh I received was that a manufacture had to custom make what I needed - some 700 stitches worth of work was done on me 28 Aug 13

Can you imagine artificial skin that could be made for burn wards or for dermal disease needs??

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And- here's the key part- on demand.

 

[Scott DeWar]

uh, right. I forgot to say that?

 

[Umbran]

And- here's the key part- on demand.

"On demand" is not necessarily better. Books printed "on demand" are typically more costly than a similar book printed in the normal manner. "On demand" misses economy of scale.

Moreover, specifically when talking about medical uses, quality control is a major issue. It sounds good that the hospital might have a printer right there to make things it needed - but do you know how *clean* something needs to be for medical purposes? How *absolutely pure* ingredients need to be? Distributing production makes quality control a distributed issue. Each hospital would have to take on the task of maintaining quality control for themselves. That would not be easy or cheap. Or at least, so suggest my friends who work in hospitals, and in biopharma QA.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"On demand" is not necessarily better. Books printed "on demand" are typically more costly than a similar book printed in the normal manner. "On demand" misses economy of scale.

Moreover, specifically when talking about medical uses, quality control is a major issue. It sounds good that the hospital might have a printer right there to make things it needed - but do you know how *clean* something needs to be for medical purposes? How *absolutely pure* ingredients need to be? Distributing production makes quality control a distributed issue. Each hospital would have to take on the task of maintaining quality control for themselves. That would not be easy or cheap. Or at least, so suggest my friends who work in hospitals, and in biopharma QA.

Oh, I know about the economies of scale issue- that is one of the reasons I don't buy ANYTHING that is print on demand, but JIT has its own benefits.

As for cleanliness, yeah, I know about that as well. My dad is an MD with a masters in Public Health, so I grew up in and around hospitals and with lectures about cleanliness, etc. Medical printers would be the most expensive of the bunch- like any that would be used in aerospace- due to the need to maintain their cleanliness.

And don't forget, we already have pharmacies that do on-site compounding, so that is a known issue.

 

[Scott DeWar]

I have had enough surgeries to get a good base of knowledge of the need of cleanliness. especially considering the post op infections I have been fighting. Having said that, I sit here thinking about what you mention, Umban. The manufacturer would need to be pharmacy clean. That alone would be rather cost prohibitive.

 

[Umbran]

I have had enough surgeries to get a good base of knowledge of the need of cleanliness. especially considering the post op infections I have been fighting. Having said that, I sit here thinking about what you mention, Umban. The manufacturer would need to be pharmacy clean. That alone would be rather cost prohibitive.

To be honest, it is probably harder to produce than surgical cleanliness. Surgical cleanliness is produced largely by using things that are disposable or can be put in an autoclave. And the compounding pharmacies have to prevent chemical cross-contamination, but they're typically about *oral* medications, and the human digestive system handles a lot.

The procedures to meet FDA approval for the original chemical (or biological) production of drugs, though, is an order more complicated and difficult. And the mechanism of a 3D printer has more in common with the biopharma production machinery than it does with surgical scalpels - pipes and nozzles, small, good places for microbes and contaminants to hide.

Not that it couldn't be done. But in the near term, I would expect it not to be done on the scale of each hospital. Maybe one production facility in each major city...