PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES To make a line of garments that are made for short wear it is important that these aren’t much more expensive than other existing garments. Therefor this section focuses on alternative Production techniques for our bio-based soluble material.
Coloring. Regarding dying or printing textiles there are different techniques such as transfer printing, dying and digital printing. Basically all of these techniques use heat, or otherwise chemicals to fixate the print. For this project it is important that the dyes or inks used are biodegradable (preferably compostable) and that the process doesn’t require chemicals to fixate the color. The dyes used should be environmentally friendly. Natural dyes are interesting, examples are: Rubia (http://www.rubia-nc.com/ home/) or edible dyes (http://www.cakeart.nl/). The developed material should be heat resistant to still be able to print on. It would also be interesting to know if the material can be dyed naturally earlier in the development phase.
WHAT IS EDIBLE INK? - Water - Alcohol - Citric acid (to keep it fresh) - E104, 122, 124, 131,151 (colorants) - E422, E202, E490 (preservatives, additives)
Other decorations. Many fashionable garments have decorations such as sequins, studs or fringes. These are typical parts that can be played with in the design and the dissolving transitions. An alternative to attaching these decorations to a textile is using 3D printing technology. By printing straight onto the textile it requires no handwork in attaching for example sequins or studs. Moreover the decorative details in them selves can be designed. Sequins don’t need to be round and studs can have more crazy shapes. There is much room for experimenting in this field as 3D printers have much more to offer that just printing computer sculptures shapes. The pieces you see in the following images is actually waste material but shows great potential of the 3D printing technology. Regarding fringes and other yarn based decoration could be made of the soluble material and dissolve in steps. By integrating soluble material as the weft of a weave it would be possible to create fringes after the dissolving step.
fig. 1 - 3D printed swirls
fig. 2- 3D printed “fur�
fig. 3 - 3D printed swirls 2
fig. 4- 3D printed waste material
fig. 5 - 3D printed PVA shapes
fig. 6- 3D printed of textile
fig. 73D printing tests
fig. 8 - Maan sample glues
fig. 9- Glued thick cotton like material
fig. 10 - Glued thin stretchy synthetic fabric
fig. 11- Cotton like fabric
Sewing alternative GLUING While thinking of ways to change the design in different dissolving steps the idea of changing volumes came up. The idea is that by dissolving certain seams the design of the garment changes. For this idea we starting to look at gluing seams. The glue would have to be biodegradable (preferably compostable) and soluble in a washing cycle. For this we contacted Benjamin Heerze account manager at Maan Group, expert in gluing technology. Maan is starting to develop biodegradable glues, these degrade in soil over a period of 50 days. From Benjamin we obtained 2 different glue samples, both biodegradable. We tested gluing different textiles together by using a heat press at 65 ºC. This works good with broad and slim strips. Haven’t tested dissolving the glues yet. (See images above)
TAPES AND FILMS Another interesting finishing method is the use of films or tapes to make sure that cuts don’t fray and to make seams. This technology is interesting to use as some kind of huge stamp to cut and finish at the same time on a big scale. The film also adds a different aesthetic to the garment. Also in this case the material of the tapes and films should be soluble and biodegradable, the same goes for the glue used to bind it. ULTRASONIC WELDING Ultrasonic welding is a technique that uses ultrasonic acoustic vibrations that under pressure create a weld, there are no additional materials needed. The material needs to be a thermoplastic material. _ Framis tapes (http://www.framis.it/taping/) _ Bemis tapes (http://www.bemisworldwide. com/products/sewfree)
Alternatives to regular fabrics NON WOVENS Non wovens are interesting as these are cheap to produce. Considering the ways non wovens are produced it is interesting to, in the same go, press a fashionable motif in it. Currently non wovens are amongst other used to make face masks, these are pressed into molds. If this is possible with a thick and stiff non woven, we see potential to do the same on molds for tops with thin drapable non wovens. This would enable to make a garment out of one piece. We did some experiments with the non wovens we had but without much success to make fashionable garments (yet). Tamicare (http://www.tamicare.com/) is a company in the UK that has developed a technology to additive manufacture fabric on a (flat) mold. The manufacturing process consists of flocking fibers in a wetting agent which are then sprayed with liquid latex and another layer of fiber flocking. This creates a continuous piece with fibers on both faces, all-direction stretch and variable porosity based on material extension. What’s interesting about this is that you don’t have any wast material and you directly create in a shape. The pieces do have seams. Once they fold the piece from the mold together they melt the seams. We ordered sample material from Tamicare. Unfortunately the fabrics don’t yet feel right enough to create fashionable items from it. Another interesting technology in a way similar to Tamicare is Electroloom (http://www.electroloom.com/). They use a different technology than Tamicare but also make straight away onto a mold.
fig. 12- Non woven with a transfer
fig. 13- Black non woven.
DESIGNS Based on the research conducted on the different production techniques four different designs were made. These fictional prototypes communicate how the garments would look like if there were made using different production techniques and were made of the biobased soluble material.
Design 1 This design has 3D printed decorative dots on the fabric. 3D printing simplifies the fastening of the sequins. Further more this design goes to a transformation. After washing it the first time the sleeves and skirt dissolve, then you are left with a top with polka dots. Next time the top is washed it will disappear completely.
fig. 14- Design with 3D printed detail.
Design 2 This design is made to be molded or casted. Would reduce waste materials. For the prototype a special knit is used, as this material gives the possibility to press patterns in it. The material used for the fictional prototype is the closest to how it would actually be when molded.
fig. 15- One-piece design.
Design 3 If  a non-woven would fall nicely it could be used for this design and layer the material. In this design a special tape is used to give it a special finishing. It is also interesting as a cheap production method to cut and press the tape at one. No additional actions needed. The tape is an easy finishing for an easy fraying material and adds a detail for a special look.
fig. 17- Tape as finishing.
Design 4 This is a design with a fashionable print. A print is used to communicate that the material needs to be printable, thus be heat resistant. The inks used need to be environmental friendly because it disappears through the sewers.
fig. 18- Design with print