The 3D Printed Future of Fashion Business: Markets Affected by 3D Printing [Part 3]

Medicine as a market has started using 3D printing ahead of everyone. The use of 3D printers and 3D bio printers in the medical field enables creation of implants and prototypes out of different materials, which are accepted by the human organism. According to different estimates, by 2019, the market of medical 3d printing will be valued between $966 million and $2 billion.

ALSO READ: The 3D Printed Future of Fashion Business [Part 1]

Prototyping and industrial production of parts for the aerospace, aviation and automotive (and other machinery) industries no longer seems like science fiction. While all of the automotive producers use 3D printing for speedy and precise prototyping of parts, certain companies and Formula 1 race cars use 3D printing for customized and commercial vehicles.

The new level of additive manufacturing was demonstrated by the Airbus concern, which used over 1,000 3D-printed parts in its new aircraft Airbus 350 XWB. It should be noted that according to PWC calculations, 3D printing can enable the aerospace industry to save up to $3.4 billion on spare parts on the annual basis.

Additive Manufacturing
3D printed shoes with ZMorph 3D printer

Manufacturing of footwear, its specific parts and customizable insoles for everyday use, sports or specialized tasks are one of 3D printing’s fastest growing segments. Among the global brands, the 3D printing technology is used in manufacturing of insoles and soles by such companies as Under Armour and Adidas.

Disability is an emerging $8 Trillion Market according to Inclusive Fashion + Design Collective Foundation. The development of the inclusive fashion stems from the technological progress and appearance of new materials and approaches to design. 3D design with subsequent direct printing, precise virtual simulation and fast customization of garments significantly expands the solutions available in this very important fashion segment.

3D Printing
The Go Wheelchair by Layer Design

The Future Of 3D Printing in Additive Manufacturing

McKinsey predicts that additive manufacturing could have an economic impact of $550 billion annually by 2025.There are many applications for architecture, automotive, aerospace, engineering, biotech (human tissue replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear and many other fields.

Global additive manufacturing market size estimated at 3.1 billion in 2013 and expected to grow to 21 billion in 2020. And the global market for 3D printing, materials & associated services is expected to reach $50 billion in 2025.

Additive Manufacturing

The development of 3D printing and its influence on the fashion industry are making greater strides than may seem at first glance. In the coming months and years, we should expect a lot of incredible news about materials/fabrics and products from the 3D apparel printing industry. Everything speaks in favour of this hypothesis, from the demands on the significantly transformed global economy, which requires new solutions for speedy and inexpensive manufacturing and recycling of apparel, to the innovative brands that promote and sell 3D fashion even as we speak.

We believe that the young brands have the biggest window of opportunity as their products can have both a dramatically different design and a radically new retail model. What if a new brand, which appears on stage in 2017 to take over the global capitals of fashion, no longer needs to worry about sewing the garments.

Part 4 of ‘3D Printed Business of Fashion Business’ Sharecloth founder Sergey Moliavko will be exploring MARKETS ALREADY AFFECTED BY 3D PRINTING.

**Sharecloth has been developing the technology of digital fabric simulation, apparel 3D-rendering and SaaS solutions since 2013.  If you can’t wait for the next installment, then please feel free to download their White Paper in its entirety here. **

SaveSave

Sergey Moliavko
Co-Founder at ShareCloth.com

Sergey Moliavko is co-founder of ShareCloth.com, a fashion tech startup provides solutions for fashion 3D-printing and 3D-retail. For the last 7 years since he founded DressUp.ua, a marketplace for Eastern Europe emerging fashion brands, and he also ran few fashion tech startups in e-commerce and digital marketing.