Engineers and shoe designers at New Balance Athletic Shoes Inc., Boston, are using 3D printing to make shoes for elite runners (professionals and Olympians) in hopes of improving their performance. The company uses an EOSINT 395 3D printer from EOS to custom-build spike plates, the bottom part of the shoe that contains a pattern of spikes to give runners more traction as they run. The machine creates parts out of plastic using a proprietary nylon powder and laser sintering.
The first step in the process is to collect biomechanical data on a specific runner using several different tools. Video capture, for example, lets researchers create a three-dimensional force-vector diagram of the runner's feet as they hit the surface of a force plate while running. Pressure sensors inside the runner’s shoe provide pressure data as the runner’s feet hit the ground and lets the researchers determine how the feet are interacting with the shoe. High-pressure values, for example, indicate an area of the foot that is important during that phase of the foot strike.
Armed with this data and some parametric modeling software, New Balance designers calculate the best spike pattern, how large the spikes should be, and how they should be oriented. After the final design is cleaned up, it gets converted to an .stl file and sent to the printer to build the spike plate. The printer lets them build spike plates that could not be economically made using traditional manufacturing processes. Designers usually provide runners with several spike plates to test and then vary the fit, stiffness, and design depending on the length of the race the runners are facing, along with their personal preferences. Currently, the 3D printer makes four spike plates at a time in five to six hours.
One Olympic runner, Kim Conley, wore her custom spike plates when she set personal records in 3,000- and 5,000-meter races, and during her best international performance--the 2013 World Track Championships. She credits her success to the shoes’ improved traction while reliving pressure on the outside of her feet. The shoes are also 5% lighter than traditionally made track shoes. For competitive runners, even a small weight reduction can make significant changes.
The goal at New Balance is to refine the 3D-printing process so that the company can offer custom-built spike plates or tread patterns to everyday consumer-athletes and possible expand to shoes for sports other than running. However, the repetitive foot motions used in running don’t carry over to other sports in which participants quickly change directions, pivot, back-pedal, or shuffle side to side. These motions would need to be closely studied to determine what performer data needed to be collected and how to analyze it.
她還為好友Jessie Ware的婚禮設計過一雙鞋底寫著“Wifey for Lifey(成為你一生的妻子)的平底涼鞋，並將照片上傳到instagram上。“很多人在照片底下留言，希望我能為她們的婚禮設計同樣的鞋子。我這才意識到有很多女人希望在她們人生中最重要的一天裏，在鞋子上玩點花樣。”，Sophia Webster回憶道，上個月她開闢了新的產品線，在個人品牌中增加了“新娘款”，她的Instagram粉絲數量也已經達到28,400個。
這才只是冰山一角，各大品牌在社群網站上的“混戰”還在不斷加劇。正如《What Great Brands Do》的作者 Denise Lee Yohn所說：品牌的營運者們已經意識到在社群網站上不能僅僅是單純地發送資訊，還要通過用戶的回饋，及時發現、影響、培養用戶對品牌的認知程度。“不要忽視一個#標籤的作用”，他說。
US sporting goods giant Nike has unveiled a new tennis polo that becomes its second ColorDry garment made using fabric which is dyed using CO2 instead of water, in a process that also saves energy and eliminates the need for added chemicals.
Nike invested in ColorDry, developed by Dutch start-up DyeCoo Textile Systems, last year when it launched its first product dyed using recycled CO2, saving up to 30 litres of clean water per dyed T-shirt.
DyeCoo described the technology as “game-changing”. As reported last year, the ColorDry fabric is produced in a new water-free dyehouse in Taiwan that has been set up with manufacturer Far Eastern New Century Corp (FENC).
The new tennis polo is also made with 96% recycled polyester, from recycled plastic bottles melted down to produce the high-performance yarn - each polo is made with the equivalent of 11 plastic bottles.
It also combines the sustainable innovation of ColorDry with one of Nike's key performance innovations, Dri-Fit, which helps draw sweat away from the body through the fabric. Nike says the polo’s design delivers unrestricted range of motion from the baseline to the net.
Nike was the first company to back the Detox challenge set out by environmental pressure group Greenpeace in 2011 to eliminate the discharge of hazardous chemicals from their supply chains by 2020. Since then, more than 20 brands and retailers have joined the pledge, including Adidas, H&M and Primark.
The tennis ColorDry polo is available in black, blue, orange and lime green in select Nike retail stores.
Digital textile printing is described as any ink jet based method of printing colorants onto fabric. Most notably, digital textile printing is referred to when identifying either printing smaller designs onto garments (t-shirts, dresses, promotional wear; abbreviated as DTG, which stands for Direct to Garment) and printing larger designs onto large format rolls of textile. The latter is a growing trend in visual communication, where advertisement and corporate branding is printed onto polyester media. Examples are: flags, banners, signs, retail graphics.
Types of printing can be divided into: Direct Print Discharge Print Resist Print Pigment Print Specialty Print
Digital textile printing started in the late 1980s as a possible replacement for analog screen printing. With the development of a dye-sublimation printer in the early 1990s, it became possible to print with low energy sublimation inks and high energy disperse direct inks directly onto textile media, as opposed to print dye-sublimation inks on a transfer paper and, in a separate process using a heat press, transfer it to the fabric.
Within the digital textile printing for visual communication a division has to be made in:
The ‘textile market’ comprises many different applications and requirements. The intended use of the fabric is the most important starting point to identify exactly what’s needed to produce a specific end-product. A ‘textile’ product may vary from natural yarns for garments, through to synthetic fibres for flags and banners. A ‘textile product’ can be a wall mounted banner, a stand-alone pop-up banner, a beach flag, country flag or company flag. It can be a carpet, back-lit frame, curtain, room divider, building wrap, bed cover, a garment and much more.
The predominant textile media used in visual communication is a polyester based fabric. In the USA, nylon is often used for flags. In northern Europe, polyspun material has been the choice of fabric for traditional flag printing. In today’s market, a woven or knitted polyester is the de facto standard. This differs from the predominant coated vinyl or pvc media used in the sign and display industry. The production process needs to fit requirements for the type of ink: high energy sublimation (also known as disperse direct), low energy sublimation (dye-sub), acid, reactive and pigment. In turn, the type of ink chemistry needs to fit requirements for the media (such as polyester, nylon, cotton, silk). Based on the media and ink combination, the choice comes for infra-red fixation, heat-press sublimation or steaming. The structure of the fabric also needs attention, for example whether it is woven, non-woven or knitted.
Polyester fabric is printed mostly with dye-sub or disperse direct ink, although UV and solvent inks (including HP’s latex formulation) can also be used. The great benefit of sublimation ink is the fact that the colorants will bond with the fibre during sublimation or fixation. The colours are ‘inside’ the media and don’t stay within the coating and on top of the media, as it is the case with UV-curable formulations. Even latex inks on porous textiles can suffer from crocking issues or ‘rub-off’. Low energy sublimation ink is easier to print with, but has the disadvantage of colours fading faster; its UV resistance, or light-fastness, is less resistant than equivalents using high energy disperse direct ink. Dye-sub can also suffer from a ‘halo’ effect which results in less sharp images. The disperse direct ink is a ‘stronger’ ink than the dye-sub kind, and this is very important for outdoor use, such as for fence fabric, flags and banners: artwork will last longer.
Another benefit of aqueous-based sublimation ink is the absence of hazardous components as found in UV-curable, solvent and, even, in latex inks. When executed properly, direct to media printing with disperse ink is achievable on uncoated fabrics and offers maximum print-through; this is essential in applications viewed from both sides, such as with flag printing. As such, products can be sold at a higher margin, with a ‘green’ label and with a higher quality. Other media and ink combinations cannot allow this.
The biggest advantage of direct to media is drastically reduced waste. This method doesn’t need printing on transfer paper first before calendering (or heat-pressing) it onto the media. Waste is both an economical and an ecological factor in print production. Print speed doesn’t account for much if a large portion is being thrown away as waste due to incompatibility of media, ink, treatment or lack of know-how.
The qualities of the printed end product should fit the needs of the application. Longevity, fastness and hand properties are important. Post-processing is something to think about: is the printed material easily confectioned, applied or handled. Should it be washed or does it need a finish (e.g. fire retardant, water repellent). A washed textile no longer has coating or ink residues and will, therefore, have a better feel. Moreover, it will be less prone to stains and it will last longer.
An alternative which does not require expensive equipment and dyes is Inkjet Fabric Printing which uses a standard inkjet printer (e.g. HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark) and specially treated, paper-backed fabric sheets. Inkjet fabric sheets are currently available in cotton, bamboo and silk on Amazon and other websites. The removable paper backing makes the fabric stiff enough to go through your inkjet printer. Once the ink is dry (1 hour to overnight for heavy ink coverage), simply remove the paper backing, follow the directions for a water dip to set the ink, let the fabric dry, and you are ready to sew.
Economics
As well as material concerns and application issues, economics come into play. Where the traditional textile print industry is accustomed to mass production with long-runs, the digital inkjet business mostly produces short-run non-textile products. This approach to digital textile printing is very different, and so is the expectation. Where sign-makers are familiar with a single process system, traditional textile printing is accustomed to several production steps. In the balance of the economics behind production needs, it is important to understand the entire production flow. An example lies with the choice of fixation equipment and the subsequent implication of energy and resource cost; for example, a steamer needs water and energy, and a calender needs to heat up and uses lots of energy plus considerable amounts of paper.
