Nov 30, 2015 | By Alec

Obviously, we don't need to remind women out there bras can be aweful. Shopping for one can be frustrating, while properly fitting ones are hard to find as everyone’s needs are unique. Too tight, straps digging into shoulders, uncomfortable braces and so on – all problems faced by women everywhere. Fortunately, one Dutch graduate from the Technical Univrsity Delft in the Netherlands has come up with an ingenious solution. Called the Mesh Lingerie bra and designed by Lidewij van Twillert, this concept relies on body scans and 3D printing to make perfectly fitting and stylish bras for women everywhere.

As the twenty-five year old Lidewij explains, her designs are groundbreaking for approaching the concept of a bra from a completely different angle. ‘The bras on sale today are mostly terrible creations. The current generation of bra braces are designed two-dimensionally and are just uncomfortable for most women,’ she says. Her designs, in contrast, go into the third dimension. ‘I make three dimensional braces that properly match the shape of your body.’

So how are these made? Key is a body scan, that focuses on the chest of the woman in question. That scan is used to make a custom bra brace with a 3D printer. ‘The result is a custom-made brace, which I use to make a lovely bra,’ the young entrepreneur from Delft explains. And as you can see in the images above, these braces are added to a stylish body, but really they can be applied to any lingerie design you prefer. While not yet quite ready for the market, the concept itself is intriguing and will doubtlessly be a huge success.

The Mesh Lingerie has grown out of graduate research project at the Technical University Delft, where Lidewij graduated earlier this year. While the Design Academy in Eindhoven is perhaps a bit more well known for 3D printing innovation and fashion, the Industrial Design department in Delft is also home to very high level 3D printing research. While the latter focuses a bit more on the artistic dimension, the technical side of the equation is truly king in Delft. This is also reflected in the Mesh Lingerie concept. ‘I like fashion, but it’s a bit too shallow,’ Lidewij revealed. ‘I wanted to add something technical to the equation. And why a bra? For what piece of clothing can 3D printing be more important?’

It’s no wonder that hundreds of international students come to Delft every year with a specific eye on 3D printing, as the setup they have there is truly amazing. In its Applied Labs, the most important machine is a massive 3D printer the size of a sofa and essentially consists of three interconnected 3D printers. Being worth a quarter of a million euros, it is capable of 3D printing three different materials simultaneously and is being upgraded to 3D print materials such as transparent glass, conductive metals, and more. It is there that dozens of socially relevant technical innovations were born, now including the 3D printed Mesh Lingerie bra.

The only downside of this fantastic concept is its price. While bras – especially properly fitting ones – are terribly expensive already, the Mesh Lingerie won’t come cheap either. ‘I believe it will cost a few hundred euros to make a marketable bra like this,’ Lidewij speculates. ‘But that will result in a truly properly fitting bra. And now women with a difficult size and shape are already paying hundreds of euros on countless badly fitting bras. And because none of them are custom made, the result will never be good enough,’ she adds. Lidewij is therefore currently looking for investors, because a body scan device and a high quality 3D priner don’t come cheap. However, due to the power of this concept we will doubtlessly hear a lot more about the Mesh Lingerie in the near future. 

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Applications

 

 

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