A story in Wired this morning caught my eye. It seems a famous clothes designer has perfected a system that will easily port to computerized design and 3-D printing.

Normally, clothes are made by weaving thread or yarn into fabric, which is then snipped and stitched to create, say, a dress. The A-POC method requires no sewing. Thread goes into the loom, the dress comes out. Specifically, a flattened tube of material emerges that contains the finished shirt, skirt, or pants, which need only to be cut out along the faint outline already woven or knit into the fabric. Moreover, the material can be snipped anywhere without unraveling, a feature that allows for complete customization. A pair of scissors and a flirtatious spirit can turn a turtleneck into a plunging V-neck.
But the reporter also points out how the same technology could easily be used for many other products.
Any material that can be turned into a fiber can work in the A-POC process, which gives Miyake the opportunity to produce anything from shoes to portable shelters. The A-POC team already has developed a series of colorful beanbag-like chairs and sofas that will come to market this year. The studio is also interested in a new corn-based fiber that could be used to construct other types of furniture, and it recently developed a resin-linen blend that a University of Tokyo lab found to be as strong as steel.
A revolution is moving the world quickly toward molecular manufacturing and an economy turned upside down. What will it mean when anyone can have any material object for free? Food, clothes, transportation, spacecraft; any object made of molecules essentially free of cost, free of human labor, free to be created by anyone with a clever idea?



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