Body Labs Launches API for Digital Clothing Manufacturing

Usage of 3D printing has moved beyond purely industrial applications and into realms of commercial manufacturing, including apparel.

While we can’t print out a new outfit everyday just yet, Body Labs is working toward a day when that could become a possibility. The company is focused on producing deformable body scans that create a realistic digitally simulated body. The latest step for the company is the beta release of BodyKits, a suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) and other interactive elements that assist in digital clothing manufacturing.

An example of 3D printed clothing from Nervous System. Courtesy of Nervous System.

According to Body Labs’ blog, BodyKits will be invaluable for future clothing design.

We believe that in the not-so-distant future, everything will be tailored exactly to your body. The clothing you wear, the workout your trainer has prescribed, the physical space you live in — all will be made for you, and you specifically. Recent advances in digital design and manufacturing are finally making the dream of mass customization possible. But this future cannot be realized without a simple, scalable way to bridge the gap between your physical self and the digital world.

BodyKits offers two different methods of creating digital clothing designs. The first is to actually get yourself scanned, either by a privately owned scanner, or one provided by Body Labs. The second method is easier, and probably less expensive unless you happen to own a scanner (or a Kinect).

Users plug their body measurements into the program, and BodyKits creates a digital model based on those specifications. The list of measurements used by the program is fairly extensive, and includes height, weight, bust, inseam and differentiates between genders as the basis for the model. The result is a digital model that should have pretty much the same body shape as the user.

Bold customers might even try sending the results to Nervous System, one of the few companies actively producing 3D printed clothing, to develop a wardrobe. Even if it isn’t simple to get 3D printed clothing, BodyKits has other potential applications, including remote shopping, video game design and real-world clothing design.

Below you’ll find a video about Body Labs.

Source: Body Labs