Hasta La Gadget!

Seams can be your biggest enemy when you’re trying to design a jacket that’s both lightweight and wind/waterproof. So The North Face engineered its new Fuse Uno jacket to assemble from a single piece of fabric like a complex origami model, reducing the number of seams that need to be stitched and sealed.

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The burgeoning small scale 3D printing industry is focused on producing plastic or metal objects. A small team of makers led by Gerard Rubio hopes to turn the spotlight on a more practical material: fabric. The OpenKnit is a work-in-progress open source printer that automatically knits thread to create clothing based on digital templates.

The printer is powered by an Arduino Leonardo and can control three needles at the same time. Like the pioneering RepRap, the OpenKnit printer itself will have parts that can be 3D printed to further save on costs. Gerard says the printer should cost around $750 (USD) to build.

Aside from the printer itself, OpenKnit also has a companion program called Knitic that can be used to design clothes. Knitic was developed by Mar Canet and Varvara Guljajeva, who used their experience from hacking old electronic knitting machines to create a user-friendly program for designing clothes. Finally, there’s Do-Knit-Yourself, a “virtual wardrobe” where people can share their designs. Think of the site as the Thingiverse of clothing.

Obviously, all three parts of the OpenKnit project are still in their infancy, and the clothes that have come out of it are not much to look at. But I hope the project takes off and democratizes fashion, because that industry badly needs a wake up call. Check out the OpenKnit website to learn more about the printer. Makers should head to Gerard’s Github page to find out how they can replicate the device.

[via Gadgetify]

The news that measles might be spreading through San Francisco’s BART network not only triggered a warning from the transit authority itself, it is also a particularly alarming reminder that public transportation can be, well, disgusting. Winter’s runny noses, summer’s sweat, spring’s sneezing allergies—it doesn’t really matter the season. When you ride the bus or subway, often the last thing you want to do is touch the straps or hang on. Could a new line of clothing help protect you from the germs?

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SCOTTEVEST is known for making clothing for the gadget enthusiast. Simply put, the clothing, whether it be pants or shorts, a jacket, or one of the many other options — … Continue reading

You won’t find it in stores just yet, but if you look closely at the jackets and other gear worn by US, Canadian, and Russian athletes at the upcoming 2014 Olympics, you might catch a glimpse of Columbia Sportswear’s new waterproof zipper technology. Or you might not, since it’s been engineered to be almost invisible when zipped shut.

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