back to article 3D-printed bikini goes on sale

We've seen 3D printers produce custom guitars, house keys and even the occasional gourmet meal. Now the technology is being used to build commercially viable fashion products too. The Shapeways bikini - made in partnership with Continuum Fashion - is crafted from selective laser sintered nylon (SLS). Continuum Shapeways …

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  1. Spongibrain
    Stop

    this should definitely carry NSFW

    otherwise we'll get in trouble

    1. Haku

      You what?

      Are you seriously saying that after reading the title "3D-printed bikini goes on sale" you thought there wouldn't be pictures?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Unhappy

        if it doesn't say nsfw

        then I open it at work. And the boss walks in. And sees models in underwear on my screen. And I'm spending the next hour explaining why missing last week's deadline was really not my fault, nor the fault of the amount of time I spent perusing non-work related material online. So yes, if there's pictures, put up the NSFW! It happens often enough that there are no pictures and someone has to say ``if there aren't pictures, it didn't happen''.

        1. Captain TickTock
          Facepalm

          If that's your situation...

          then the whole Register is implicitly NSFW

    2. defiler

      NSFW? Seriously?

      What are you? Amish? Should you be allowed on the internet at all then?

      Seriously, you must have a *very* prudish office...

      1. fandom
        Devil

        Prudish office

        Indeed they must be, insisting on people working while at work!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wonderful articles

    I am always interested to gaze in rapture at... ermmm... novel applications of technology. Yeah, that's it. Novel applications of technology.

    1. Trollslayer
      Joke

      Surely

      Navel applications in this case?

  3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Playmobile reconstruction

    Err, no that's wrong somehow .....

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm sure this is going to be very popular

    Looks like it's as comfortable as sitting on a bunch of Legos. As well as pinching and tweezing... hope they waxed!

    1. LaeMing

      I was thinking similar.

      "Wax while you walk."

      OUCH!

  5. Prof
    Paris Hilton

    Have to ask why?

    I'm all for 3D printing, I can see it being very handy for producing things that are not easy to machine by normal means. However, underwear is hardly a complex shape, and also I cant imaging rigid plastic is particularly comfy.

    Plus, if the sintered stuff they use is anything like the sintered nylon we used at uni to mock up some prototype widgets, its not even that strong.

    Complicated and expensive just for the sake of it - that's Fashion you may say. I'm no fashion guru, but I cant say I'd prefer seeing my mrs in that rather than a nice set of French lacy silky bits.

    Paris, Obviously

    1. Graham Marsden
      Thumb Down

      "underwear is hardly a complex shape"

      Try telling that to any woman who isn't a "standard size" and she'll tell you exactly how difficult it is to get a bra that fits her properly, gives the right support and doesn't dig in etc.

      I've had several girlfriends with "non-standard" figures and even with the whole underbust/ overbust/ cup size system there's still a huge variation in supposedly identical bras, so anything that may actually benefit them would be welcomed by many women.

    2. Marvin the Martian
      Facepalm

      Shhh.... quiet.

      Do you honestly think that the boyf would cough up 90 big ones if he didn't fully expect it to suddenly fall apart? What would be the point?!

      Now, if it was programmable destruction that would be even better.

    3. Return To Sender
      Boffin

      Not complex?

      My missus used to run the QA lab for a lingerie manufacturer. Trust me, where bras are concerned it's not as simple as it seems to make something that a) fits properly and b) is comfortable for as many customers as possible, all of whom of course are varying shapes... try sitting in a pub for a couple of hours surrounded by underwear designers, amazing what you'll learn if you don't get embarrased easily. Nearly as bad as nurses!

  6. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Thumb Up

    Can we have more 3D Bikini pictures please.

    As per the title.

  7. GeorgeTuk

    Don't get it.....

    ....looks like any other bikini?

    is it something that needs to be seen on the flesh?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wake me up

    When we can print Kelly Le Brock

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Weird Science

      Don't forget to wear a bra on your head while printing...

  9. frank ly
    Stop

    A Better Idea...

    Get a can (or two) of silly string and spray a mesh bikini on her, It would be guaranteed to fit perfectly and would be the ultimate in limited-edition fashion items.

    1. JohnG

      Spray-on clothes

      ...or maybe some of this stuff:

      http://www.fabricanltd.com/fashion.php

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    So we have an upgrade...

    .. to the ASUS Eee PC girl.

  11. anarchic-teapot

    Actually, not bad idea

    for people who aren't a standard size (most of us). Especially those who hate shopping for clothes.

    A bit more info on the creation and fitting of this stuff (not necessarily underwear) would have been nice, though.

    BTW, I'm calling you out on your sexist assumption that it's always a guy who pays for a woman's clothes. We earn salaries too, you know. It's quite legal.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      "We earn salaries too, you know. It's quite legal."

      Hogwash! Poppycock! Since when?

      Turn my back for fifty years and society's down the drain!

    2. Charles Manning

      Guys pays for a woman's clothes...

      It is only a ruse to lave a legitimate reason to perv out the undies.

      Once married it is the other way around: the woman is in charge of keeping the blokes undies draw stocked.

      1. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

        Re: Guys pays for a woman's clothes...

        No way am I letting the wife buy my undies. Strewth, it'd be like living with your mum again...

        Get out more, man - to a gents clothing shop at the very least. :-)

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    obligatory

    Pictures or it didn't hap... oh, sorry. Force of habit. Very good. Carry on then.

  13. Trevor 7

    But is it custom created

    If these are custom created using measurements from the consumer, these could be the beginning of very comfortable clothes.

    They still need to get the price down either way.

    1. Jan 0 Silver badge
      FAIL

      Comfortable?

      If these are made of nylon then your neighbours will be uncomfortable with the smell and the wearer will be uncomfortable with the itching and the smell.

  14. Paul 87

    Hmmm..

    ... does offer some interesting possibilities regarding scanning a woman to produce a totally contoured set of lingerie though, particularly if you can design an algorithm to give the best possible profile

    1. John Bailey

      No no no...

      This requires exhaustive and careful measuring. Can't leave such things to algorithms.

      I'll get my callipers.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Could be interesting

      Scanning would just give the shape but fitting would involve some clever math to work out support and movement. Without all the tailoring that goes on people would be unable to move.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    3D Model

    That model looks so plastic she could have been printed on the same machine.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Angel

    Is it cheaper

    If you select a design that uses less material?

  17. Captain TickTock
    WTF?

    One cup or 2

    Price per cup - what's that all about?

    1. LaeMing

      Three thanks.

      Good to see they are ready for the martian mutant market. (mmmm, alliteration)

  18. Tom 7

    California Girls

    Now 100% synthetic!

  19. Dani Eder
    Thumb Up

    Cost

    I remember when solar panels cost $70 a watt, which was totally impractical for earthly use. The cheapest panel is currently $1.75/watt, which is quite feasible to use for power. Given the state of 3D printing right now (highly experimental), I would not be surprised to see the cost come down, a lot.

    For another, closer, example, the first laser printers cost $100,000. Today they cost what?

    (Thumbs up for any article that can combine geeky tech and scantily clad women legitimately)

  20. Shaun 1
    Stop

    How much is it?

    "However, the parts are a far cry from the "reasonably priced" description offered in the press release, coming in at around $90 (£55) a cup.

    A single cup will set you back €90 (£80). "

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Go

      Sounds expensive....

      ...just see how much a "normal" custom made bra will cost you! Hell even many off the shelf one will know you back £50

      Estimates say about 80% of women wear the wrong size, so custom made, ones would be great for these people.

      Think of it as the difference between an normal suit and a fitted suit.

    2. hplasm
      Joke

      Not that expensive-

      similar to Starbucks...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Share and save money

      Two girls....One cup

      1. Arbuthnot Darjeeling
        Happy

        no

        one girl two cups

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Since it is so expensive ...

    Is there a possibility to download the data, so i could print it out on my own 3D Printer?

    1. MichaelBirks
      Trollface

      BitTorrent

      A whole new industry to jump on the 'piracy is theft' bandwagon.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Eat something woman!

    Checkout her muscles in her shoulders and arms in the 'black' photo - either that's a particularly unflattering shot, or that's too skinny for her frame.

    'White' pictures are a little more complimentary.

  23. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
    Flame

    Fire

    Wasn't designed by Moss now was it?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      Moss?

      Kate, or Stirling?

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I see ...

    ... she dresses to the right.

  25. JeepBoy

    Irony Huh?

    "If this is what she wants, taking your girlfriend to the lingerie store is going to leave a whopping hole in your wallet"

    As some other posters have mentioned, it looks as comfortable as an outfit made from lego and seems as supportive as a carrier bag - basically it fits where it touches. Custom made.... lol... I think they need to calibrate their measuring equipment.

    It might appeal to geeky boyfriends (neat 3d-printing app huh?) but I can't see any girlfriend of sound mind wanting anything to do with this.

  26. oopsie

    shame about the price

    @ Jeepboy - have you tried wearing a corset? :-)

    of course, if there is a lack of support they do need to do something about that, but if it's 3d printed that shouldn't be that hard.

    the price, however, is a little silly...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yes.

      It's all a lot less restrictive than some women like to pretend.

  27. Andy Farley
    Meh

    Surely...

    you can print out the girl? Cheaper in the long run.

  28. Peladon

    When lateral thinking beats gardening...

    Bottom line (no pun intended. Jones! Yes, you Jones, at the back! Don't think I can't hear you sniggering!), it's a new technology in it's early stages that has the potential (I stress, _potential_ to change a number of paradigms.

    I remember reading no few years back of a store in New York that would scan a customer (it probably had lasers removed from no longer retired combat sharks), send the data down to the cellar and tell cutting and sewing machines to generate a custom-fit shirt. Did it go anywhere? Take off? Buggered if I know. But it could.

    Throw in another lateral tech - the Kinect and similar devices. People are already playing with these to use in online game activities and development. Mocap tech is big dollars - Kinect isn't. Is it possible that one day I might stand in front of my kinect-type thing, slowly turn round, then watch my home 3D-printer do magic stuff and give me a shoirt that actually fitted? Or a suit? Not today, for sure. Not tomorrow. But possible? Again, buggered if I know. But it might be so when it is so.

    To cast nasturtiums on developing lateral uses of technology like this can be, for a moment at least, amusing. But in five years or so, when the first production models are selling like mad and somebody who was more interested in being smart than being witty is making a ton of green, it might be a little embarassing to be reminded of the posting :-P.

    1. Peladon

      Note to self - do not type early in the morning.

      'it's a new technology in it's early stages'. Yes. I know. The second 'it's' has an apostorophe it shouldn't have. I'm a bad person :-P.

      (I stress, _potential_ - ... and a missing bracket. This is not a good day.

      (it probably had lasers removed from no longer retired combat sharks) - We can go two ways here. 'from retired combat sharks' or 'from no longer required combat sharks'. I went both ways, which is, of course, the wrong way.

      give me a shoirt that actually fitted? - So maybe I'm from Brooklyn! Hmmm. But there'd still be an extra r. So maybe I meant 'shirt'.

      And 'embarassing'? I'm embarrased. At the missing r.

      Ah, well. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima, maxima culpa. Now I get to suffer all the people telling me about the typos in my typo correction.

      Mother told me there would be days like this. She just never told me they would _all_ be like this. Sigh.

  29. K
    Paris Hilton

    Ah .. But how much

    To print me a dozen copies of the model?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Calling Ms Bee

    I think this calls for a comprehensive review from a potential user.

  31. Herby

    I prefer...

    ...the black model.

    So how do I scan in my female companion to get one of these over here in California?

    Interesting application of "connect the dots"!!

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