3D printable recycled textiles : material innovation and a resurrection of the forgotten ‘shoddy’ industry

Vettese, Sam

Abstract

This paper will disseminate an interdisciplinary project, undertaken at Edinburgh Napier University between the Design and Advanced Materials. Several 3D printable materials are commercially available that use recycled material, but none that incorporate textiles. This project was funded by the Textiles Future Forum in collaboration with four Scottish textile companies who provided ‘waste’ textiles (wool, cashmere and leather), to be used in this way. In the cases of the wool and cashmere, this is predominantly selvedge waste from the looms and knitting machines. The leather was recycled from airplane seats. The paper will outline the historical context of the project, particularly the advent of ‘shoddy’, how these historical processes have common characteristics with the procedures used in this project, a brief outline of how the 3D printable materials were created and an evaluation of the embodiment of the narrative of Scottish tradition and ‘authenticity’ in the materials.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: Intersections
• Start Date: Sep 13, 2017
• End Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Sep 29, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 22, 2017
• Publication Date: Sep 22, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 29, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2017
• Book Title: Loughborough University Textile Design Research Group INTERSECTIONS Conference 2017
• Keywords: 3D Printing; Waste; Shoddy; Authenticity; Scottish Heritage
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/992046
• Publisher URL: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/textile-research/intersections
• Contract Date: Sep 29, 2017