My first thought on seeing this was: Really?! A spray-on T-shirt? But there it is: You can spray it on, peel it off, launder it, and wear it again. Discuss. The technology (which is still in prototype phase) was developed by Spanish fashion designer Manel Torres in conjunction with Paul Luckham, a professor of particle technology at the Imperial College London.
In his quest to invent this comfortable, futuristic fabric, Torres returned to “the principles of the earliest textiles such as felt, which were also produced by taking fibers and finding a way of binding them together without having to weave or stitch them.”
The spray-on fabric is made up of short fibers combined with polymers (for binding) and a solvent (for spraying) which then evaporates when the spray lands on the surface. The fibers, which come in many different colors and types (natural or synthetic) cling together to create the fabric. Pretty wild.
The general concept of spray-on clothes makes me a little squeamish, but perhaps there’s something to that soft armored look! And the applications beyond fashion could certainly be interesting: clothing repair, medical bandaging… The developers are several years away from perfecting the “Fabrican” (according to the articles, it’s still pretty stinky stuff that I’m not sure I’d want near my skin — never mind the environmental implications…) but it sure is fascinating, and it will be interesting to see where they end up!
See some more process photos here, or watch the video below to see the can in action:
The skeptics say it can’t be done…but oh, yes it Fabrican. Stay tuned for more amazing T-shirt feats in the coming weeks…
[Via Wired via The Daily Mail.][ Posted on September 20th, 2010 ]
All I thought while watching this was how good for the environment is that? LOL
Crystal — I had the same thought… Not that our current processes for creating T-shirts is very nice to our earth, either!