We are proud to announce the first 3d printed bikini, made in partnership between Shapeways and Continuum Fashion.

It started in August of 2010 when Mary Huang of Continuum Fashion visited our booth at SIGGRAPH and was immediately captivated by our Digi-Fabric sample printed from White Strong & Flexible. "You could make a bikini from this," Mary said, and the project started. Jenna Fizel then also joined Continuum, contributing her background in 3D computational geometry, and together they aimed to make the first wearable, accessible 3D printed garment. Over the following months much research and trial and error was done to model the highly complex 3D structure that would create a design that is visually striking as well as comfortable to wear. Early in 2011 the first samples of the now finished product were printed, and the photoshoot with the first full prints were done in May. Today the product is ready for launch and is available for sale at a reasonable price through Continuum's Shapeways shop.

The significance of this launch should not be underestimated. Of course there has been some 3d printed fashion on catwalks around the world, but those were concept pieces that are impractical for usual wear, and not readily buy-able. Continuum is demonstrating that with the current state of the technology and a platform like Shapeways you can make an innovative fashion design that is immediately accessible to everyone. This is a totally different industry that can start to use 3d printing for personal production, which is huge. The Strong & Flexible material (selective laser sintered nylon) is very versatile, and has proven itself in a number of unexpected applications. As the technology gets better and even smaller and thinner structures can be printed the possibilities for 3d printed fashion will grow.

It is great to see the first 3d printed clothing. It will hopefully inspire the fashion and couture industry to imagine new directions in how to use 3d printing. Meanwhile we are proud to have to worked with Continuum on this product and further possibilities. It truly shows that 3d printing is a serious production technology. We can't wait to see what's next!