From Fibers and Water-based Polymers to Finished Garments in Less Than 10 Seconds
Ushering the textile industry into the 21st century, TamiCare Ltd. has developed a unique, rapid, 3-D printing technology that instantly creates fabrics and garments, without cutting, waste or pollution, all in under a minute. TamiCare’s CEO Tamar Giloh introduces us to the company‘s Cosyflex ® technology and explains why it will change the face of the textile industry
“I’ve spent my entire career specializing in innovative thinking, and was seeking a solution for a very common feminine problem — a high performance, comfortable and stylish menstruation panty,” says Tamar Giloh, CEO of TamiCare Ltd. “I decided to challenge myself. Could I find a solution by using the innovative thinking methods that I teach others? After years of R&D by my company in the UK, we achieved the desired product — with an extra payoff. The radical technology we developed not only upgrades the FemTech sector; it potentially revolutionizes the entire textile industry.”
FemTech turned TexTech
Developing an entirely new technology to create fabric happens only once in several generations, “so seeing the first series of our stylish feminine hygiene panties emerge from our proprietary mass production 3-D printer was very exciting,” says Giloh. It was then we realized that our technology can easily be applied to all other textiles and fashion products.”
Three-dimensional printing of the perfect T-shirts, pants and shoes
“Our broad family of 3-D-created fabrics is made by adding genuine, chopped textile fibers to a delicately sprayed, uniquely layered polymeric core,” she explains. “These fibers give the fabric its textile touch, while the specially formulated core contributes its mechanical properties — its strength, elasticity and drape. Our 3-D Cosyflex® technology allows virtually limitless combinations of polymers and fibers, enabling creation of new fabrics, clothing and even artificial leathers.”
A flagship example is bras and sports bras, which depend on performance, support and comfort. This makes production of a top-quality product complicated in traditional manufacturing. 3-D Cosyflex technology, however, allows a one-piece bra with different functional zones, without needing to cut or sew. More than that, it enables full and commercially affordable personalization, a highly desirable feature that was once rarely possible.
“The fabrics we create behave like regular material,” says Giloh. “They’re soft, supple, flexible and stretchable. They drape beautifully and are pleasant to the touch. We can perforate and emboss them and add patterns and decoration during the additive manufacturing (AM) process. Our 3-D printing method also enables creation of different textile types with different attributes in the same product. This allows us to make, for example, a complete shoe upper, with softer fabric on its sides and harder, more flexible fabric at the front, without cutting or waste.
Cleaner, cheaper, healthier
Cosyflex is also an ecofriendly option. As well as reducing costs, its local, automated manufacture virtually eliminates waste and drastically decreases the carbon footprint. “We use recycled, bio-based ingredients and on-the-spot DOPE dyeing, which uses no water, to create a healthier fabric,” says Giloh. “Our color pigments and other additives are mixed directly into the polymeric blend, so they neither fade nor wash out. This compares very favorably with traditional textile dyeing and conditioning, which both contribute massively to water contamination, as well as expose the wearer’s skin to harmful chemicals.”
With Cosyflex technology, brands and manufacturers eliminate more than 30 percent of their waste, save on 99 percent of their water usage, reduce their costs by more than 20 percent and can create thousands of ready-to-wear garments in a single workday. Transport and storage are dramatically reduced, and there is no dead-stock for landfill.
Implementing Cosyflex in other industries
“Both the automotive and aviation industries have approached us to help free them from cut-and-sew confines, and implement greener, more efficient and more consistent production methods in their factories, suited to their very specific needs,” says Giloh. “They’re looking for innovative technologies that leave behind the traditional textile manufacture methods. With additives such as nanoparticles which we directly embed in our 3-D printed fabrics, we can literally create any type of technical-performance textile. We’ve opened a new horizon and excited the imagination of textile engineers and designers everywhere.”
Making Aliyah
TamiCare is now leaving its Manchester home and returning to Israel, where Cosyflex technology has been embraced by a major player in Israel’s textile industry.
“We’re starting a journey with a partner who sees the potential of our technology,” says Giloh. “It’s an important collaboration, and a highly appropriate way to generate real change in the working of the industry. We look forward to other farsighted partners joining with us in the future.”
“The new Cosyflex micro-factory is the 21st century way of making textile products,” she summarizes. “It propels the industry into the Fourth Industrial Revolution — into efficient manufacturing via automation and robotics. It enables accurate production of brands so there’s no landfill waste. It saves massively on water and is nonpolluting. It supports local manufacture and the local market. And it gives customers a comfortable, sustainable, better performing and more personalized product.”
Partnered with TamiCare
