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Comment by wrnr | Hacker News Reader

Thats 50/month, but ok it's not for everyone. Designing cloth is not something everyone can do and it takes practice and some are more talented at it so it makes sense to pay these people for their work. More customisation is also harder to scale, if everyone start making their own color combination the knitting or weaving machines need to be re-threaded, which takes time. Printing on fabric requires not just a printer but also an autoclave to cure the paint. I'm actually in the middle of making a clothing CAD, and I would love to be able to make my own stuff but scaling so it's not 500€ for a tshirt.

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I didn't mean to imply to tackle the fabric industry with this. Just the sewing. I think fabric is still better off mass produced by long running machines and then you design around what's on the market. Much like you would do with wood. This is all compromises, but I think fundamentally sewing is the most approachable craft to not offload to a specialized industry. It's the pattern issue and convenience at heart, I think. As I said, much harder to make your own fridge or couch, than a t-shirt or dress.

You are correct about the pricing it seems. Either they changed that, or I misremembered. Anyway, 50€/m is still way too much for hobbyists.

I think you missed the point. It's exactly the answer to "not everyone can design clothing". You download the design specs, the software does the calculation and application, and then you cut the fabric. No designing, no following and fitting lines on large paper patterns... All this can be done in software.

How is the output of the software transferred to the fabric?

Either "poster print" on multiple A4 papers, overhead projection onto the fabric, or laser cut. That's what I had in mind. I imagine an optional small helper device with lidar scanner and mini projector to measure the body and help with the pattern transfer. Both lidar and mini projector modules are becoming really cheap, as you find them in cheap chinese phones already.

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