“XYZ Bag CEO Annalisa Nicola Portrait”. Image © XYZ Bag
Highly customizable digital creations 3D printed on demand at XYZ Bag
The combination of digital modelling and 3D printing fabrication technologies has become increasingly popular in the fashion industry allowing designers to access the market, by proposing highly customisable products printed on demand and therefore contributing to the reduction of massive stocks waste. Data Aided Design was able to connect with Annalisa Nicola, CEO of XYZ Bag. XYZ Bag is an early startup founded in 2015, inspired by the passion of tech-devices, design, makers’ social evolutions and especially insane love with bags. It is a leading design company focused on high-value digital creations to empower uniqueness and authenticity through 3d printing technology.
What are the main fields of expertise of your company?
Combining new technologies and design to create unique pieces, limited in time and numbers. The incredible possibilities afforded by 3D technologies allow now to revisit the tradition of hand-made craft as digital craft where hand-made is replaced by a digital made “blueprint”. Every digital file incorporates a code for authenticity and traceability.
Can you describe the design and fabrication processes behind the latest collections at XYZ Bag?
The idea is to produce and deliver customized handbags and accessories to customers as needed, instead of devoting acres of shelving to vast inventories. Every digital file incorporates a code for authenticity and traceability. We offer a digital inventory of 3D clutches, with different styles customizable on demand. Limited edition clutches are ready to order and they take place in a limited number. Customization on existing design clutches is allowed through texting (monogrammed and text) or full redesign from a special inspiration (skyline of a city, vectorial logo, etc…). We have just launched a new accessory for Covid Pandemia. A mask cover to contain gloves and mask into to hang or put into your bag. The digital and technological process follows three steps: first of all listening to the customer and his needs; secondly translation of customer’s requirements into a digital design file thanks to our design team expertise; lastly mathematics translates into “real” production through a process of 3D printing and subsequently post-production by skilled artisans. Finishing and painting are also manual. Once the digital product is completed, the assembly takes place with the internal part of the bag made in leather always by italian artisans. Once the 3D printed external case is combined with the internal part, everything is collected inside a dedicated package, also with custom design. The bags are inserted in large machines together with other objects, car components, electrical, etc… and printed all at once.
“The incredible possibilities afforded by 3D technologies allow now to revisit the tradition of hand-made craft as digital craft where hand-made is replaced by a digital made “blueprint.”
Which are the possibilities related to user customisation and digital craft in the fashion industry?
Industrial 3-D printing is at a tipping point, about to go mainstream in a big way. This technology has moved well beyond prototyping, rapid tooling. “Additive manufacturing” is creating durable and safe products for sale to real customers in moderate to large quantities. 3D printing is “ready to emerge from its niche status and become a viable alternative to conventional manufacturing processes in an increasing number of applications”. Mass customization is the new frontier in business for both manufacturing and service industries. At its limit, it is the mass production of individually customized goods and services. The sellers of everything from dress shirts to handbags and even consumer packaged goods are discovering the value of letting customers create their own unique products. Removing the perception that AM is only for rapid prototyping but for direct component and product manufacture, we offer a digital inventory of 3d clutches, with different styles, customizable and printed on demand. Fashion industry requires more-tailored and fast-evolving products that will have ramifications for how offerings are marketed because each unit is built independently, it can easily be modified to suit unique needs or, more broadly, to accommodate improvements or changing fashion. The incredible possibilities afforded by 3d technologies grant now to revisit the tradition of hand-made craft as digital craft where hand-made is replaced by a digital code.
What do you think will be the future evolution of the use of data and 3D printing technologies in the design fields?
Data and 3d printing are very closed. More than expected. The variability of data can only find physical expression into 3d printed objects which, among all possible ones, safeguards uniqueness. Adopted in a manufacturing perspective, 3D printing technology has created the conditions for the development of an economy of authenticity. The availability of digital variants and variations which can be reproduced without the need for a mold has made possible the passage from virtual to physical feasible in such short times that were inconceivable with traditional technologies. Thanks to the refined construction of items based on ad hoc designs, a new niche product is defined for which exclusivity and co-creation are the new codes of authenticity.
