Digital perfection

Models present creations by Yuima Nakazato during the 2017-18 fall/winter haute couture collection in Paris.[Photo/Agencies]

Tailor-made clothes, particularly haute couture, are out of reach of all but the world's richest people.

But Nakazato argues that his technology could bring clothes that fit perfectly within the reach of all.

"I think that in future mass customization is possible" because his team had removed the major constraint "of using needles and thread".

Nakazato says the "unit constructed textile" technique he has developed in Japan with engineers, 3-D designers and sculptors "can adjust a garment to be a precise fit to the wearer's figure".

"With this system we are now able to build all silhouettes imaginable. It is like creating a garment from a dress pattern but with even more flexibility," he adds.

Nakazato says that the nine designs he showed in Paris - which included evening dresses and a version of Dior's classic Bar Suit as well as jeans and a leather jacket - were built up with digitally-cut squares of fabric.

Rather than a fitting, the wearer is first scanned before numbered squares of digitally cut fabrics are riveted together to form a perfectly fitting piece.