Apparatus and method for the production of items of clothing and the like

An apparatus for the production of items of clothing, comprising

• at least one shredder of a type preferably chosen from blade crushers, impact mills, ball mills;
• at least one pulverizer of the type preferably chosen from ball mills, fluid bed mills, ring and roller mills, for fine pulverization of the milled material that originates from said at least one shredder;
• at least one mixer for mixing powder that originates from said at least one pulverizer with at least one other substance chosen preferably from a solvent, polyethylene glycol, a polyether and organic binders, with consequent obtainment of a mixture;
• at least one extruder of said mixture, which is arranged on a movement unit with at least two axes for deposition of layers of said mixture on a predefined surface, with consequent provision of at least one portion of an item of clothing according to a method of the type of additive manufacturing.

A process for the production of items of clothing, the process including the following steps:

• shredding a raw material constituted by at least one material chosen from waste fabrics, overproduction and/or inventory leftovers, rejected items of clothing, rejected hides, rejected clothing accessories, in order to obtain a milled material with a particle size distribution comprised between 3 and 10 mm, i.e., with a predominant dimension of each granule comprised between 3 and 10 mm,
• subjecting to pulverization a milled material, which originates from the preceding shredding step, in order to obtain a powder with a particle size distribution comprised between 1 and 20 μm, i.e., with a predominant dimension of each powder grain comprised between 1 and 20 μm,
• mixing said powder that originates from the preceding pulverization step with at least one other substance chosen preferably from a solvent, polyethylene glycol, a polyether and organic binders, with consequent obtainment of a mixture, and
• depositing layers of said mixture on a predefined surface, with consequent provision of at least one portion of an item of clothing, according to a method of the type of additive manufacturing.