ZESTEP: 3D Printing Fashion Waste
ZESTEP is an ambitious project I started in 2023 as an eyewear designer looking for a solution to minimize the huge amount of Cellulose Acetate waste made everyday by sunglasses production plants.
An Unique Material
Cellulose Acetate is considered an “evergreen” aesthetic for frames: many different materials were introduced by eyewear designers to create new trends and aesthetics (wood and nylon for instance) but nothing seems to be able to replace the timeless beauty of acetate.
This material represents also the largest form of waste within the eyewear production.
In fact, even a medium-small factory produces tons of Acetate waste in just a few days, deriving from the cuts of the sheets used to make glasses.
FROM EXPERIMENTATION TO PATENT
In December 2022 I started collecting some samples of these wastes to have them analyzed and subsequently try to extrude them into filament for 3D printing.
After some failed experiments and other difficulties, together with Techinit, an italian 3D Filament producer who loved the project since the beginning, we found the formula to make this material printable as best as possible.
Now the filament is available on the market and has gained some awards, like the "Make it Circular" at the Rome Maker Faire 2024 and the Best Under 35 Project of the Genoa Design Week 2024. The project was showcased at the ADI Design Museum of Milan in July 2024.
Zestep's filament has obtained a Patent for innovation in 2025.
Discover more on zestep3d.com
