Fashion and tech come together in ‘Like Insects’ collection

Bugs fly, pollinate, bite and, as it turns out, inspire fashion collections. Dutch fashion-tech designer Anouk Wipprecht—whose work we’ve covered extensively over the years—has provided her mentorship to a cohort of students from the Summa Fashion vocational school in Eindhoven and Fontys School of Engineering in the creation of a tech-powered, insect-inspired fashion collection. The collection, aptly called “Like Insects”, is debuting to the public next week at Dutch Design Week 2025 as part of the Manifestations exhibition.

If you’re familiar with Wipprecht’s work, you’ll know that she specializes in combining fashion with robotics and in leveraging technologies like 3D printing to bring innovative wearables to life. Some of her signature pieces include a mind-controlled 3D printed ScreenDress, a motion-activated illuminating dress, and a dress that can mix and serve drinks on demand. She was therefore the perfect person to inspire and teach a group of fashion and engineering students to design their very own fashion-tech collection.

“I was a mentor on this project, which was a collaboration between Summa Fashion and Fontys School of Engineering,”  Wipprecht explained. “What the students did in the last half a year is basically getting into the field of fashion-tech, learning about working with the integration of electronics into fabrics, into textiles and also into design.”

The collection itself consists of seven garments each inspired by the intelligence and adaptability of a different insect, like dragonflies, fireflies and more. The students did thorough research into the behavior and movements of insects and then drew from these findings in the creation of articulated wearables. The students used a range of technologies in the making of the pieces, including Arduino kits, 3D printing, reactive sensors, LEDs and more.

The result is a collection of garments that are not only beautiful, but are responsive to their environments. In other words, they “breathe” using embedded sensors that respond to the wearer’s surrounding. 3D printing, for its part, was used in the creation of various elements, including custom electronics housings for motors, sensors and LED lights. Notably, the collection was designed with sustainability in mind with many materials used being upcycled from the mattress industry.

“Inspired by the intelligence and adaptability of insects, each design interacts dynamically with its surroundings—blurring the lines between clothing and living systems,” a press statement reads. “More than fashion, ‘Like Insects’ is a bold exploration of how technology, sustainability and design can transform how we express and experience our bodies.”

If you happen to be in the Netherlands this month, we highly recommend checking out the student-designed fashion-tech collection at Dutch Design Week. The collection will be showcased as part of the Manifestations exhibit in Eindhoven from October 18th to 26th, 2025.