KINGSTON, R.I. – Jan. 17, 2025 – According to the National Institutes of Health, 1.1 billion people globally suffer from some form of visual impairment. This includes a spectrum of those with total blindness and other forms of severe impairment.

A University of Rhode Island professor is addressing a problem many people with visual impairment face each day. Professor Izabela Ciesielska-Wrobel is exploring how 3D polyjet printing technology can be used to create tactile braille labels for clothing, potentially transforming the shopping experience for those with a visual impairment and blindness.

“Nothing has changed for visually impaired shoppers in the last 50 years except for assistive tools,” said Ciesielska-Wrobel. “But when they have to go alone to buy a piece of clothing, that’s a challenge.”

The concept to use 3D polyjet printing to help the visually impaired pick out their clothing emerged from her research in textile science, where she sought innovative ways to incorporate emerging technologies into the fabric industry.

“It’s widely used in different fields, but not so much in textiles,” said Ciesielska-Wrobel, an assistant professor of textiles, fashion merchandising, and design. “I was wondering how to bring it into the textile world.”

In most cases, 3D polyjet printers are used to create different models, toys, gadgets, anything from small to larger objects, such as containers, or complex objects like action figures. This technology is also used to decorate textiles. However, Ciesielska-Wrobel asked the question: what about something smaller like a dot or symbol printed directly onto a piece of cotton to symbolize a letter from the braille alphabet — a symbol that could be easily felt and interpreted?

The idea is to utilize the printer to create something small enough to fit on a clothing tag, but tactile and sturdy enough to withstand multiple washes. Ciesielska-Wrobel said that she performed tensile tests. She washed the fabrics and the 3D printed braille dots didn’t fall off. Because of this there are few limitations to printing on clothing tags. Things can be printed directly on textiles. She says the only hurdle could be fabrics that are “hairy,” such as certain types of knitted woolen, acrylic fabrics or blankets.

But Ciesielska-Wrobel said, “I do have woolen fabrics that do not have this fuzziness because the yarns and fibers were twisted so well that you can feel it’s wool, but there was no fuzzy surface.”

A survey done by Payton Becker, a former URI graduate student, and Ciesielska-Wrobel found that in person purchases of clothing are especially difficult for those with severe visual impairment. The survey revealed that many individuals struggle to make informed decisions about clothing, primarily because appearance is a key factor for most consumers when choosing garments.

“Some people that I surveyed, a vast majority have been blind since they were born,” said Ciesielska.

Another problem arises in the tags themselves. Often, clothing tags have crucial information like size, and cleaning instructions; but these tags are often small, or rarely readable by people with severe visual impairment.

As part of the survey Becker and Ciesielska-Wrobel asked respondents about their shopping habits as well as their habits at home. A majority said they don’t add braille tags to their clothes to help them identify things like style or color. However, an overwhelming majority responded that having tags with 3D printed braille would help in their purchasing decision.

Topping the list for those who answered the survey was having garment tags that included information in braille about color and size.

“When you think about it, it makes sense because you don’t want to look like a Christmas tree every day, right?” said Ciesielska-Wrobel. “Although they don’t see, they still take pride in their appearance.”

The survey was just the first step in the process for Ciesielska-Wrobel, who plans to publish a study on the survey. The survey was done online.  Ciesielska-Wrobel hopes to get funding and plans to send sample swatches out to respondents and get their feedback.

Based on 2016 data from the National Federation of Blind there are approximately 22,100 people with visual impairments living in Rhode Island, and around 7.5 million nationally.