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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle

Spray-On Clothing  
  Body coverings from a spray can.  

In the utopian society of this novel, robots do most of the work (including creating and maintaining themselves). Virtually every necessity of life is provided free to inhabitants. Clothing couldn't be simpler.

With the clothes I had no luck. Of what I knew, almost nothing existed. At any rte, I discovered the secret of those mysterious bottles at the hotel, in the compartment with the sign "Bathrobes." Not only robes of that kind, but suits, socks, sweaters, underwear - everything was sprayed on. I could see how that might appeal to women, because by discharging from a few or a few dozen bottles a liquid that immediately set into fabrics with textures smooth or rough--velvet, fur, or pliable metal--they could have a new creation every time, each for one occasion only. Of course, not every woman did this for herself: there were special plasting salons (so that was what Nais did!), but the tight-fitting fashion that resulted from this did not much appeal to me...

I stood with my arms raised and he set to work, spraying from four bottles at once. The liquid in the air, white like foam, set almost instantaneously. From it arose sweaters of various colors...

Technovelgy from Return from the Stars, by Stanislaw Lem.
Published by Not known in 1961
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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Return from the Stars
  More Ideas and Technology by Stanislaw Lem
  Tech news articles related to Return from the Stars
  Tech news articles related to works by Stanislaw Lem

Spray-On Clothing-related news articles:
  - Fabrican - Spray On Clothing
  - Fabrican Spray-On T-Shirt Video
  - Fabrican Dress Sprayed Directly Onto Model On Coperni Runway

Articles related to Clothing
Fabrican Dress Sprayed Directly Onto Model On Coperni Runway
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Inkjet-Printed Wearable Solar Cells

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