Captain America suit's raised surface pattern?

Question

What is the technique/fabric technology to make raised surface pattern as seen on Captain America suits (see the image below)? At first sight, I thought it was quilting pattern, but upon closer inspection, I noticed that there is no stitching line at all around the bumpy pattern! It is so fascinating!

Answer 1

There are a number of ways to do this and still keep the material flexible. Here are a couple that lend themselves to low-quantity, low-cost applications:

• Start with a sandwich of foam rubber, like EVA, between two layers of fabric. The outer layer of fabric needs to be a little stretchy, and the backing fabric non-stretch. Use spray adhesive to bond the layers together. Use a heatable metal template in a press to create the pattern.
• Use a vacuum table to suck the fabric (should be a little stretchy), into a template of the pattern. Apply a coating to the back of a material that bonds with the fabric but is thick enough to not soak through it, and dries rubbery, like silicone caulk.
• Like the previous method, suck the fabric into a pattern template on a vacuum table. Insert pre-cut patterns of foam, like EVA, into the cavities. Apply fabric glue to the ridges of the pattern and bond a non-stretch backing fabric.

There are also a few other ways:

• For large quantity runs and complex designs, you can invest in creating mating metal dies (expensive). The fabric is coated on the back with a material like silicone and then pressed in the dies to emboss it, typically with a hydraulic press.
• It's possible to get the appearance of deep embossing by silk screening with puff ink. If the color is matched to the fabric and a fuzzy fabric is used, the ink can look like the fabric. But I'm not aware that you can give the ink a surface texture. So this would not be a way to replicate something like the Captain America suit, where the fabric texture is very visible.