Digital Textiles in Fashion & Digital Fabric Design

The textile industry has helped fashion and interior design bring their creative ideas to life. Today, this exciting industry continues to innovate, and as technology advances, fashion textiles become more and more inventive. Manufacturers are constantly creating different types of fashion and décor textiles that can be used in myriad ways. Here we look at digital fabric and its use in fashion and design. 

Every aspect of the textile industry is constantly evolving, from weaving and dyeing to printing. And the industry is booming; it’s extremely efficient and focuses on being as cost-effective and sustainable as possible. Also, according to a report published by Oxford University, the textile industry is expected to reach £4 trillion by 2030, thanks to smart technological advances like Artificial Intelligence and automation.

Creating Smart Fashion Fabrics

Smart fabric is a very fascinating invention. Fashion and design manufacturers are using advanced technology to create new fabric with exceptional properties, from protecting the wearer from the sun, heat or cold to being stain-resistant, wind- or water-resistant. These fabrics that adapt to the environment are called ‘smart fabrics’. They make the wearer more comfortable in a variety of situations.

Wearable technology like smartwatches, ear pods and sports clothing allows us to monitor temperature changes and even our fitness. This fabric innovation is rapidly revolutionising fashion garments and home décor and makes it possible to customise fashion and other products and manufacture them faster and in small batches.

Premier Digital Textile Choices

Technological advancements have led to exceptional characteristics in fabric. These include:

·      The quality of the material: Through research and advanced technology, manufacturers now create fashion and design fabric that is extremely soft and hard-wearing. In addition, manufacturing these fashion materials is now more sustainable, using less energy and water.

·      New processes: Advanced technology aims to be more sustainable in every way possible. It’s also faster and more efficient. Fashion manufacturers are doing their best to streamline and speed up processes and keep them as environmentally friendly as possible.

·      Printing digitally has advanced exponentially: This type of printing on digital material is revolutionising both the décor and fashion and design industry. Now, textile design experts can replicate even the most intricate creations onto quality fabric using advanced digital technology. You can view our extensive blog on fabric print processes here.

·      Difficult tasks are now automated: Complicated processes for fashion, like weaving and embroidering are automated, making it easier to create an exceptional design and pattern accurately, affordably and quickly. By automating the tasks, the machines are quicker and more accurate and costs are lower as manual labourers aren’t required to perform them. In addition, fashion manufacturers can produce products that are consistently of a high quality.

·      Fashion manufacturers can personalise products more easily: Specific yarns and fabric can be used to customise fashion apparel and make it more comfortable, breathable and protective.

·      Digital textile print processes are more environmentally friendly: The fashion and design industry has become known for not being sustainable, and fast fashion is just as famous for ending up in landfill. Luckily, the digital textile print process is more environmentally friendly.

Textile Printing in Creative Industries

Fashion and design are creative, and, as such, constantly changing, not only from the perspective of technology and trends, but also because of innovation in these particular creative industries.

Digital textile printing, which we specialise in at maake, uses specific inks and print processes to print directly onto fashion and décor fabric. We have found this print process the most sustainable, as it enables design experts to produce small runs instead of mass producing, and the print processes themselves use less water and energy, so they have less of an environmental impact.

You can find out all about the different methods of sustainable printing on fabric and the methods we use here at maake in this informative guide. We also explain why it’s so important to print on fabric sustainably and which method is best for a particular fabric product.

The Best Printing Method For Your Fabric Product

Different types of textile products such as apparel, upholstery, homeware (aprons, tablecloths etc) and soft furnishings (throws, cushions, curtains, etc) require different print methods. Also, fabrics are produced in various colours from white and ivory to ecru, so you need to know how colours will print on these textiles, as the print method you use will definitely affect the way the design prints onto the material.

At maake, we take great care in choosing the right method to print on each individual fabric to ensure that the results are vivid and detailed, whether you print an image, graphic, photograph or pattern. We also print digital on demand, ie exactly the amount of fabric you want printed – no more.

The sustainable print process is our focus, so we have compiled an excellent guide on Sustainable Textile Printing UK: How Fabric Print Processes Will Change in 2025. Check it out!

The Downside of Printing Textiles Digitally

·      The inks used in this type of textile printing are more expensive than traditional inks. And this has been one of the biggest challenges for digital printers for fabric.

·      The digital textile print process involves using less colours than traditional printing, which results in a different look and feel of the fabric after the print process. However, manufacturers and printers are trying to find a solution to this issue.

Cutting Down on Excess Production in Fashion & Design

Fashion and design is an unusual beast. Unlike other products that don’t rely on trends, fashion and design change almost daily. Social Media reflects these trends as they appear, and when a new one takes over, products are discarded. So, it’s important for every manufacturer to print on demand and not en masse, so that they don’t manufacture an excess of items that will end up in landfill. To save money, they produce small batches, and if the product continues to sell well, they produce some more. Luckily, printing this way accommodates printing small amounts of fabric, and small amounts take less time to print on.

Design experts can also customise articles more easily as they only need to print a particular print or colour as they need it. Of course, larger runs are less expensive, but as printing these days is more affordable, printing this way has become the more popular option.

What Fabric Products to Print Digitally?

·      Fashion clothes and accessories.

·      Accessories for fashion and décor like handbags, scarves, throws, cushions, curtains, etc.

·      Carpets, rugs and nets.

·      Kites, boat sails, parachutes and other products that use fabric.

·      Flags

·      Upholstery for furnishings and other home accessories, for both indoors and outside.

Which Textiles Work Best for Which Products?

1.     Cotton is the most widely used fabric, because it’s a natural material and light and soft. However, manufacturing cotton is not sustainable. It involves plenty of energy, water, chemicals and pesticides. At maake, we offer both organic cotton and fair trade cotton fabric for fashion, both of which are more sustainable, as manufacturers produce them without any toxic chemicals. We have put together some comprehensive information for you. Read all about organic cotton here.

2.     Linen is a sustainable fashion and décor fabric created from the flax plant that is lightweight, breathable and perfect to wear in hot weather. Before it’s dyed, linen is 100% biodegradable.

3.     Wool, Tencel and Hemp are other 100% natural fabric you can print using a digital process for fashion. Look at our guide on organic fabrics and sustainable material here.

4.     Recycled polyester (rPET ) is more sustainable than polyester, as it’s made from recycled plastic bottles. Creating this fashion fabric is helping to lessen plastic pollution. Check out our detailed guide on recycled polyester here.

5.     Another more environmentally friendly synthetic material is Econyl, the green alternative to nylon. We produce this fashion fabric from waste materials like fishing nets and industrial plastic. It’s most commonly used for fashion products that don’t require traditional washing like sneakers and backpacks.    

Digital Printing on Fabric With maake

·      Check out maake’s range of fabulous fabric to print digital on and choose the fabric you want to order.

·      And don’t forget to upload the pattern you want to print digital on right here!

·      Use our handy Colour Atlas, which features more than 2,400 colours, to select a shade and colour match for your p item.

·      Ensure you order a Fabric Sample Book to see swatches showing what each fashion fabric looks like when printed on!

EXPLORING COMPELLING CONSUMER EXPERIENCES IN DIGITAL FASHION