Output details

Digital printing technology for textiles and apparel

Digital printing of textiles appeared as a commercial activity during the 1990s, but it grew only slowly – constrained by the available technologies and the likelihood of these technologies going wrong. During 2000-2004, I was able to forge links with several local digital printers and this was an excellent learning opportunity. With three collaborating companies, funding was obtained from the DTI for developing digital printing for household textiles. This was the basis for a monograph on the technologies that I wrote for Textile Progress, appearing in 2005. This chapter grew out of that monograph, and is essentially an updating chapter, mapping the progress that had been achieved in the period 2005-2010. It was written by invitation - because the editor was seeking the blend of academic analysis and industrial relevance that I had demonstrated in the monograph.

This chapter reviews the role of digital technologies in computer-aided design, in the definition and management of colour, and in the control of the machinery that will deposit precise quantities of dyes onto textile substrates. Textile digital printing is presented as a multi-disciplinary field and decisions made at any stage of the process have impacts on later stages. To gain further insights into these inter-relationships, interviews took place with industry practitioners, so the chapter is informed by contemporary industry experience as well as by awareness of published literature. The message communicated is that it is important for product developers to work in a concurrent mode to ensure effective communication across the supply chain.

Woodhead Publishing has been actively developing scholarly books for industry and HE readers and the “Textiles” series now numbers over 100. These books are published in collaboration with The Textile Institute, the body representing textile and clothing industry professionals.