what is the method that printers use to print on fabric?
This week in textiles 101 nosotros deep dive into everything textile printing. From the unlike dyes and techniques, to machines used, we cover everything y'all could ever need to know about the art of material printing.
What is material printing?
Textile press is material dying only, in a very controlled manner that creates patterns. The aforementioned dyes and pigments that we employ in fabric dying are also used for textile printing, merely they are thickened with gums or starches to create a print paste. By creating a print paste the color, when existence practical volition stay in place and ensure clean designs and crisp lines.
dye vs pigment
The key difference betwixt dye and pigment prints is that dye prints penetrate the fiber, and pigment prints sit on top of the fiber.
How practice you tell which is which?
One of the easiest ways to tell if a fabric was dyed with dyes or pigments is how it feels. Pigment print fabrics will have a much stiffer hand feel and so dye fabrics.
Why is textile printing important to fashion?
Prints are i of the only things that can be copy written. Diane Von Fürstenberg's signature wrap dress? It'southward considered public domain. The controversial term of the use kimono, technically, legally, anyone can use it. Silhouettes, in general, are free for anyone to use. And, that's why many brands blueprint entire lines past going out shopping, buying items in stores they like the fit of, and and so knock them off overseas in factories.
The fine art of the silhouette knock off is rooted in manner history. Back in the 24-hour interval, the 1970'southward to be verbal, Elie Tahari, was known every bit the male monarch of the adjust. Specifically, as the fable goes, pants. Tahari had mastered the art and fit of pants then perfectly that every brand out in that location bought a pair and knocked them of. It sounds unfair, but, it was, and even so is totally legal.
Then, what's a brand got to practice to not get knocked off? Fashion'south answer is prints. Prints can be copy written and considered intellectual property. Just, don't get too excited. Not all prints are eligible. Unproblematic geometrics similar dots, stripes, plaids, etc, are all considered public domain and can not be copywritten.
The just make that has ever been successful at copywriting a plaid is Burberry. Their signature impress is theirs and theirs alone, and anyone that uses it without permission (read license) is subject to a lawsuit.
Then, in a world where style is becoming faster and faster, and brands cross the line betwixt "inspired by" and straight-up copying (thanks diet-prada), prints offer some protection.
How to create an original print
In the industry we tend to say that for a impress to exist inspired by and not copied there should be at least 7 differences.
So while Diane tin't copyright and make exclusive the dress that made her famous, she can re-create write the prints that she puts on it, this manner her exact designs and overall wait are not-replicable.
textile printing tin can salve brands money
Aside from protecting brands from having their designs completely knocked off, prints are a cheap and like shooting fish in a barrel way to add together style to commodity fabrics.
Cloth MOQ'due south and prints
At that place are some fabrics that mills run ALL THE TIME similar literally the machines never end running 24/vii. These are called commodity fabrics. In India cambric for wovens, and jersey for knits are the most mutual commodities. Sorry, brands out to salve the globe (or utilise greenwashing to sell more than production) this backlog textile are non deadstock being saved from a landfill. It's just really pop, and oftentimes very inexpensive stuff that mills know will sell.
So, if an entire style line was made with just 1 fabric it would look pretty boring. But, at the same time, it'due south financially beneficial for a brand to buy as much material equally they can in order to become the best pricing possible. Because, in the world of fashion manufacturing the more than y'all purchase, the cheaper the prices.
But, as I said, a line of all the same textile isn't very heady. Hello, prints. By using different fabric prints the brand can utilise one or 2 fabrics throughout their entire line and make every style expect different, maybe i is a dark flower, some other a bright spot, y'all get the idea. And, they can buy fabric for not just 1 season, just for the entire year! Only past producing new prints each season, they create a totally new look, and get the benefits of majority pricing on their fabric social club.
H&M is notorious for this. If y'all shop that shop, pay attending, the same fabric is used season after season, while the silhouettes, colors, and print designs change.
Why is sustainable fashion anti-prints?
Fast fashion loves prints because it allows them to take the same old thing and re-sell it as something new flavour subsequently season.
And, this fact is too one of the reasons that sustainable fashion tends to exist anti prints. Considering prints are used to add freshness every flavor, they are designed to get out of way, and not stand up the exam of time. For that reason, prints and slow fashion are kind of an oxymoron. But, sometimes if you wait long enough, like twenty years, a impress will come dorsum around again and be considered retro. That slinky leopard skirt that you saw on literally everyone and their mom this summer, is designed to be replaced by a new trend next year.
Only, recently I accept been seeing more than and more sustainable brands introducing prints into their lines. I remember we are all starting to get a little bored in the sustainable fashion community with the color blocking of neutral color stories. Generally, the prints sustainable brands are choosing are classic and will not become out of styles like checks, dots, and neutral flowers.
Recall almost that… prints tin exist used for adept or evil.
Then, even though prints might be part of the fast fashion system to buy more, and the print you just bought is basically already out of style, it is however important to understand them. And, they tin can even so exist a handy trick for small brands who are just getting started and don't have unlimited blueprint budgets to use to add together variation.
Here is everything a textile practiced (soon to be you lot) needs to know about textile printing
Earlier we get started, cheque out this video.
types of material printing machines
There are lots of unlike types of cloth printing machines. And, all of them are not equal. Allow's break them down.
block printing
I have written a lot well-nigh artisan block press, so I won't get into it here. To epitomize it involves taking a wooden cake, carving a design, then using the block equally a stamp to impress cloth. If you are interested to learn all about information technology endeavour reading this article all about behind the seams block printing.
this is me block printing in bagru :)
screen printing
In screen printing a fine mesh screen made of polyester, nylon, or sometimes metal is stretched over a flat wooden frame, that looks a lot similar a film frame. Or, sometimes the mesh is rolled onto a metallic cylinder.
A design is then drawn onto the screen. Permit'southward say we want to make a polka dot. The material we are printing is white. And, the blueprint we want is a white background with a black dot printed on. Everywhere we did not desire the black ink on the fabric would be painted on the screen with a thick barrier paint. Only the blackness dots would remain mesh.
how is the artwork transferred onto the screen?
Today, screens are treated with a photosensitive finish. The reverse (or negative if you're into old school photography) of the design is printed out and placed on the screen (this is important). A behemothic UV machine, much like a photocopier, but style bigger, then flashes a UV light and the paint that is exposed to the low-cal dissolves, leaving the mesh visible. So for the same dot, we mentioned above nosotros would want to print out the white portion of the print. This way when the UV light flashes only the black dot areas will be eaten away exposing the mesh.
Audio confusing? Here is a graphic to aid explain it.
mitt screen printing
Hand screen press is probably the blazon of textile printing that almost of yous are familiar with. You might have tried it at camp, or maybe a grade school art form. Ink is pressed through a screen, that has a pattern cut into information technology, and then onto a cloth. Pretty unproblematic.
Commercial screen printing, past mitt
me and all the screens
But, screen printing on textiles commercially works a lilliputian differently. Fabric is rolled out onto a table that stretches upwards to threescore yards in length. Artisans so use big screens to impress a section of the fabric, they elevator up the screen, walk downward to the next section of cloth that needs to exist printed, and so, repeat the process. When the unabridged lx yards of cloth is printed, the next screen which is used for a dissimilar color starts from the first of the cloth and the procedure is repeated.
There needs to exist a bit of time betwixt each color to allow for the print paste to dry. But, because the process is being washed past people, there is plenty time that equally before long as the artisans accomplish the end fo the 60-grand table with one screen they can walk back up to the top and starting time with the next.
These screens are so large information technology takes two artisans to operate them!
t-shirt press
me and a t-shirt printing car
T-shirt printing tin be washed by mitt or on a special machine similar this ane.
The fashion the machine works is that the shirts are rotated around while the screen stays in place and move up and downwards. That glowing orange light? That is a heat lamp that will cure, (dry) the ink betwixt screens.
Garment press in fast way
Garment screen press is a specialized niche in the manufacturing manufacture. Screen printing techniques are popular on already cut garments in fast fashion, because it'due south a groovy way for brands to save cash. This is because brands are able to produce a ton of i production for a cheap price. They tin then encounter what colors/prints are selling the best that flavour and chop-chop impress that onto the ready-made garments.
Picket out for fast fashion screen prints!
plastisol inks
Fast way plastisol inks often contain carcinogenic and toxic ingredients chosen phthalates. In my time in the industry, especially working in children's article of clothing, special intendance and attention to testing was required to ensure nosotros were using loftier-quality inks that did not incorporate toxins, specifically phthalates. Don't get me incorrect these things have lots of other toxins but, phthalates are ane of the just chemicals that currently have restrictions in the US.
simply, garment printing is likewise great for pocket-sized brands
An added bonus of hand screen printing is that by and large, minimums are very depression. This makes modest runs and sectional custom prints possible. And, it's great for startups who are having trouble with minimums but want multifariousness in their designs.
automatic screen printing
Automatic screen press is likewise known as flatbed printing. In automated printing, instead of the screens moving down the fabric, the cloth moves downwards a conveyor chugalug and as it passes a screen lowers, prints the material, and then the fabric is pulled down to the next screen. Automatic screen press machines can produce about 500 yards per hour of printed fabric. It is not possible to automated screen impress on garments, this method is just good for fabric yardage.
I was joking effectually with this guy and popped over to take a selfie while he was adding more than ink to the machine. Poor guy, he didn't know if he should keep working on pose.
rotary screen printing
Rotary screen printing is like to automated screen press in that the fabric is moving down a chugalug while the screens stay in place. The difference is, instead of using a flat-screen, cylinders print the fabric. The cylinder spins as the material moves down the belt printing the fabric continuously. Rotary screen printing is the fastest type of screen press. Rotary ranges are known to produce 3500 yards or more per hour.
fast way is piece of cake
I have mentioned before in my blog posts that part of the trouble of fast manner and the push for u.s. as consumers to purchase more is that we are too expert at making things. We can produce fabric and garments much too speedily, and because it'south so cheap to pump out more, nosotros have establish ourselves in a never-ending bike of consumption.
If these machines were not then skilful at their jobs and could not produce at breakneck speeds perchance the mode industry would not exist one of the leading contributors to pollution that it is today.
Whoever idea that being efficient would be a problem?
roller printing
If you thought rotary screen printing was fast, roller press is even faster. Roller printers are able to brand more than 6,000 yards per hour of printed fabric. In roller printing, copper engraved cylinders are used to roll the pattern onto the fabric. A benefit of roller press and using copper cylinders is that very fine details are possible. Traditionally this method has been reserved for very detailed designs like Paisley'south. The downside is creating copper screens is extremely expensive. For this reason, this technique is only used for prints that are constantly being made or for brands that take committed to extremely high minimums. But like screen press, each color in a print requires its own copper cylinder, therefor making prints with more colors becomes more expensive.
impress niches
Print mills generally like to specialize in i affair and exercise that thing really well. Did you know that bandanas are a special kind of print? There are factories in the world that are prepare to exclusively print just bandanas. Crazy right?
how does the color stay on in a print
Once a fabric is printed it's not simply washed, or gear up to be made into a garment. There are more processes like aging and curing that need to take place in order to ensure quality and that prints do not fade over time.
aging
The first process a printed fabric must, well… really should (fast manner is always skipping steps), undergo is aging. Aging is basically a super hot steam bath for the textile. Afterward the fabric shvitzes in the earth's hottest steam room, it is then washed in soapy water to remove any backlog thickeners or past-products in the print paste. Finally, the material is stale. At that place are many methods of drying fabric which I will get into in a futurity web log mail service.
curing
The process I but described is for dye prints. But, think there are also pigment prints. And, pigment prints require a special handling chosen curing. In the curing process, the fabric sits in dry oestrus, think sauna, that reaches up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat basically bakes in the resin adhesive and colors and will prevent them from coming off during home laundry.
dry vs wet printing
If you're condign a real industry geek the term for dye prints is chosen wet printing and the term for pigment prints is known as dry out press.
These terms probably do not brand much sense to y'all. All prints are wet at offset, right?
Well, we got the names from the finishing procedure - ie crumbling or curing. Steam is wet so dye prints that go through crumbling are wet prints. And, curing requires dry oestrus, so pigment prints are dry prints.
heat transfer printing
Estrus transfer printing is also known as thermal transfer printing. Start, a blueprint is printed onto a special blazon of paper, called a transfer paper. The ink used on these papers is disperse dyes. When the fabric is gear up to be printed the paper is placed on top of the fabric and then exposed to high estrus reaching 400 degrees Fahrenheit. When the dyes on the paper get this hot, they sublimate, meaning transfer onto the cloth. The great affair about heat transfer press is that no other wash or dry out processes are necessary.
Is it eco-friendly?
Many companies merits heat transfer printing is a more sustainable choice because there is no post-print wash process. The thing is, disperse dyes can only react with man-made, petroleum fibers similar nylon, polyester, acetate, acrylic, etc. And, every bit we know those petroleum fibers are non the nearly eco-friendly.
Some other positive of heat transfer printing is that the paper can exist checked before it is transferred onto the cloth. This ways that errors and poor quality prints are rare in oestrus transfer fabrics. That is, as long as the factory is doing due diligence and checking the newspaper beginning. Over again, this makes heat transfer printing a more than sustainable option if it can preclude the textile from having quality issues and becoming deadstock.
Great for small businesses
Heat transfer printing is a great selection for small-scale local printers who will impress logos or custom artwork onto t-shirts and other promotional items. That is because it is a quick and easy process that requires simply heat and the correct kind of ink.
digital textile press
The manufacture solution to the need for low minimums and quick and piece of cake material plow around times is digital press. Digital press is also known as inkjet printing. You are probably accustomed to inkjet printing from yous're at habitation computer printer. The fashion inkjet printing works is micro drops of liquid ink are applied to the textile. IDK why I e'er retrieve of the song liquid dreams when anyone says liquid ink.
The interesting thing about digital printing on fabric is that all colors are printed at the same time unlike the other methods of printing we discussed before. The amazing thing about inkjet printing is that only 4 to six different ink cartridges can combine to make nearly unlimited colors.
Greenwashing alert
Many people in the style community have claimed that digital printing is a sustainable option. It is non. At first glance it looks like all that needs to exist done is passing the fabric through an oversized office printer, just there is much more involved than that. Fabrics must be pretreated and undergo special chemical processing that requires big amounts of h2o. And, these treatments happen both before and afterwards the actual digital press is done.
In New York City I work with local digital printers, and the fumes that come out of the fabrics during the post-impress process are considered then toxic that they must treat the fabrics at dark when no one is in the facility.
The real use of digital printing is non sustainability. Information technology's in making small runs and samples of custom printed fabric. Small runs allow brands to make one sample for a fashion show or test a market place with a new idea and not accept to commit to large minimums. The reason inkjet press onto fabric is not popular in product is because the process is extremely irksome, and not cost-constructive. We're talking actually slow, similar one meter per minute, that's sixty meters per hour. Retrieve, a rotary screen press range can print 50 meters in just i minute.
printing techniques for different looks
I feel like so far I made this procedure of press and printing engineering science sound pretty easy. But it gets way more complicated and eventually becomes more of an art than a science. A good print designer is able to take a print and only utilise 3 colors only make the finished production look like it has six or maybe even vii. How is this possible?
wet on dry out printing method
Moisture on dry printing is a print technique where a 2d color is printed over a fully dry start colour. In wet on dry printing, simply the second color will exist visible. How is this technique useful? Generally, the finest lines of a print blueprint are printed terminal and sit down on top of all the other colors this style they announced crisp and clean.
wet on wet printing
Wet on wet printing is the process of printing a 2d color on meridian of a start colour that is nonetheless wet and has not had time to dry out. In this process, the ii colors mixed together. Then, if you print red and and then immediately print yellow on peak you volition get orange. The cosmos of a third color with this print method is also known as autumn-on.
Using moisture on wet printing techniques to create third colors is a smart way for brands to save money. This is considering each colour requires its own screen, and as I mentioned impress houses accuse per screen. And, each additional screen in a range makes the entire process of printing the fabric take longer. Equally we know, in manner the longer something takes, generally the more expensive it is. So, instead of three screens, only two are needed or instead of 6 perhaps only four are needed.
Halftone
The halftone technique uses one colour that is either shaded lighter or darker to give the event that more than than 1 color is beingness used. Halftone effect tin can only be achieved using rotary screen and roller press. The effect is not possible on flat screens or heat transfers.
On a rotary and roller screens, the density of the holes in which the ink passes through is controlled to either allow more or less. The more than ink the deeper and more than saturated the colour. The less ink that can laissez passer the lighter and more washed out the colour volition expect.
different types of prints
Here is a listing of different types of prints on fabrics, whose techniques can be mixed and matched to create unique effects.
directly print
Straight press is besides known as an application print. In straight press the design prints direct onto a white piece of fabric. The design is also able to be printed on to a previously dyed fabric. In the instance of the material being dyed beforehand the technique is called an overcurrent.
A tip to continue in listen is that the color being printed over a dyed textile should always exist darker than the fabric. For example black dots are piece of cake to print on a lite pinkish fabric but, if you desire to impress light pink dots over a black fabric there will be visible black showing through distorting the color of the dot. It's easy to spot direct prints because they are generally small with large amounts of textile showing.
How tin can you tell if a fabric was dye first? Flip information technology over and look at the back. If the dorsum of the material is white or a very muted shade of the basis color, it was printed. If the back of the fabric is fully saturated with color, it was dyed.
belch print
Discharge printing is a two-stride process. Footstep 1. The fabric is dyed one single color. Footstep two. The fabric pattern is printed onto the fabric. But, this isn't your average print paste. Something special happens. Instead of colors in the print paste, bleach is used. The bleach volition remove the color from the dyed fabric leaving behind white.
This technique is great if yous desire to print white on a black background. But what if you want color? There is some other technique called color discharge. This is when the bleach and a dye are mixed together in the print paste. The bleach will remove colour while the dye adds color. This would allow for our start example of a low-cal pink dot on a black background.
The belch method is i of the more than plush methods of printing. Only the overall quality of the fabric is superior to many other techniques, particularly when y'all are trying to print light colors on top of darker grounds.
resist print
Maybe you are familiar with resist printing from one of my past blog posts about dabu mud printing. If non bank check out the article hither. This is another two-pace process, merely it'due south kind of the opposite of a discharge print.
First, the cloth is printed with wax, batik, or in the case of dabu with mud. The wax or mud will foreclose the cloth from absorbing the dye color. The unabridged fabric is then dyed. After the dye process, the wax or mud is removed exposing the white fabric underneath. The process of resist printing is typically not economical and is more pop in the world of artisan manufacturing.
blotch print
A blemish print descripes a print where the background color was printed on. Non dyed. That'due south it, it'south that simple. In terms of quality, this is the lowest.
I of the problems with printing backgrounds is the dye general does not take evenly creating a splotchy outcome. Literally making the cloth expect blotchy. I don't know if that is how this blazon of prints got its proper name, but it's how I think it.
Flock prints
Flock printing is also known as flocking. The procedure is when very tiny fibers chosen flock which are about 1/x to one/4 inch long are stuck on to fabric with resin or glue.
The process of flocking is 2-fold. First, the resin or gum is printed onto the textile. And so flock is exposed to the fabric and but sticks to habiliment the glue have been printed. There are two ways of applying the flocking to the textile. They are mechanical and electrical static. In mechanical, a machine will brand the textile vibrate. The mechanical vibrations help the flock to evenly distribute on the fabric. The 2d application is electrostatic flocking. This method gives the flock particles an electrical charge that is attracted to the glue. The electrostatic flocking process is much slower and much more than expensive than mechanical but, the results are much nicer and tend to terminal longer.
Flocking kind of looks like a velvet pattern on top of the fabric, Unfortuily, flocked fabrics just last up to 10 standard washes before the flock starts to autumn off.
Flocking can too be done all over a cloth. One of the most popular uses for all over flocked fabric is cheaper velvet alternatives. I bet you have bought something with flocked textile. Most jewelry boxes are actually flocked fabric. Traditionally velvet was used to show jewelry because it is extremely skilful at absorbing light making whatever gift you are giving appear to sparkle even more than. But, velvet can be expensive and that is why flocked textile is now used, it gives the jewelry the same extra sparkly event for a fraction of the toll.
Warp prints
An instance of a warp impress is an ikat. If you're interested in ikat printing check out one of my previous blog mail about an ikat mill I visited in Mallorca. That'south right even when I'1000 on vacation I however make fourth dimension to go and come across how textiles are fabricated.
Prints designs are made by printing a blueprint on warp yarns before the weaving process. Traditionally, this technique is extremely expensive because information technology is artisanal, time-consuming, and difficult. Simply, with today's new technologies dedicated to producing fashions faster and cheaper these special fabrics tin now exist mass-produced. In my stance I much prefer the former traditional ways of everything being done by manus.
burn out prints
Burnout prints crave some of the nearly toxic chemicals in the industry, for that reason I mostly do not allow any of my clients to employ this technique. To create a burnout print, a chemical substance that volition destroy the fiber is printed onto the fabric. The chemical slowly eats through the fabric creating a hole or a sheer expanse if removed chop-chop plenty.
I of the most pop uses of burnout press is to create eyelet fabric knockoffs. Traditionally eyelet textile was embroidered and cutting. The inexpensive way of doing this is to burnout a hole and so print what looks like stitches around the pigsty. This was one of my go-to moves during spring-summer seasons in fast fashion when I needed to cut and knock of more expensive embroidered fabrics.
Burnout fabrics can also be used on fiber blends. Specific chemicals can be called to consume abroad but one of the fibers leaving the other fibers intact and creating a much more dimensional fabric.
duplex prints
Duplex prints are fabrics that are printed on both sides. They are reversible, let'south not make the definition any more complicated than it needs to be.
engineered prints
Hither are a few pictures of engineered prints. Basically, an engineered print is placed on a specific function of a garment. Mostly, engineered prints are fabricated using digital printing.
How to pattern a print
Now that y'all know all about the dissimilar kinds of prints, it'due south time to blueprint your ain.
impress design
First, you need to decide your brands' limitations. Exercise you desire to print unlimited colors that await similar a real photo or are yous express to only using ii to three colors. That volition decide if y'all should become with more expensive digital prints or cheaper manus screen options. Once you know the blazon of technique you would similar to use you lot can speak with a graphic artist to aid you create your print.
Color seperating
One of the most important parts of designing a material impress is color separation. This means that each color information technology's distinctly called out on the computer-aided blueprint (CAD). Even if yous have a blue screen and a red screen mixing to create royal that imperial must exist carefully called out. The difference between a well-designed and colour separated impress artwork and one that was not well-idea-out makes a huge divergence in the quality of the print. Ever work with a pro.
strike-off and color matching
Subsequently you take your print design you volition send information technology to the mill and they will create a strike off. A strike-off is important considering it shows what your print volition await like in real life, not but on a computer. Information technology is also an opportunity for the factory to colour match and for y'all to give approvals and comments on how the colors came out.
Pro tip
Colors take differently on unlike fabrics. Ever brand sure the print house is making your strike off on the same fabric you volition employ in production.
print production
Once your strike-off is approved your fabric volition move into production. Simply, you aren't done with approvals. It is important to ask for a cutting from the get-go few meters of the production. This will ensure that all of your colors match, and the screens are registered and everything else that could mayhap go wrong has not. Never, I repeat never let a factory to start cut your cloth earlier you take approved your production lot.
Here are some issues to look out for when blessing printed fabrics
color drag
When the colour is smudged earlier it has time to dry.
colour splatter
This is simply what it sounds like, splatters of color that don't vest there.
fuzzy pattern
A fuzzy pattern is when the edges of a impress design are not sharp and lines wait fuzzy and blurred.
Off-register
In an off-annals print, the different screens that make up the design are not aligned properly, so the print looks trippy.
stop mark
Sometimes a impress machine needs to finish. Possibly the power went out, or maybe maintenance needs to be washed. When this happens there can be a clear line distinction of the moment that the cloth stopped.
tender spots
A tender spot is a weak spot in the fabric acquired during the printing procedure. An case of a tender spot would be a discharge print. The procedure of bleach by and large makes the fabric a piffling flake weaker. The discharge press sections will exist tender spots. It is important to annotation tender spots because while an unabridged fabric may pass quality control there is yet the possibility of these tender spots causing problems during the garment sewing process.
Colorfastness and testing
Unless you are printing on a very thin fabric like chiffon, impress ink generally does not penetrate from the face of the fabric all the way to the back. As fabrics are worn and undergo washing and drying machines the surface of the textile volition brainstorm to wear and the textile print ink will fade, showing the white fabric underneath. For this reason, testing is extremely important.
For a quality product, it is of import to exam for colorfastness and how a color will fade over time in unlike conditions. These weather condition include washing and drying, sunlight and UV light, and for swim styles chlorine.
Source: https://shopvirtueandvice.com/blogs/news/textile-printing-machines-techniques-design
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