An Introduction to Digital Fabric Printing

Digital fabric printing is a relatively new form of printing that offers technology with a huge amount of applications. In this article I will discuss the technology and design process that is used with this method, and examples of why this might be beneficial as a form of printing over the other methods available.

Technology

 Digital printing has a great advantage over the standard rotary screen printing due to the technology that it uses. Because there are no screens to prepare, users are able to do very small runs of a design for testing, rather than being forced into a huge print to save costs.

The inks used are created specifically for each type of fiber (cotton, nylon etc), and these are applied to the fabric in the form of thousands of little droplets as it passes through the printer. Once this is completed, the fabric is then finished using steam and/or heat to cure the ink. Digitally printed fabric will usually wash and wear similar to most other fabrics, however occasionally there can be some fading in the first wash with specific ink types.

Design Process

Creativity can be pushed in the designs, as they are able to be created with almost any graphic design software (such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator). Existing photographs or artwork can also be scanned and then manipulated to make a pattern.

In general designs are created as a pattern that is repeated or tiled across the fabric. It is also possible to create a huge design that fills a large area without repeating, however this can cause issues if the file of the design is too large for the printer to handle.

Overall, this method is an excellent way to go when deciding about how to approach printing onto fabric in Brisbane. Digital printing allows you to not only push the boundaries in the design stage but also test a variety of these designs easily and efficiently without spending too much time in doing so.