Textile printing is in fashion at the moment. Wherever you look, advertising hoardings and high-street stores are covered with a glittering patterns. But whereas historically these results were achieved using screen presses, increasingly the in-vogue method of choice is digital.

Fabric on Demand is one example of this burgeoning trend. This California-based company allows customers to create their own fabric designs and get them digitally printed via a simple step-by-step submission process on its website. But it's not just hobbyists that are going down this route. High-end users are also cottoning on to the possibilities. Brazilian-British duo Basso & Brooke were the first brand to create a fashion collection relying entirely on digitally printed fabrics back in 2004, and now high-street stores such as Topshop, courtesy of Christopher Kane, are getting in on the act.

Recent statistics appear to back up the trend. According to InfoTrends and Fespa's World Wide Survey, the fastest growing application in wide-format digital printing is textiles with 93% of printers polled stating that they expect to see growth in this market.

The activity fuelling this growth, according to Epson's director of professional graphics Duncan Fergusson, has been the move towards more stylised, bespoke, on-demand work coming out of the UK, which has been enabled by improvements in digital technology.

Mature technology
While the UK has mostly lagged behind Europe in terms of textile printing, things are slowly changing. Alongside developments in the fashion industry there have been advances in sectors such as exhibition graphics, signage and bespoke furniture. A key factor is that high margins can be made on printed fabrics, while the run lengths are usually short, hence the popularity of digital. Environmental concerns also play a part; fabric is biodegradable, unlike PVC, and so signage printers are using this as a green USP.

But the sea change has also occurred because digital technology has become much more sophisticated.
"Five years ago, people took their Epson printhead, bolted it onto a flatbed printer and started using it to print on textiles. It took off quite nicely in the US, but the screen printers over here thought it was a bit crude and not very robust," says Andy Hancock, technical director at independent ink manufacturer Mexar.

Today, printers no longer need to resort to such methods as there are a wide range of digital machines capable of printing onto textiles. For example, in the mid-range market, Epson and Italian textile machinery manufacturer Robustelli have jointly developed a range of machines christened ‘the Monna Lisa', which are available in 1,600mm, 1,800mmm and 3,200mm widths. The Monna Lisa employs specially designed Epson micro-piezo Type-M printheads with 1,440 nozzles arranged in eight rows of 180 capable of printing up to 360dpi. The Genesta inks used on the machine, the results of a combined effort from Epson, Robustelli and Italian chemistry manufacturer Fortex, come in a choice of acid, disperse, reactive and pigment-based varieties.

Another popular choice for digital textile printing is Mimaki. The company enjoys the bulk of UK sales through its JV series for sign graphic applications, which are available in both water-based and dye-sublimation models. Its latest addition to the textiles and apparel market is the Tx400-1800D dye-sublimation and direct-to-textile inkjet printer. This machine allows users to adjust the ink volume jetted by the printhead according to the type of cloth and design. The first models of the Tx400-1800D to roll off the production line start shipping this year.

Mimaki also offers a production dye-sublimation printer in the form of the TS5-1600AMF that suits volume flag, soft signage and sportswear production. Both will be exhibited at the upcoming Fespa exhibition.

Then there's Netherlands-based Hollanders, which offers a machine called the ‘ColorBooster' capable not only of printing onto banners, but also onto soft furniture coverings, including natural fibres such as silk and cotton.

New directions
Thanks to the range of new kit, customers are able to fulfil more applications than was previously possible with inkjet. One such example is Surrey-based Pyramid Visuals, which uses roll-to-roll digital machines to print onto carpet for exhibitions. These carpets usually have a woven muslin or rubber backing and are printed using HP's XL 1500 model.

"These graphics are for promotional purposes and not intended to be used as carpet," explains director Justin Murray. According to Murray, this sideline helps them to charge a significant premium, as few printers have mastered printing onto carpets.

"There's only a handful of printers who can do it in Europe. The carpet can buckle and you get head strikes so you have to keep the printheads far enough away from the fibre," he says.

One unusual field of application for digitally printed textiles is in acoustic engineering. Here textiles are being used to create acoustic walls, which help soak up sound in open-plan offices, as well as printed ‘artcoustic' loudspeakers.
Emmanuel Swolfs, EFI's sales manager for north Europe, explains: "Acoustic walls can be digitally printed and can incorporate loudspeakers within them. There are some designers creating acoustic cabins for trade shows that cut out noise from the exhibition floor, like the sound systems that can drive people mad."

In the interiors market, Macclesfield-based Space Innovation has launched an online wallpaper brand called wallpaperspace.co.uk. The company offers digitally printed bespoke wallpapers and textiles. Meanwhile, Glasgow-based Timorous Beasties has unveiled a range of digitally printed flock fabrics for wall panels, and wall coverings. 3D-effect, digitally printed fabric wallpapers were also being shown at the 100% Design exhibition in London last September.

But what really turned visitors' heads was London-based MeyStyle's LED fabric wallpapers. These digital designs are printed onto a synthetic fabric for the wallpaper with matching designs created in flame-retardant fabric for upholstery and cushions. The LEDs are fully integrated into the material of the wallpaper, allowing it to be pasted and hung like traditional wall coverings with the exception of needing an electrical socket or switch. Its feature-pieces also include designs that have been digitally printed onto canvas incorporating LED lights and Swarovski crystals.

And the merging of electronics with digital print isn't going to stop there according to Mexar's Hancock. "There are military applications where they are looking to print technical fabrics so they can monitor the body temperature of their soldiers and so on," he says.

Screen's dominance
But digital isn't the be-all and end-all. The bulk of textile printing work is still done using screen technology and this is unlikely to change in the near future, mostly because of issues to do with printing onto natural fibre, run lengths, light fastness and colour vibrancy. However, with designers and buyers from the fashion industry asking for more bespoke digital printing what's the shape of things to come for digital printing onto textiles? First off, there's likely to be more colour used in textile products embracing digital printing.

"There's more creative content and multiple colourways. With digital you don't have to constrain yourself to three or four colours," says Hybrid Services' marketing manager Duncan Jefferies. Developments are also likely to focus on the inks and what effects can be achieved.

"A guy called Raymond Oliver is producing high-end fashion that is digitally printed where the inks react to the light," adds Mexar's Hancock.

Focus is also likely to shift to water-based inks and over the next few years we're likely to see vast technological improvements in pigment inks.

"There is no pre-treatment needed and post-treatment is minimal, so I think it will increase," says Hancock. "The problem now is that the colour gamut is not as high as dye-sublimation and you can't run the inks as fast as you can with some of the dye-base inks." Direct disperse ink is also likely to gain a foothold and efforts will be geared towards lower-energy, curable inks. Most of the pre- and post-treatments involved in textile printing are energy intensive and manufacturers will be looking to reduce this.

Regardless of ink technology used there's likely to be more personalised short-run printing services around. "So that you'll be able to design your own curtain then have it printed within a short lead time," says Mexar's Hancock.

"The current crop of machines are faster, cater for more materials and deliver a higher quality of print than previous models and we expect future machines to continue these trends," adds Hybrid's Jefferies. "Efforts will be made to drive ink costs down and performance up."