Cart 0
Cart 0

Sustainable Fashion - Digital Printing on Fabric

• Digital Print • Muslin • Sustainable • Textile Printing

Sustainable fashion has become a buzzword, but have you considered why it is important? What makes a fashion brand sustainable? How can you get into sustainable fashion?

As a slow-fashion and sustainability focused brand, we want to highlight an important aspect of modern fashion - digital print fabric.

digital printing on fabric has revolutionized the textile and fashion industries

The Evolution of Textile Printing

Textile printing means adding colour to cloth. Since humans began creating fabrics from the materials around them, they've also looked for ways to make that fabric interesting, colourful, and a reflection of their culture, tastes, personality, and the world around them.

woodblock printing on fabric - one of the earliest textile printing methods

The earliest textile printing methods involved woodblock printing, with examples from China dating back to 220 AD, and in the Middle East and then Europe around the 12th century. Coloured dyes and patterns carved into wooden blocks were used to create clothes that then defined the style and culture of communities around the world.

Textile Printing for the Modern Era

screen printing - the most common textile printing method today
Today, we can identify around 7 distinct methods of textile printing:
  1. Woodblock printing (also called hand block) 
  2. Perrotine printing - a block printing machine still widely used in French, German and Italian textiles
  3. Engraved copper plate
  4. Roller printing (also called machine or cylinder printing)
  5. Stencil printing
  6. Screen printing
  7. Digital printing (or direct-to-garment printing)

Every year, new advances are made in the field of textile printing, with new technologies like Flexo printing now making their debut.

Digital Printing on Fabric - A Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Option

digital print muslin shirt from mayank modi, and digital print lehenga from asmi by mayank modi
Digital fabric printing combines sustainability with precision. The introduction of digital printing was a revolutionary advance for a number of reasons:

Environmentally Friendly Water Soluble Dyes

His: Taffy and blue digital print modi jacket; Hers: Digital Print Reversible Jacket
Screen printing, the most widely used modern printing method, uses a patterned mesh or screen to transfer dyes to fabric. Unfortunately, the dye most commonly used in screen printing is the PVC-based Plastisol, which is not water soluble. The PVC and phthalates present in Plastisol classify it as a hazardous chemical, requiring special disposal methods and causing a significant contribution to pollution.

Digital printing, on the other hand, uses eco friendly water-soluble dyes that do not contain hazardous chemicals.

Reduces Waste with Print on Demand

His: Blazer with digital print detailing; Hers: digital print coord set
The more traditional screen printing requires a unique screen to be created for every colour in the design. For this model to be cost-effective, hundreds or thousands of meters of fabric need to be ordered and printed at the same time. If that fabric goes unsold, it contributes to the fashion and textile industries' wastage problem.

What's more, the screens need to be washed each time they need to be used for a different colour. As a result, the traditional screen printing process also requires a great amount of energy, ink and water.

In contrast, digital printing works in much the same way as an inkjet printer, allowing for a print-on-demand model. Manufacturers, tailors, and design labels can order just the amount of fabric they need, preventing excess or unsold fabric waste, and there is no massive water requirement involved.

Consistent Colours and Patterns over Time

His - Digital print nehru coat in green; Hers - Black and white digital print chanderi kurta
Digital printers work by adding a targeted and highly specific ink spray to the fabric. This provides great clarity and higher print resolution, without the risk of ink bleeding and misprints. With digital printing, a batch of fabric produced six months after the first batch will look exactly the same as the first.

At ASMI and Mayank Modi Signature Label, we regularly use digital printing to produce beautiful, stylish and sustainable designer outfits. Digital printing has become a valuable tool for reducing waste and minimizing environmental impact. By embracing digital printing techniques, fashion brands can create beautiful, high-quality garments while also promoting a more sustainable future for the industry. 

← Older Post