The digital revolution transformed the graphics industry over ten years ago, but it is only now that production speed textile printers are emerging which can print dyestuffs onto fabric.

Digital textile printers work directly from the computer enabling photographic image quality and subtle grading effects to be created. This was impossible with conventional screens or rollers, and presents the opportunity to invent a new aesthetic for textiles. Colour separation is not required and consequently there is no cost differential in the number of colours employed, with a possible palette of 32 million. For the designer, or design student, it presents an entirely new way of working and thinking about design solutions.

Digital printing will never rival traditional methods for speed, but is extremely flexible, with very short lead times and no minimum quantities. This enables rapid prototyping and the customisation of design, complementing the changing marketplace and patterns of consumerism. It is also very accessible to anyone with basic computer-aided design skills.

The Centre for Advanced Textiles at The Glasgow School of Art is investigating the potential of this technology to recreate important designs from textile archives, which can then be stored on disc and printed to order in small quantities. Any variety of styles can be replicated, from elaborate 19th century roller prints to simple 1950s block prints.

Textile printing in Scotland was a major industry in the 19th century but went into a steady decline after the First World War, with the last major factory closing in 1960. However the advent of this new digital technology, which is ecologically sound, an important factor in an industry with a poor environmental record, as well as labour and space efficient, creates the opportunity to stop the migration of production to the Far East and mount a revival.

Books and Articles
Braddock, Sarah and O'Mahony, Marie, Techno Textiles (London: Thames and Hudson, 1998)

Byrne, Chris, ‘Inkjet printing in the textile industry: drawing up the battle-lines’, Journal for Asia on Textile and Apparel (Oct/Nov, 2001)

‘Textile Printing - A Textile Subject?’, Textile Forum (April 2001)

Websites
Centre for Advanced Textiles - www.catdigital.co.uk
Information on the Centre for Advanced Textiles based at the Glasgow School of Art and including digital printing

Techexchange - www.techexchange.com
Online library containing a selection of articles regarding Computer Aided Design (CAD) and digital print

Wide format printers - www.wide-format-printers.org/
Website containing information about digital textile and paper printers