In Fashion Design 2025
Printing techniques is the process of using dyes or pigments to print patterns on textiles, and the corresponding printing techniques can be selected according to the design of the pattern. The three commonly used are resist dyeing, discharge printing and direct printing. There is also a special dyeing and weaving technique that runs through the corners of the world's ancient civilizations, called iKat, which first dyes the warp and weft yarns and then weaves them into cloth, with a needle point-like uneven effect on the edges of the pattern.
Resist dyeing is a traditional method of dyeing textiles with pat-terns. Methods are used to "resist" or prevent the dye from reaching all the cloth, thereby creating a pattern and ground. The most common forms use wax, some type of paste made from starch or mud, or a mechanical resist that manipulates the cloth such as tying or stitching. Another form of resist involves using a chemical agent in a specific type of dye that will repel another type of dye printed over the top.
Tie-dye is a term used to describe a number of resist dyeing techniques and the resulting dyed products of these processes. The process of tie-dye typically consists of folding, twisting, pleating, or crumpling fabric or a garment, before binding with string or rubber bands, followed by the application of dye or dyes. More sophisticated tie-dye may involve additional steps, including an initial application of dye before the resist, multiple sequential dyeing and resist steps, and the use of other types of resists (stitching, stencils) and discharge.
▲The fabric being tied with thread
Batik is a technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the resist with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to color selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colors are desired.
▲The fabric being painted with wax
Blue calico refers to a traditional textile craft in which a blue pattern is dyed with indigo on white fabric. Compared with other traditional resist dyeing techniques, the distinctive feature of the blue calico is the use of a unique resist dyeing process using scrape-paste technology. The specific process involves applying chemicals to the fabric and dyeing it blue, then removing the chemicals after it has dried to reveal the pattern. tung oil paper was the key material for the blue calico, it replaced the traditional woodblock, which greatly reduced the cost of plate making.
▲Engrave the paper plate
Clamp-resist dyeing, a traditional Woodblock dyeing technique popular in East Asia, originated in China during the Qin Dynasty(221 BC - 207 BC) and flourished in the Tang Dynas-ty(618 AD - 907 AD), and is the source of Woodblock printing in China. Clamp-resist dyeing products are commonly used in clothing fabrics, also used in screens, bags and other daily ne-cessities. Later, it was introduced to Japan by the Japanese envoys, and it is called 板締染め in Japanese.
▲A woodblock with carved pattern
Resist dyeing is a clear advantage for natural fabrics and traditional techniques. However, for many modern synthetic fibers and industrialization, it has become a relatively high cost printing type and can only be found in high fashion or a few slow fashion brands.
The opposite of "resist dyeing" is "discharge printing".
Discharge printing, also called extract printing, method of applying a design to dyed fabric by printing a color-destroying agent, such as chlorine or hydrosulfite, to bleach out a white or light pattern on the darker colored ground. In color-discharge printing, a dye impervious to the bleaching agent is combined with it, producing a colored design instead of white on the dyed ground.
Discharge printing on t-shirts is a way to put the design into the fabric, which gives you a super soft print because the printing is part of the shirt, rather than a heavy layer of ink on top. But the discharge ink only works on natural fibers, so if you've got a shirt that's 100% polyester, it's not going to work.
Direct printing is printed with dyes or pigments directly on the fabric first, and then obtains the pattern after post-processing such as steaming, and its process is short and most widely used. According to the stereoscopic effect of the pattern, the type of equipment and materials, it can be divided into 4 categories, namely, flat printing, raised printing, digital printing and special printing.
Water slurry printing
It is the earliest printing technology. The material used for printing patterns is water-based paste, similar to the pigment or dye used in painting. Through the technical treatment of the printing screen, the slurry with patterns can penetrate into the fabric. Its working principle is similar to dyeing, but the difference is that it "dyes" a certain area of the fabric into the color required by the flower position. Therefore, this process can not be used in dark fabric.
Glue printing
Its advantages are that it can produce a special texture effect, with elasticity, good hand feel, and can mask light color on deep background color. A special chemical gel is applied to the pulp printing process with a high degree of seamless mixing with the dye. The dye is firmly adhered to the fabric through the medium of the gel. It can be used for fluorescent printing, ink-jet printing, blue flower printing, electrostatic flocking printing and other printing processes.
Foil printing
Foil printing is a special printing method that uses heat, pressure, metal dies, and foil film. Foil printing is to print a certain pattern with foil on the fabric for a shiny effect. Foil printing is a method of printing by sublimation transfer.
High density printing
High density printing is a process in which we use a thick layer of emulsion to create a higher print. This is a great method is usually used for special effects on designs and to make your design pop! The height of the ink can be up to 1/8”. When printed with this technique, the ink rises off the fabric, providing a three-dimensional look unattainable with traditional methods. Similar to the way flock provides a touchable, tactile effect, high density printing pulls this off with only ink itself.
Puff printing
Puff ink is a type of screen printing ink that has been mixed with a heat-activated foaming agent. The ink gets printed on flat, just like a standard print—but then, as the garment goes down the dryer, the ink expands and begins to puff upward.
Electrostatic flock printing
Electrostatic flock printing is a textile technology that employs a Coulombic driving force to launch short fibers from a charging source towards an adhesive-covered substrate, resulting in a dense array of aligned fibers perpendicular to the substrate.
Digital printing system uses different special ink (reactive, disperse, acid, paint) , which directly printed on various fabrics, and then after high temperature, the ink sublimates into gaseous molecules and bonds with fabric fibers. The image quality is meticulous, the fabric touch no foreign body feeling and the color fastness is good. It is suitable for all kinds of fabrics of different materials.
The digital printing technologies currently on the market fall into 2 categories.
Inkjet printing
The principle is similar to color inkjet printers, but the size is much larger and can print the image file on the fabric. The fabric must first be coated with a layer of starchy paste, which contains additives to help fix the color. After the pattern is printed on, it also needs to go through a low-temperature 100 degree steam coloring, then the paste and excess dye are washed with hot water, and finally a little softener is added to make the touch feel better. Because the dye molecule has been fused with the fabric fiber, so there is no need for too much glue.
Thermal-transfer printing
Using high temperature and pressure to transfer graphics onto fabric. The advantage is that it is cheap, fast and does not require professional coloring and washing equipment. Because it uses dye and glue, the printed paper is attached to the fabric and then ironed over to make the pigment adhere to the fabric. The disadvantage is that the dye cannot penetrate into the fiber of the fabric, so it cannot be printed on the fabric with concave and convex surface, the pattern is rougher and less fastness, because of the use of pigment and glue, the touch is not good enough.
With the diversified development of printing materials, some new materials bring novel visual effects for fashion design, we call it special printing. There are 4 main types here.
Photochromic
Photochromism is a light induced reversible color change phenomenon in photochromic molecule due to light and heat effect and molecular species exist in two forms which have different absorption spectra. The fascinating color change by photochromic molecules in response to specific wavelength of light produces number of applications such as U.V. protective fabrics, ophthalmic photochromic lenses, optical data storing, optical switch, sensors and display.
Thermochromic
Thermochromic inks have the property to change color with temperature. Instead of using an electric current to change the crystal structure, heat is utilized. We used thermochromic ink with silk screen printing and digital embroidery of conductive thread, for the creation of garments that are reacting to heat and are ¨ expressive ¨. They charge color as a visual feedback, while providing heat to the wearer.
Glow in the dark
It is designed for garments, gloves, hats, shoes or other required night glowing performance products. It provides maintenance free illumination and design elements for enhanced visibility and safety when used in darkened conditions. The textile material is white (day light) and illuminates green in the dark after a minimum of 5 minutes exposure to any light source.
Hydrochromic
Hydrochromic materials change color in contact with water. Depending on their properties, they can turn transparent or change their color when they get wet. They can be integrated into fabric, clothing and paper. They are applied in various sectors such as security, advertising, toys, waterproof products …
Finally comes a traditional handicraft, iKat, which first dyes the warp and weft yarns and then weaves them into cloth.
ikat (in Indonesian languages means "bind") is a dyeing technique originating from Indonesia used to pattern textiles that employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
A characteristic of ikat textiles is an apparent "blurriness" to the design. The blurriness is a result of the extreme difficulty the weaver has lining up the dyed yarns so that the pattern comes out perfectly in the finished cloth. However, the blurriness that is so characteristic of ikat is often prized by textile collectors.
▲Voyage en ikat dinner plate, inspired by ikat, Hermes
In ikat, the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a tight wrapping applied in the desired pattern. The yarns are then dyed. The bindings may then be altered to create a new pattern and the yarns dyed again with another color. This process may be repeated multiple times to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When the dyeing is finished all the bindings are removed and the yarns are woven into cloth.
In other resist-dyeing techniques such as tie-dye and batik the resist is applied to the woven cloth, whereas in ikat the resist is applied to the yarns before they are woven into cloth. Because the surface design is created in the yarns rather than on the finished cloth, in ikat both fabric faces are pattern.