Digital fabric printing

FABRIC PRINTING 2.0 - DIGITAL INTO THE FUTURE

We are Lebenskleidung - a fabric-loving company from Berlin-Kreuzberg. Our credo "More Than Fabrics" is not only meant to sound nice, but expresses in essence what is important to us: We love and live sustainability and not only in the production of your fabrics.

Everything is digital. And while this is not viewed without a certain scepticism in many areas, which always expresses concern about the loss of "the old", the opposite is happening to digital textile printing, so to speak: it is en vogue as hardly ever before. Yet this was unthinkable a few decades ago. The garish prints of the 70s and 80s may be hip again today, but back then they were what we would call "too much" today. Subsequently, the fashion capitals around the globe were suddenly invaded first by grunge and then by the peculiar uniformity of minimalism. It was precisely at this time, in the late 00s, that a young Athenian woman emerged and turned the fashion world's head with her digital textile prints.

Mary Katrantzou, who was then in her mid-20s and freshly equipped with a Master's degree in fashion, brought photorealistic prints back into the fashion world - and there they have remained to this day. The history of fabric printing is as exciting as it is difficult to tell. It is now considered certain that textile printing processes existed as early as the 6th century. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, however, interest in printed textiles waned again for the time being and, in keeping with the Baroque period, gave way to more sumptuous materials such as silk or velvet.

It was not until the 19th century that a process emerged in the form of textile printing that was capable of applying a wide variety of patterns to cotton or linen fabrics - and which is now regarded in Europe as the oldest known way of applying motifs to fabric. At first, this was done by hand & wood block, later with rollers and machines. Much older, but only coming to Europe from India in the late 17th century, is blue or reserve printing, in which the patterns are applied to the fabric in advance with mordant that prevents these areas from discolouring - very similar to wax batik or other techniques in which the motif is left out during dyeing.

Industrial textile printing, meanwhile, has a predecessor that still has a firm place in fashion colleges and small collections today: screen printing. The flat screen printing process used in the beginning gave way a little later to roller screen printing; in both variants, the main players are an exposed screen that serves as a stencil, as well as the corresponding ink and a squeegee used to push the ink through the motif. Statements, slogans and other iconic prints - they all have their origins in screen printing. A simultaneous development that has always been closely interwoven with the history of fashion in general is the longing for individuality and for expressing oneself.

And so, since the mid-90s, methods of digital printing have been researched, tested and adjusted - because they make it possible to bring detailed motifs onto almost the entire width of the fabric without a stencil. The size and colour variance of the images knows virtually no limits and is therefore the perfect playground for those who like to experiment on the one hand and all those who know exactly what they want on the other. The fact that the printing processes are not only fast but also environmentally friendly thanks to water-based ink systems was ultimately the deciding factor for us to offer you our digital printing service starting this year. Of course, on GOTS-certified raw material, photo-realistic and exactly the way you want it!