REINVENTING THE CRAFT INDUSTRY UTILISING DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING
IMAGE CREDIT: KORNIT DIGITAL
KORNIT OFFER UNIQUE, SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINT TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MILLENNIAL MANUFACTURER
The Craft Sector is a huge worldwide network of multiple small businesses and one that has expanded with incredible speed as it has embraced the commercial opportunities offered by digital disruption.
In the Craft Council’s Publication of November 2018, ‘Supporting Makers Needs’, the UK’s Craft Industry as a whole was reported to have contributed over £4.6 Billion to the UK GDP per annum , of which 18% (£828m) was attributable to Textile based products.
The Industry was said by the survey to be primarily composed of small businesses, sole traders and the like, who often practice their craft alongside another career. As the Craft Council showed, over 50% of the 11,000 plus Craft Businesses had a turnover of less than £10,000, and with total Craft Employment at 43,650, it can truly be said to be a Cottage Industry. It is for this reason that we have witnessed the growth in the Digital Print Bureau (PSP) for custom printed textile fabrics worldwide.
Digital technologies offer unlimited customisation, alongside personalisation, and fuel creativity amongst the craft and artisan community.
Typically, with textile products such as Tea Towels Aprons, Kitchenware, Cushions, Quilts, Gifts, Fashion Garments and Interior Accessories. The arrival of Digital Textile Printing has proved to be an extraordinary boost for the Craft Industry. The advantages of Digital Textile Printing for the Craft Industry are many:
Digital print technology facilitates fabric production in any volume. For the crafter, the capability to have short production runs has offered diversity and reduced the financial risk and burden for many small businesses.
With the advent of affordable and easy to use software, creating original artwork through Photoshop and other software has allowed the product designer an independent route from concept to final product.
Colour was once restricted by the affordability of screens, but with digital tech, printed colour is unlimited and the creative has access to 16.7 million colours. All of which can be utilised simultaneously with no additional cost or loss of speed.
Localised efficient production, often required in under 48 hours, has empowered the micro-factory and “Roll to Roll” digital print service provider. Servicing the craft community with a clean efficient, online supply chain.
All of these factors have enabled creative individuals, designers and artisans to build their own unique businesses and together generate a vibrant craft Industry in ever increasing numbers.
As the consumer demands customisation and that unique personalised product, the craft business sector has a prosperous future, worldwide.
Etsy, the number one online market place for handmade and craft products shows this conclusively. With 1.93 million sellers (in 2017) worldwide with over 65 million buyers! It’s the best-known global marketplace for unique and creative goods from one-off handmade products to homeware treasures.
In this vibrant ecommerce eco-system, Etsy is closely followed by other online vehicles such as Not on the High Street (UK), where more than 5,000 Creative business owners join together in a curated online store, that offers products to nearly 40 million annual visitors looking to own innovative, affordable, trend driven personalised gifts and homewares.
Driven by the consumers demand for production in any volume, Digital Print Bureau’s have sprung up to service this demand. However the millennial printer has a very different business model to the textile converter of the past. Often with only a single printing machine in a small space, and a digital printing machine that's capable of printing over 30-300m of custom printed fabric per hour.
The expansion of this sector owes much to the technical innovations of the print machine manufacturers, chemists, and specialists, and their collaboration with the traditional textile supplier to change process, increase sustainable manufacturing and bring about change.
In the UK alone there are over 85 of these micro print businesses, the future for the creative and the print industry working together is set for huge growth…
IMAGE CREDIT: KORNIT DIGITAL
CAPTION: KORNIT OFFER UNIQUE, SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL PRINT TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MILLENNIAL MANUFACTURER.
Colour Is Too Important to Leave to Chance
Print will always be the part of the garment people see first.
But the sum of all parts — the fabric, the trims, the fasteners, the finish — is what determines whether a design actually delivers on its promise. Brands that continue to treat colour as a single creative decision, rather than a coordinated technical discipline spanning their entire supply chain, will keep paying for it in re-dips, delays, and disappointed design teams.
A Century of Textiles, and an Ever-changing World
Few companies can trace their roots back more than a century and still count themselves among their industry's innovators. Texia, headquartered in Monistrol de Montserrat, Spain, is one of them.
But the story of Texia is not simply one of longevity.
It is a story of continual reinvention. As the textile industry has grown more global and competitive, Texia has repeatedly reshaped its business, investing in technology, developing its own brands, and placing sustainability at the centre of its mission. In doing so, it offers a compelling example of how a heritage manufacturer can lead rather than follow through a period of profound industry change. Image Credit: Texia
What are we craving Ultimately?
The instinct to slow down while simultaneously optimising every measurable aspect of life isn't a passing curiosity. It's a structural response to a world that feels increasingly unstable, and it's reshaping what people expect from their homes, hotels, workplaces and healthcare environments alike.
For the design and manufacturing sectors, this means rethinking both product and process.
The Structual Shift is Real and its Already Here
Volumes are moving east, where digital production is accelerating rapidly. Consumer behaviour has shifted.
Demand is now driven by personalisation, shorter buying cycles, and an expectation of near-instant responsiveness. Regulatory pressure is intensifying, with supply chain transparency now a legal and commercial fact in many markets. And margins? They are under sustained, structural pressure.
This is not a temporary disruption. It is a fundamental reordering of how textile manufacturing must operate.
The Challenge: Standing Firm as the Industry Shifts
The wallpaper landscape has changed dramatically. Digital printing has lowered the barrier to entry, spawning countless direct-to-consumer brands and pushing much of the market towards faster, cheaper production.
At the same time, manufacturing in the UK has grown steadily harder - rising minimum wage, national insurance, energy and substrate costs all bear down on margins. Surface Print have embraced all of these challenges - and stand resolutely prepared for the future.
From Helsinki's printing mill to Paris's Le Marais, discover how Marimekko is scaling a design-led brand with purpose, craft, and bold innovation.
But what makes Marimekko's story compelling is not just its aesthetic legacy?
The word "toxic" carries weight. It conjures danger, harm, and things best avoided.
“Yet in the textile industry - Where between 3,000 and 10,000 chemicals move through the supply chain, a reflexive fear of the term is one of our biggest obstacles to progress.”
This article distils the key takeaways and what buyers, designers, and brands should be asking right now.
What Is the Digital Product Passport?
At its core, a Digital Product Passport is a digital record attached to a physical product - For a printed textile product, this means the DPP would capture data on the substrate, inks and dyes used, the printing process and technology, chemical compliance, environmental impact (including water and energy use), supply chain traceability, and end-of-life instructions.
The Market Gap that Changed Everything
Future Fashion was founded in 2019, timed deliberately to coincide with a pivotal moment in global textile technology: the commercial launch of the EFI Reggiani BOLT Single-Pass digital printing system.
The founders recognised that single-pass architecture had fundamentally changed what was industrially possible - and that Pakistan's domestic market had yet to catch up.
Print is no longer defined by the inefficiencies that once characterised it…as advances in production processes and technology have significantly improved its environmental performance.
Taran Rai, Corporate Sustainability Manager at Epson explains why?
The story of what happens when young designers access digital technology is still being written.
What once was a theoretical sustainability goal seems to have shifted into an active regulatory reality.
Is the Textile Market Finally Recovering?
After a difficult few years, there are genuine reasons for optimism. Duncan was candid about the challenges: "The market for textiles has been very difficult over the last three years. I'm not going to hide the truth there. But the tide is turning.“
A profound shift is currently reshaping the sector
Changing consumer expectations demand greater design diversity, faster turnaround times, and sustainable manufacturing practices.
To thrive, interior brands must adapt their supply chains, bringing production closer to the end consumer and moving away from bulk manufacturing.
Digital textile printing offers a definitive solution to these operational bottlenecks.
Digital transformation doesn't announce itself.
It accumulates - one innovation at a time - until an entire industry looks back and realises the ground has shifted beneath its feet. That's precisely where textiles stands today.
The conversations happening now about AI, automation, sustainability, and digital product passports are not theoretical. They are shaping decisions being made on factory floors and in boardrooms right now.
“By leveraging advanced digital textile printing, Marylene Madou has successfully merged traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology. Her approach offers a blueprint for how independent designers can scale their brands globally while maintaining a minimal environmental footprint.”
The textile industry is undergoing a vital transformation. As the insights from Techtextil and Texprocess reveal, the path forward relies on a combination of sustainable hardware, intelligent chemistry, and seamless digital workflows.
From Zimmer's industrial-scale energy reductions and Stratasys's on-demand 3D embellishments, to Kornit's single-step technical printing and the unified digital ecosystems of NedGraphics and Optitex, the tools for change are here. To stay competitive, brands and manufacturers must adopt these innovations, moving away from fragmented, wasteful processes towards a truly connected, circular economy.
Friedmans stands as a testament to the power of combining traditional textile knowledge with forward-thinking innovation.
“Operating from their UK headquarters, Friedmans now serves a diverse array of sectors, including swimwear, dance, entertainment, sportswear, interior decor, prosthetics, and even pet apparel. With a strategic supply chain that reliably serves clients worldwide”
The apparel decoration industry is decisively moving away from isolated, analogue production tools toward connected digital manufacturing environments.
"Kornit’s unwavering commitment to transformative technology continues to disrupt the status quo. For business leaders and innovators ready to capture the future of apparel manufacturing, the path forward is clear”
The Urgent Need for Sustainability at Scale
The transformation at Coats provides a vital blueprint for the wider textile and apparel sector. True sustainability cannot be achieved in silos. As Dearing emphasised:
“Cross-industry collaboration is the engine of meaningful change. Brands, machinery suppliers, chemical providers, and fibre producers must act as an interconnected ecosystem”
Today’s customers demand superior product quality, real-time data visibility, and lightning-fast turnaround times.
For large-scale garment decorators, managing these expectations while balancing seasonal demand fluctuations - such as the massive surges seen during Black Friday - presents a monumental challenge.
"Relying on transactional vendor relationships and outdated legacy equipment is no longer sufficient to secure long-term stability and growth.”
Printing method is never a secondary detail. It shapes the entire life cycle of a product, from concept to customer. In today’s fashion industry, where margins are tighter and speed matters more than ever, technical knowledge has become a competitive advantage.
“The future of textile design belongs to professionals who can combine creativity with execution, aesthetics with practicality, and vision with production reality”.
Friedman’s is a UK-based wholesale specialist. Offering stretch textiles, digital print & foil effects, supplying designers and brands worldwide.
Print On Demand fulfilment platform enables anyone to create a drop shipping business, with integration into the most popular e-commerce platforms.
Prinfab® is an award winning textile print on demand service. Using industrial Epson™ print tech to deliver a high quality and consistent service to 30,000+ customers worldwide.