IMAGE CREDIT: AMBER JAE SLOOTEN - THE FABRICANT
As the tools of Textile’s Industry 4.0 transformation – AI, AR, VR and IoT – gain traction, it is estimated that over 25% of all work activities will be displaced with automation by 2030.
In this new Industrial Revolution, where algorithm-driven processes and task taught robotics will replace today’s machine operators, it is envisaged that the role of the creative designer will grow to assume new strategic importance.
In Industry 3.0, the designer has already made the transition from paintbrush to pixel, but in Industry 4.0, with sales-driven algorithms, VR simulation, AI-driven workflows and the onset of intelligent robotics the traditional role of the designer will make another great leap forward.
In Fashion, in simplistic terms, the basic role of the designer is to create and set new styles and trends, but that is set to change, and soon, driven by optimisation and automation, as the time to market is accelerated, the designer will have to adjust to new technology, and new responsibilities at warp speed.
The designer will be able to create, not only the patterns and the garments, but also to dress the virtual mannequins that will be used to present the products to the public. As the designer becomes an integral part of the process, moving beyond pure creation onto the manufacturing of the garment and specifications, their vision will be embedded into the DNA of the product electronically.
Products will be conceived in 2D and 3D simulations, generated by machines, as files ready for production, where the designer’s concepts move swiftly from artwork to garments. This, through a process governed by an automated workflow and powered by digital printing, laser cutting and computerised sewbots , will achieve a seamless manufacturing process from design to product at a breath-taking speed.
In this new environment the designer’s role will morph considerably as they embrace Industry 4.0, and as the creative’s mindset evolves and promotes the designer from operator to strategic thinker.
Here the designer will form an essential part of an elite group who will plan, develop and administer the newly automated production process, while the machines and algorithms take the weight of manufacture. This group will have a different mindset than previous generations, for their production paradigm will have to be moderated by sustainability and the conservation of Earth’s resources.
With a sustainable agenda, this new generation will create sustainable products with a view to reduce the use of polyester micro-fibres etc, seeking viable alternatives utilising circular economies, water conservation and power consumption – not to mention eliminating the landfill destiny of many garments from the ‘Fast Fashion’ stable.
So, although the physical advances in software, machinery and robotics will show the way forward to ‘hands off’ production, designers will see everything through the prism of planet Earth, as this new culture evolves.
This will result in a major influence on technological development, as the moral dimension of conservation of the Earth’s resources forces a new direction on the development of automation in Industry 4.0. This influence can be readily viewed at any Fashion trade event, where the virtues of sustainability have become a basic aim for all from designer through manufacturer to retailer.
Industry 4.0 embodies all of these principles, for technological progress without a conscience is seen as vapid and self-serving in a world that must work together.
As a result, all over the design landscape there is an urgency to combine the visual with the technical in a moral dimension.
As Stephen Russell, Professor of Textile Materials and Technology at the University of Leeds School of Design, said: “The vision is to transform the industry’s capacity for new product innovation, and to reduce lead times and waste. This will be done through the convergence of new digital and textile technologies within the fashion design process.”
Universities are collaborating with commercial and technical concerns to radically alter the teaching emphasis in design.
As an example, The £5.4m Future Fashion Factory recently announced by the UKFT, is an industry-led collaborative research project linking the textile design and manufacturing centres within the Leeds city region (here in the UK) with the creative design and retail centre of London.
It brings together expertise from ten core industry partners, with many more forming a wider network spanning design, manufacturing and retail in the UK. The project involves collaboration with the universities of Leeds, Huddersfield and the Royal College of Art as well as the Centre for Textile Excellence in Yorkshire.
The result of schemes like this will be a fundamental change in the teaching emphasis for undergraduate design students, who will now have to master not only the art of form and colour, but also the new skills of Industry 4.0, where knowledge and understanding of the technical processes, workflow and digitisation are vital.
In this academic year alone, there has been a proliferation of technical modules within Textile Design Degree courses. At The University of the Arts in London, this year’s degree module titles tell all:
Product Technology, Creative Product Development & Fashion Production Future Technologies speak for themselves embodying, as they do, in-depth studies into Automated Laser Pattern Cutting, 2D & 3D visualisations and Workflow Integration.
In the coming years, graduates exiting the Academic Design Process will have enhanced skills, directing them at the heart of the manufacturing system, where their ability to visualise product and influence consumer choice will be seen as vital.
In their new roles, their influence will grow, as the business of fashion becomes less and less about the nuts and bolts of a complicated and esoteric workflow, and more about an elegant, efficient and responsible system, delivering beautiful product on time to an appreciative and grateful customer.
Today’s designer will be an integral part of the responsible digital product lifecycle, as computerised tools for development, merchandising and apparel design have shown the profession a new horizon.
In this new digital world, the designer, using these tools, will be the visionary with the skills to take the marketplace to a new level, embodying the style, creativity and ingenuity that have made their skillset so acclaimed. The next decade offers the creative a vibrant, exciting future.
The Path Foward: Connect Every Link:
Design, colour, workflow, production, data. Each link now depends on the one before it, and the printers who will lead the market are those who strengthen the whole chain, not just the machinery at its centre.
So, this autumn, ask the bigger question on your own shop floor.
Not "Which printer?" but "How well does my business connect demand, design and production?"
Rebés's story isn't one of nostalgia - It's a working blueprint for how heritage manufacturers can stay indispensable in a market that rewards speed, certification, and specificity in equal measure. Four million metres of stock mean nothing without the digital printing capability to turn it into something distinctive.
A 150-year name means nothing without the R&D discipline to win a tender for antistatic, carbon-fibre-infused uniform fabric on the first attempt.
Image Credit: Tejidos Rebé
What if the next dress you wore never touched the factory floor?
This is no longer a fringe experiment. It is a maturing production model, backed by genuine material science, real circularity, and an AI-assisted workflow that is becoming more accessible by the month.
Her advice to designers and brands alike is refreshingly practical: start small, get hands-on with an accessible 3D printer, and build fluency before the technology becomes table stakes. The businesses that treat this moment with curiosity, rather than scepticism, will be the ones shaping fashion's next decade rather than reacting to it.
The 2027 FESPA Awards are now open for entry, and the message to businesses across textiles, apparel, interiors and beyond is simple: your work deserves recognition. Every gold winner featured here started in the same place every entrant does - with a project they believed was worth submitting.
As the only independent awards programme with 18 categories dedicated to print and signage, FESPA offers a genuinely global stage, with shortlisted entries displayed at FESPA Global Print Expo in Spring 2027.
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”
Speciality print leaders from five Southern European countries will meet in Porto next month for the eleventh FESPA Southern European Congress, taking place on 11–12 November at HF Ipanema Porto, Portugal.
The two-day event, which is organised by five FESPA member associations – FESPA France, FESPA Italia, FESPA España, APIGRAF (Portugal) and the FESPA Hellas Association (Greece) – gives members of the community in Southern Europe the opportunity to benchmark their own strategies against peers facing similar conditions, as well as compare notes with neighbouring markets on customer expectations, workforce shortages, investment and new technology.
Batley, West Yorkshire – October 2026 – Roaches International, a member of the British Textile Machinery Association (BTMA), has dispatched its largest integrated order for textile laboratory equipment to date.
A total of 19 testing machines weighing more than two tonnes have been delivered for a new laboratory being established by Indonesia's Alia Digital Printex, underscoring the British manufacturer's capability to supply complete testing facilities rather than individual instruments alone.
Mortsel, Belgium – October 29th 2026 – Agfa Inkjet Solutions has announced Experience Day 2026, a hands-on event dedicated to demonstrating how advanced inkjet printing and precision finishing can work together within a single, integrated workflow.
The event will take place on Thursday, 26 November 2026, from 09:00 to 15:00 at Agfa Headquarters in Mortsel, Belgium.
Developed in partnership with Kongsberg Precision Cutting Systems, Experience Day 2026 will give print service providers a first-hand look at how combining print and finishing technologies can boost productivity, broaden application possibilities, and open up new business opportunities across sectors including signage, display, packaging, and corrugated production.
Balrothery, Ireland – October 2026 – Retink Graphics has added a second Epson SureColor R5000L latex printer to its Balrothery production floor, supplied by digitalprint.ie.
The investment follows strong returns from the company's first R5000L, which the team says paid for itself before they decided to expand.
Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg – October 2026 - The CHT Group has announced the expansion of its dyes portfolio with two new additions: BEMACID Brilliant Blue F-WN for polyamide and wool, and BEZAKTIV Solar Yellow ONE for flexible dyeing processes.
The launch reinforces CHT Group's commitment to delivering high-performance, sustainable colorant solutions for the global textile industry.
Both new dyes address growing demand among textile manufacturers for products that combine color brilliance, process reliability, and responsible formulation.
Staffordshire, UK – October 2026 – Staffordshire Signs & Graphics Ltd has announced the installation of a new DLI-3325 flatbed printer, supplied by China Print Supplies UK Ltd.
The investment marks a significant step forward for the business, enhancing its production capabilities and expanding the range of signage solutions it can offer customers.
The installation follows months of careful planning, with the new machine now in place and undergoing fine-tuning and staff training ahead of full commissioning
Corby – Northants – October 2026 – Keencut Ltd, a leading innovator in the cutting and finishing equipment industry, has today highlighted its Evolution3 Lift & Hover technology, a breakthrough system designed to make material positioning faster, easier and more accurate than ever before.
The new technology allows operators to adjust, align and achieve perfect positioning with precise control, all through simple single-person operation.
By streamlining what has traditionally been a multi-step, often cumbersome process, Keencut is addressing a long-standing challenge faced by professionals across the sign-making, graphics and framing industries: achieving exact cutting precision without compromising on speed or efficiency.
Istanbul – Turkiye – October 2026 – Optimum Digital has announced that Kilim Home, an established Turkish carpet manufacturer serving international markets, has invested in its direct-to-carpet printing technology.
The move strengthens Kilim Home's production capabilities and marks a significant step forward in the company's ongoing embrace of innovation within digital carpet manufacturing.
Frankfurt am Main, Germany – 27 October 2026 – Heimtextil, the international trade fair for home and contract textiles, has announced the launch of the Functional Futures Lab, a new showcase curated in partnership with Future Fabrics Expo.
Taking place from 12 to 15 January 2027 in Hall 4.1, the exhibition will spotlight materials engineered to meet the evolving functional demands of architecture, interior design and hospitality, from thermal regulation to flame resistance and durability.
The Functional Futures Lab will present both visionary prototypes and commercially available solutions, with each exhibit's stage of development made transparent through Technology Readiness Levels
Shanghai, People's Republic of China – October 2026 – KARL MAYER will present a comprehensive portfolio of advanced warp knitting and warp preparation technologies at ITMA ASIA 2026, taking place from 20 to 24 November at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) in Shanghai.
The company's presence spans two exhibition halls, with warp knitting innovations on display in Hall 4.1, Booth C18, and warp preparation solutions featured in Hall 3, Booth