DIGITAL TEXTILES ARE EVOLVING - THE FABRICS OF THE FUTURE ARE SUSTAINABLY PRODUCED AND BIODIVERSE

“Sourcing is a complex field, but we all must make the effort to build knowledge and seek new partnerships and stakeholders. Finding sustainable textiles is not as easy as it sounds; it’s much easier for the large vertical brand than it is for the smaller-volume printer. All of which is further complicated by the variance in digital textile printing applications”.

SPONSORED CONTENT WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF KORNIT DIGITAL - SUSTAINABLE DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

DIGITAL TEXTILES ARE EVOLVING – THE FABRICS AND PRINTS OF THE FUTURE ARE SET TO BE BOTH SUSTAINABLY PRODUCED AND BIODIVERSE

The evolution of the Textile Industry has accelerated. Market demands driven by current events are now crystalizing to offer a new future. As an industry that spans the globe and employs millions of people – it’s a huge sector and it has seismic issues – the consumer wants a constant stream of product, the retailer must mitigate risk, and yet products must be delivered at high speed and all whilst delivering for our planet a better future where the environment demands sustainable practice alongside biodiversity.

To really understand the issues, we must look upstream.

How we manufacture the products of the future and our environmental success will be determined by how we implement technology. Starting at the beginning with the substrates and fibres we wear every day of our lives, until recently we might not have given this much thought, aside from comfort or performance, but a quick look at garment labelling and all can be revealed – much of our wardrobe is synthetic and, as such, will last forever.

Polyester and Cotton are the predominant fabric choices for mass production. Each of them has their own stories to tell regarding sustainability – some good, and many more that are not so good – and where issues must be resolved. How are we going to resolve the development and use of the fabrics onto which we print?

Look beyond the label – Certification is a vital part of our future.

Sourcing is a complex field, but we all must make the effort to build knowledge and seek new partnerships and stakeholders. Finding sustainable textiles is not as easy as it sounds; it’s much easier for the large vertical brand than it is for the smaller-volume printer. All of which is further complicated by the variance in digital textile printing applications. Where fabric needs to be pre-coated for reactive printing, as an example: sourcing pre-coated cellulose fabrics will ultimately limit availability of choice unless you are prepared to send fabric to a specialist finishing house. The same applies to pre-coated pigments and acid or dispersed print methods. This also raises the question of how fabric coatings affect sustainability – it’s important to check that the fabrics at final source are certified when coated.

Natural fabrics, at face value, seem to be the sustainable choice, but all is not as it seems.

Cotton production, growing the fibre and fabric preparation uses many billions of litres of water each year; the use of pesticides and chemical bleaching agents, equally harmful, create toxic effluent which, when untreated, damages nature. Growing cotton has a devastating impact on the environment, and it’s worth noting only 1% of current cotton production is organic. If we are to continue to use such vast quantities of cotton, we must re-evaluate how these fabrics are produced.

This has to make you think more constructively about synthetic fabrics, which are all manufactured in simple terms from crude oil. How harmful are they? Polyester is the predominant choice of the Fast Fashion industry and has been responsible for the growth of the “throw away” culture. It’s available in unlimited quantities, affordable, and in truth very durable. Its durability has, as it turns out, become its downfall. But synthetic textiles are a staple of modern life – we can’t live without them, at least until we have a viable alternative.

Recycling for both Cellulose and Synthetic textiles holds some hope of a solution amongst many others.

Circular design – where we keep all fibres in circulation, rotating their use – has multiple benefits and must be embedded into our product future. It’s early days for this multi-billion-dollar industry and there are many alternate forms of recycling. Over the last few years this industry has flourished, as we all become increasingly aware of our individual environmental impact, the requirement for recycled textiles has accelerated. How we dispose of our purchases must increasingly be defined at the point of purchase, with many brands now offering recycling as part of the sales action and marketing process.

Scientists and Chemists across the globe are continually innovating the fibres we use in our daily lives.

Whether these, and new fibres generated from waste or new chemical compounds, are Cotton or Synthetic really doesn’t matter, if we utilize and measure their impact correctly and responsibly.

In truth we print billions of metres of fabric every year – and whilst we would all switch to a sustainable fabric alternative tomorrow, the volume of print required cannot currently be serviced using sustainably sourced textiles. But we can choose sustainable print technology, using digital technologies we can dramatically reduce the amount of water consumed, use a small fraction of the world’s energy when compared to traditional print routes, and importantly reduce waste by printing on demand, reducing stock, and ending sell-outs (or, even worse, landfill).

How we move forward will redefine our industry – it’s a combination of Design and Science.

The designer sets the parameters of the product; this is the beginning of any product’s life. It also determines the future – with wide-reaching consequences. Sourcing the correct components at this embryonic stage is critical. Designers hold incredible power; creating circular products that redefine “product life” is currently a challenge – as we move forward, this will get easier as new technologies become mainstream. Transparency is a huge issue, as it’s almost impossible to track a fabric’s past in order to set its future use and afterlife.

Blockchain perhaps holds the key.

 Cloud-based tracking using certified components with absolute transparency offers incredible clarity. When you can track a product back to the fibre, only then can you truly calculate ongoing carbon as it builds in the supply chain.

If we can switch the Textile Industry to a cloud-based platform and a global network, the supply chain will be transparent. Only then we can control the textile industry’s impact on the environment.

The choices we make are incremental; investing in new, sustainable technologies will secure a viable future for our environment and our commercial success. Biodiversity is literally the fabric of life.