CASE STUDY: Friedmans: Mastering Bespoke Textile Printing for a Global Market with Forward Thinking Innovation
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”
WRITTEN BY FESPA TEXTILE AMBASSADOR DEBBIE MCKEEGAN
Friedmans: Mastering Bespoke Textile Printing for a Global Market
The current textile market demands unprecedented flexibility, rapid turnaround times, and a steadfast commitment to sustainability, creating a challenge for suppliers to meet these complex needs globally.
By leveraging their rich textile heritage and investing heavily in state-of-the-art digital textile printing technology, Friedmans have strengthened their service offering to provide highly customisable, plain fabric supply alongside on-demand specialist digitally printed textiles. As a result, Friedmans now successfully delivers cut length textiles and bespoke printed fabrics on demand with low minimums, cementing their position as a powerful UK-based industry leader serving a global clientele.
Innovative Solutions in Digital Textile Printing
Friedmans was founded in 1964 by Rose Friedman. David Kaitiff took the helm in 1990 and discovered Lycra, which shaped Friedman's future, and a rich textile heritage that has continuously evolved to meet the dynamic demands of the global fashion and performance wear markets. Originally established as a wholesale business for stretch fabrics, the company has grown into a premier trade fabric supplier and expert digital textile printer.
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, Friedmans stands as a testament to the power of combining traditional textile knowledge with forward-thinking innovation.
The Challenges Facing Textile Suppliers in a Competitive Market
In an increasingly fast-paced and environmentally conscious world, textile consumers and brands require more than just standard fabric options. The challenge lies in providing an impressive, diverse stock of high-quality textiles and stretch fabrics while simultaneously offering extensive customisation capabilities. Clients across the globe need the agility to order bespoke, highly specialised designs without being constrained by large minimum order quantities or environmentally harmful production methods.
Increasingly, the industry faces an urgent need to transition towards sustainable, ethical practices without sacrificing the vibrant quality and technical performance required for specialist applications like professional dancewear or high-fashion garments. The market required a supplier capable of housing a vast inventory whilst offering rapid, highly customisable digital printing and eco-friendly manufacturing under one roof.
Innovating Textile Production Through Sustainability
To address the evolving needs of a global clientele, Friedmans took a proactive, forward-thinking approach by deeply integrating advanced digital textile printing into their UK-based operations. Recognising the power of technical independence, they invested in their own state-of-the-art machinery, allowing them to bring the entire production process in-house.
Friedmans have expanded their digital product range to encompass over 60 different base fabrics, including high-performance polyester, nylon, woven and knitted cellulose options. To empower their clients, they developed an innovative suite of online tools such as “ Print Me”, "Colour Me," and "Foil Me." These digital platforms allow customers to interact directly with over 3,000 digital print designs, providing the freedom to recolour, rescale, and add specialist foiling or embellishments. This creates millions of possible, highly bespoke design combinations tailored to precise specifications.
Crucially, Friedmans aligned their technological advancements with a rigorous commitment to sustainability. Their digital printing facilities utilise eco-friendly inks and have successfully transitioned core stretch fabrics to recycled yarns. As a specialist supplier, their unique foiling process relies on heat transfer rather than harmful chemicals, ensuring that their environmental footprint remains minimal. By printing on demand with minimum orders as low as a single metre, Friedmans actively reduces textile waste while maintaining the agility to supply large-scale production runs efficiently.
The implementation of advanced digital printing and customer-centric design tools has yielded phenomenal results for Friedmans and their global partners. By empowering clients to take ownership of the design process, Friedmans has fostered deep, long-term relationships across multiple high-demand industries.
The company's digital capabilities and agile UK production have led to several high-profile successes on the global stage. Friedmans successfully supplied high-performance fabrics for British Gymnastics at the London Paralympics, and even manufactured the iconic, highly sought-after bubble print pyjamas featured in the hit television series Killing Eve.
The ability to provide bespoke services, such as single-ply cutting and specialist rhinestone applications, alongside their vast stock of plain, printed, and foiled fabrics, has positioned Friedmans as an indispensable partner to brands worldwide. Their strong strategic supply chain ensures that whether a client needs rapid sampling or bulk commercial production, the delivery is seamless, ethical, and of the highest possible quality.
The Cornerstone of Creative Partnerships and Excellence
Friedmans has masterfully demonstrated how a business can honour its historical roots while aggressively pursuing digital innovation and sustainable practices. By offering an unmatched variety of fabric bases, pioneering online customisation tools, alongside in-house design services all whilst championing eco-friendly production, they have built a powerful, UK-based enterprise that confidently serves a demanding worldwide market.
As they continue to invest in the latest technology and expand into new sectors - such as luxury home furnishings through their sister brand, Alexander Maverick - Friedmans is perfectly positioned to lead the future of digital printed, specialist textiles.
Choosing a specialist printer with a rich textile heritage like Friedmans is the ultimate key to unlocking commercial success. Their deep-rooted understanding of fabric behaviour, combined with decades of industry experience, ensures that every client receives not just a product, but a comprehensive, expertly guided service.
This unparalleled textile knowledge, fused with cutting-edge digital printing capabilities, provides the exact skills and premium quality required to elevate any brand in today’s competitive global market.
Visit Fespa Global Expo 2026 in Barcelona 19th-22nd May
To stay ahead in the rapidly evolving world of digital printing and customisation, there is no better place to be than the Fespa Global Expo in Barcelona. From 19th to 22nd May, this premier event will showcase cutting-edge technologies, innovative solutions, and invaluable industry insights, all under one roof. Connect with thought leaders, discover groundbreaking advancements, and gain the tools and knowledge needed to revolutionise your business.
Don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity to shape your future in the print and product personalisation landscape.
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Digital textile printing offers a definitive solution to these operational bottlenecks.
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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”
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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”
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"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”.
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Greentex, a leading innovator in sustainable printed fabrics, has announced its participation in Printing United 2026, taking place from 23 to 25 September at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
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New York, NY – August 2026 – X-Rite Pantone, the global authority in colour standards and colour science, and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a global leader in creative education and part of the State University of New York (SUNY), have announced a strategic partnership to advance colour education and digital innovation across the apparel, footwear, soft goods, and textile industries
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Altrincham – Cheshire – August 2026 – Friedmans, a leading fabric printing specialist today festures its new Printed Solids service, designed to help garment makers achieve perfectly coordinated fabrics across a range of bases.
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Visitors can find Durst Group at Booth C1614, where the P5 Series will be on live display.
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Lewisville Tx – August 2026 – Antigro Designer has announced the successful integration of its Sticker Builder tool into the Decals On Demand product page, operated by KRP Group USA.
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Birmingham, UK – July 2026 – swissQprint UK is set to exhibit at The Print Show 2026, taking place from 29 September to 1 October at the NEC in Birmingham, Great Britain.
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Visitors can find the companies at Booth 3L11 in Hall 3, Smart Creation Area.
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Arhus – Denmark – July 2026 – Mikkelsen Innovation ApS has announced that its FASTSEWN™ 3.3M has been named the recipient of the 2026 Pinnacle Award in the Technology category by PRINTING United Alliance.
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Altrincham – Cheshire – July 2026 - Friedmans Ltd and Funki Fabrics have announced the arrival of new print designs, expanding their existing collection with a fresh range of trend-led prints available across a broad selection of premium fabric bases.
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