Image By Courtesy of The Design Museum
LONDON, JUNE 2023 | The Design Museum today reveals some of the trailblazing fashion designs that will go on display in a major upcoming exhibition showcasing London’s unique fashion culture on the world stage.
REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion sponsored by Alexander McQueen will celebrate over 300 young designers — the NEWGEN alumni — and their sensational impact on the global fashion scene.
The swan dress controversially worn by Björk at the 2001 Oscars, Harry Styles’ Steven Stokey Daley outfit from his video for ‘Golden’ and a unique replica of Sam Smith's inflatable latex suit by HARRI from this year’s BRIT Awards are amongst the highlight objects in the show announced today.
Visitors will also see the revolutionary neon collection from Christopher Kane’s debut catwalk collection, the upcycled Union Jack jacket by Russell Sage that was worn by Kate Moss for Vogue, and a vast Molly Goddard blue ruffle dress that went viral on Instagram when worn by pop-superstar Rihanna.
These exuberant, rebellious and radical garments will all be brought together for REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion sponsored by Alexander McQueen which will feature nearly 100 innovative fashion looks from ground-breaking debut and early collections. Many of these creations have entered pop-culture history — and launched global design careers. These items will be shown alongside films, drawings, memorabilia and never-before-seen archive material from some of the most well-known contemporary UK-based designers.
Opening in September to coincide with London Fashion Week, this landmark exhibition will be one of the most wide-ranging surveys of contemporary British fashion culture ever staged in the UK. It will offer an unprecedented look at how careers in fashion are forged, and the multitude of opportunities London’s fashion scene offers young creatives.
At its heart, the exhibition tells the story of hundreds of fearless young designers, who have transformed the fashion landscape through their talent and brilliance. The Design Museum has worked directly with these designers to select some of the most important and groundbreaking pieces from their personal archives. Many of the items going on show have not been seen in public since their debut.
A major highlight of the show will be Marjan Pejoski’s ‘swan’ dress which was worn to the Oscars in 2001 by Icelandic singer Björk. The eye-catching item generated immediate shock, intrigue and global headlines, but it has since gone on to become one of the most well- known red-carpet looks in history. Pejoski was born in Macedonia and came to London to take a bachelor's degree at Central Saint Martins. The dress was first unveiled at Pejoski’s NEWGEN runway show in London for Autumn/Winter 2001 where it was spotted by the singer, who also wore it on the cover for her fourth studio album Vespertine. The now-iconic dress has only ever been on public display twice before — both times in New York — meaning that its display in REBEL marks the very first time it has been seen in Britain — and the city it was designed and created in — since it was first unveiled here 22 years ago.
Seven months on from the 2023 BRIT Awards, a unique replica of Sam Smith’s eye-catching red-carpet will go on public display for the first time.
Smith’s large, custom-made inflated latex suit made global headlines and was created by HARRI, the brand belonging to designer Harikrishnan Keezhathil Surendran Pillai.
The look was created for Smith in just five days ahead of the award ceremony, and this replica has been made especially for the exhibition.
The son of a latex farmer in Kerala, India, HARRI came to study menswear at London College of Fashion and set up his business in London in 2020 upon graduation. His latex creations are made on his father’s farm in India.
Steven Stokey Daley studied menswear in London at the University of Westminster and graduated in the Class of 2020 show.
Shortly after, his collection was worn by mega-star Harry Styles for the music video for “Golden.” Daley’s design was inspired by the uniforms of the boys at Harrow school, and offers his personal queer, working-class take on the style of the British public school system.
Visitors to the exhibition will see his original floral Oxford Bags trousers — tailored from upcycled curtains — alongside other items from the same collection which were made from fabric that was donated to fashion schools across the UK by Alexander McQueen.
While BFC NEWGEN draws from talent across the UK, as well the generations of international graduates who have started their businesses here, it is London that has always been the major inspiration and catalyst for the programme’s young designers. The exhibition offers an exploration on how the city’s unique fashion scene has incubated fashion talent, and how they used the capital to launch their success on the global stage. London has nurtured nearly all the NEWGEN designers since its inception, whether as the place they studied, first showed a collection, or established their network.
REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion is organised into sections that reflect many of the spaces which have been the creative catalyst for London’s young designers over the past three decades. These include ‘Art School’, which will show objects highlighting how London’s art education establishments have uniquely incubated individuality, and ‘Backstage Pass’, where visitors will get ‘VIP access’ to the spaces and moments that take place just before a catwalk show. They will see clothing, shoes, jewellery, headwear and makeup which together evoke the pre-catwalk buzz of a show.
REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion sponsored by Alexander McQueen opens at the Design Museum in London on 16 September 2023. Tickets are on sale from today
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?
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
Bolzano, Italy – 26 October 2026 – Durst will participate as Leading Sponsor at Viscom 2026, taking place on 28 and 29 October at Allianz MiCo Milan.
In the year marking its 90th anniversary, the South Tyrolean company returns to the leading event for the Italian visual communication market with a new format, a new location, and the Italian debut of a new printing technology.
Durst's presence at Viscom underscores the company's commitment to maintaining close dialogue with customers, prospects, and industry professionals.
Clay Cross – UK – July 2026 – Resolute highlights its new DTF Pneumatic Twin Platen Heat Press, a professional-grade heat press designed to help print shops increase output, improve consistency, and reduce downtime across high-volume production runs.
The machine's dual-platen design allows operators to prepare the next garment while the current one is being pressed, significantly reducing idle time and increasing throughput.
This makes it particularly well-suited to print shops running large direct-to-film (DTF) and transfer print operations, where speed and consistency are critical.
Pattern Room Launches New Pattern Room Experience, Making Online Design-to-Pattern Faster Than Ever
Victoria, Australia, 27/10/2026 – Pattern Room, the online pattern-making studio founded by Australian pattern maker Julia Watts, today announced the launch of its updated platform, introducing a new guided design pathway, an in-house sampling service, and an expanded catalogue of styles for apparel businesses worldwide.
The update is designed to make it faster and easier for designers, garment technicians, and manufacturers to move from concept to production-ready pattern, without the friction that has traditionally slowed the early stages of garment development.
Athens , Greece – 23 October 2026 – UFABRIK has extended its European distribution network into Greece with the appointment of TSEKMERES GS, an established supplier to the country's textile, screen and large-format digital printing industries.
The agreement brings UFABRIK's digital textile portfolio to a market where UV and Latex technologies remain dominant, but where dye-sublimation is emerging as a significant area of potential growth.
The partnership will focus on providing high-quality textiles for silicone edge graphics (SEG) applications, alongside a wider substrate offering for the Greek market.
São Paulo, Brazil – October 2026 – FESPA has announced that FESPA Brasil 2027 will take place from 1 – 4 March in the Blue and White Pavilions of Expo Center Norte, São Paulo.
The leading digital printing exhibition will bring together the sector's biggest global players to showcase the latest solutions across packaging, textiles, signage, and personalised products.
As one of the most visited exhibitions organised by FESPA, FESPA Brasil 2027 will give visitors access to complete solutions and technological innovations spanning print shops, packaging and labels, textile printing, personalised products, 3D printing, and signage and wide format, among other sectors
New York City, USA, October, 2026 – NedGraphics, a global leader in textile and apparel design software, today announced the official launch of NedGraphics 2027, a major software release designed to bring creativity, technology, and production closer together through a more connected and flexible digital ecosystem.
At the center of NedGraphics 2027 is OPTINEDCloud, a new cloud storage and asset management environment integrated across key NedGraphics applications.
OPTINEDCloud gives design, approval, and production teams a centralized space to store, organize, visualize, share, and manage product development files.
Mönchengladbach, Germany – Monforts will showcase its latest advances in finishing, coating and energy-efficient processing at India ITME 2026, as the region's textile manufacturers increasingly look beyond volume production towards higher-value fabrics.
The German finishing machinery specialist will exhibit in Greater Noida , India at stand A5 in Hall 1 from December 4-9.
Milan, Italy – October 22nd 2026 – Agfa Inkjet Solutions today announced it will present its award-winning Jeti Bronco H3300 HS live at Viscom Italia 2026, taking place 28–29 October at the Allianz MiCo Convention Center.
Visitors can see the hybrid wide-format printer in action at Stand 8 B17/C20, where Agfa will demonstrate its capabilities for sign and display businesses seeking greater productivity without compromising on image quality.
The 3.3-metre Bronco H3300 HS delivers print speeds of up to 450 m²/h while maintaining high image quality, combining the flexibility to handle both rigid and roll media in a single hybrid platform.
Berlin, Germany – 21 October 2026 – NVIDIA today announced that Europe's leading ecosystem partners are adopting the NVIDIA DSX™ AI Factory Platform to build AI factories that minimise water consumption for cooling and use less power for the same AI output.
The platform also helps partners bring new capacity online faster and adapt workload power consumption to support grid reliability.
NVIDIA DSX is a full-stack AI factory reference architecture, co-innovated with the world's leading infrastructure companies, in which compute, networking, storage, software, power and cooling are codesigned as one system.
East Sussex, UK – October 2026 – Vivid Laminating Technologies has announced that Pureprint Group, a leading print and marketing services business, has selected its multi award-winning Veloblade technology for use across its operations.
The decision underscores a shared commitment to innovation and efficiency within the print industry.
Imst – Ostreich – October 2026 – DyStar, a global leader in textile chemistry and innovative solutions, has announced its pivotal role in helping Textildruck Imst (TDI) achieve successful certification of the German "Multitarn" camouflage print.
The achievement, reached within a matter of months despite an ambitious timeline and exceptionally stringent requirements, enabled production to commence on schedule as part of a strategic collaboration with Getzner Textil.
The certification process demanded rigorous standards across colour performance, durability, infrared signature, and safety compliance.
From the outset, DyStar supported TDI by supplying the necessary products, technical expertise, and hands-on application support required to meet these demanding benchmarks.
Milan, Italy – October 2026– Epson will present its latest advancements in signage, UV printing and textile customisation at VISCOM 2026, taking place at Allianz MiCo Milan on 28-29 October.
Visitors can find Epson at Gate 3, Stand G14, where the company's specialists will demonstrate how its newest technologies are helping businesses expand into high-value applications through superior print quality and precise colour management.
As visual communication and personalisation markets continue to evolve at pace, Epson is positioning itself at the forefront of that change.
Leicester, UK – October 2026 – VeriVide is an official RAL Distributor in the United Kingdom, giving UK designers, specifiers and manufacturers direct access to the complete range of RAL colour standard products.
The appointment reinforces VeriVide's commitment to supporting the architecture, interior design, and industrial design sectors with reliable, globally recognised tools for accurate colour communication.
South Normanton – UK – October 2026 – Sun Chemical, a global leader in printing inks, coatings, and pigments, today reinforced the importance of looking beyond colour when selecting dyes for printing inks, urging formulators and manufacturers to weigh performance data alongside colour accuracy to achieve reliable, long-lasting results.
While colour remains a defining factor in dye selection, Sun Chemical emphasises that performance properties are equally critical to a dye's overall suitability for an application.
These include lightfastness, which is shaped by dye concentration, binder composition, substrate, and testing conditions; resistance properties, such as bleed resistance and over-lacquering resistance; and migration behaviour, which can vary depending on the substrate, coating, and storage conditions.
United Kingdom – October 2026 – Textile Skills Centre has announced a new Design to Print Competition in partnership with Prinfab, the UK's leading digital fabric printer.
The competition invites UK schoolchildren aged 5 to 18 to submit original textile designs or artwork for the chance to see their work professionally printed onto fabric.
The initiative aims to give young designers a tangible, industry-standard outcome for their creative work, while introducing them to the practical realities of textile design and digital printing.
Telford, UK – October 2026 – Ricoh UK has announced the return of Print Evolution Live, its flagship industry event, for a fourth consecutive year.
Taking place on 10-11 November 2026 at Ricoh's Telford site, the event will once again bring together leaders from across the print sector to explore the strategic shifts shaping the industry's future.
Karachi – Pakistan – October 2026 – ZIMMER AUSTRIA successfully concluded its participation at IGATEX PAKISTAN 2026, one of the region's leading exhibitions for textile and garment technology.
The event highlighted a growing shift among Pakistani manufacturers toward high-value technical textile production, a trend that aligns closely with ZIMMER AUSTRIA's innovative solutions.
Throughout the exhibition, ZIMMER AUSTRIA demonstrated the capabilities of its #magnoroll and #colaris technologies, both designed to support manufacturers moving into advanced technical textile segments, including coating, printing, and specialty fabric production.
Southend – Essex – October 2026 – Vivid Laminating Technologies Ltd has announced the successful installation of its multi award-winning VeloBlade Nexus cutting system at Guardian Exhibition and Display, a leading name in the exhibition and display industry.
The installation, completed last week, equips Guardian Display with one of the most advanced cutting solutions available, reinforcing the sector's ongoing shift towards greater automation and precision.
Uxbridge, UK – October 2026 – Perfect Colours will host a Celebration in Colour event on Thursday 5 November at the Xerox UK IC Centre in Uxbridge, giving attendees a first-hand look at the new Proficio colour presses in action.
The event will showcase the capabilities of the Proficio range, with live demonstrations featuring a striking collection of fluorescent colours designed to push the boundaries of what print professionals can achieve with colour technology.
Goor – Netherlands – October 2026 – ColGraphix, a company at the forefront of innovation in the transfer paper industry, today announced the appointment of Gijsbert Harmsen as its new Senior Account Manager.
Harmsen brings with him a wealth of industry expertise and an extensive professional network, strengthening ColGraphix's position as it continues to lead the market into a more sustainable and efficient future.