Leeds Arts University Honoured by Heimtextil Award
Frankfurt November 2018 : Four European design academies have been announced as the winners of the ‘New & Next University Contest’ ahead of Heimtextil.
The successful academies come from the UK, Switzerland, Slovakia and Hungary. In recognition of their excellent achievements, they will be given a trade fair stand at Heimtextil (8-11 January 2019) where they will present their design works to an international audience.
With the ‘New & Next University Contest’ for budding textile designers, which is taking place for the first time, Messe Frankfurt is promoting the next generation and putting outstanding higher education institutions in the spotlight of the international trade fair. An expert jury initially chose the best student works out of 21 submissions in the field of textile design.
The four universities who showed the strongest overall performance were then identified. The following academies were declared the winners of the competition: Leeds Arts University from the UK, Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst from Switzerland, Academy of Fine Arts and Design from Slovakia and Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design from Hungary.
As a reward for their outstanding work, the universities and their students can look forward to the prize of a stand at the upcoming Heimtextil. The academies will present their student designs as part of the product segment ‘Textile Design’ in hall 3.0. ‘We’re expecting first-rate work that will attract great interest from industry representatives’, predicts Sabine Scharrer, Director of Heimtextil at Messe Frankfurt. ‘With this, the four university presentations will be a fantastic addition to the “Textile Design” product segment, which is the world’s biggest platform of its kind with around 250 studios’.
‘Light Shadows’ by Kim Hoang Pham from the Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst is one of the winning designs of the Heimtextil ‘New & Next University Contest’.
The jury comprised representatives from industry as well as associations and universities. Jury members included Hervé Francois from Mitwill Textiles Europe in France, Diane Harrison from the UK-based design studio of the same name, Lutz Walter from the European general association EURATEX and Prof. Tina Moor from the Hochschule Luzern Design & Kunst.
Emmerich am Rhein, Nordrhein-Westfalen – August 2026 – Brother Industrial EMEA has announced the launch of a new white ink formula for its entire GTX series of textile printers.
Developed in response to evolving EU requirements, the new formulation meets the latest environmental and chemical standards while preserving the print quality and performance the brand is known for.
The new white ink reflects Brother's ongoing commitment to more sustainable textile production.
Clay Cross – Derbyshire – August 2026 – Resolute DTF has announced that free waste ink disposal is available to every printer customer as a core component of its service package.
The offering is designed to remove the administrative, legal, and financial burden of hazardous waste compliance from print shops across the UK, regardless of the machine model they operate or the volume they produce.
Danver Ma – August 2026 – Inkcups, a leading innovator in inkjet printing technology, has announced its participation in PRINTING United 2026, where it will showcase the Helix High Throw cylindrical UV printer.
The award-winning machine will be live on the show floor, printing on stemless wine tumblers and bowls throughout the event.
Attendees will have the opportunity to see the Helix High Throw in action across a wide range of applications, including handled drinkware, wide-diameter pieces such as mini kegs, plant pots, and more.
Coalville – Leicestershire – August 2026 – Innotech, one of the UK's leading independent media suppliers, has announced a new strategic partnership with China Print Supplies UK Ltd.
The collaboration will see China Print Supplies UK Ltd showcase a curated selection of Innotech materials at The Print Show, with an exclusive promotional offer available to attendees.
Shawnee, KS – August , 2026 – Nazdar Ink Technologies today announced the appointment of Edward (Ed) Baiden as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective 8th September 2026.
The appointment marks a significant milestone for Nazdar as the company builds on its century-long legacy and charts a course for its next chapter of growth and innovation across the global printing industry.
From September 23 – 25, at PRINTING United 2026 (Las Vegas Convention Center), Kongsberg and MultiCam will showcase how connected production workflows enhance precision, productivity, and scalability across print, display, packaging and signage applications.
Bacup – Lancashire-August 2026 – Super Wide-Digital, a family-run trade digital print company based in the North West of England, has confirmed its participation in The Print Show 2026.
The company will exhibit at stand P440, positioned at the heart of Hall 1 at the NEC, marking a significant step in its ongoing commitment to connecting with trade and creative professionals across the industry
London, UK – 20 August 2026 – AVA CAD/CAM, a leading provider of design software and solutions for the textile and fashion industry, has announced its highly anticipated Top 10 to Watch 2026 list, recognising ten outstanding graduating textile designers from universities across the United Kingdom.
The announcement follows AVA's attendance at New Designers, the annual exhibition showcasing the UK's most promising creative graduates
Roland DG South Africa has announced it will launch the new TrueVis VG4-540 and VG4-640 eco-solvent print and cut devices at the FESPA Africa and Sign Africa Expo.
The event is taking place from 8-10 September 2026, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, at Gallagher Convention Centre.
Altrincham – Cheshire – August 2926 – Friedmans Ltd, a UK-based textile manufacturer and digital printing specialist, has announced the expansion of its wholesale stretch fabric and digital printing services, offering designers, brands, and businesses an accessible route to fully customised fabric solutions with low minimum order quantities and fast turnaround times.
Frankfurt, Germany – August 2026 – Heimtextil, one of the world's leading trade fairs for home and contract textiles, has announced its return to Messe Frankfurt GmbH from 12 to 15 January 2027.
The event will once again transform its iconic home base into a showcase of the finest in woven, stitched, and draped textiles, reaffirming its position as the definitive gathering point for the global textile industry.
Rooted in the philosophy that everything starts at home, Heimtextil's return to Messe Frankfurt is a celebration of origins — both for the fair itself and for the broader world of interior textiles.
Derby – Derbyshire – UK – August 2026 – Vivid Laminating Technologies Ltd is pleased to announce that EBI Creative Print (Easibind International Ltd) has acquired not one, but two Veloblade Nexus cutting systems, reinforcing its position as one of the UK's most comprehensively equipped print facilities.
The purchase was made in partnership with Soyang Europe.
Goyang-si, South Korea – August 2026 – BARBIERI electronics, a leading innovator in colour measurement solutions, is set to exhibit at K-Print Korea, where the company will demonstrate its flagship Spectro LFP qb spectrophotometer at Booth L502.
Cape Town – South Africa – August 2026 – NUtec Digital Ink has announced that its Quartz Q50-HYB UV-curable hybrid ink has been awarded GREENGUARD Gold Certification and is now listed in the UL Spot database.
The certification marks a significant milestone in the company's ongoing commitment to developing high-performance ink solutions that meet the highest standards for environmental responsibility.
Tirana, Albania – August 2026 – Kridia ArtPrinting Solutions, an Albanian print and interior décor specialist, has announced its adoption of Roland DG's Dimense textured printing technology, positioning the company as the only provider of locally produced, custom embossed wallpaper in Albania.
By integrating the Dimense DA-640, the Dimense Module, and Roland DG Connect Designer into its production workflow, Kridia has significantly improved design efficiency, creative output, and turnaround times across its interior décor projects.
Echbolsheim – France – August 2026 – Caldera has announced that its Direct-to-Film software now supports the Brother DTRX100, one of the most advanced integrated direct-to-film (DTF) production systems available on the market today.
The development extends Caldera's growing portfolio of compatible DTF devices, offering print professionals greater flexibility in their choice of production hardware.
The Brother DTRX100 is a 32-inch roll-to-roll DTF printer engineered for high-volume, continuous production environments.
Rock Hill - SC – August 17, 2026 – SDL Atlas, a global leader in textile testing instruments, has announced the launch of the Vortex Elite, the most advanced instrument in its trusted Vortex series of AATCC Monograph wash testing equipment.
Building on the proven performance of the Vortex M6 and Vortex Plus, the Vortex Elite delivers high-precision, automatic dispensing of multiple liquid components, setting a new benchmark for accuracy, repeatability, and efficiency in textile wash testing.
Birmingham, UK – August 2026 – Epson has announced its participation in The Print Show and The Sign Show 2026, taking place from 29 September to 1 October at the NEC Birmingham.
Visitors to the Epson stand will have the opportunity to explore the company's latest professional printing technologies through live demonstrations, gaining direct insight into how UV, Direct-to-Film (DTF), dye-sublimation and signage solutions can unlock new revenue streams and support business growth.
Raleigh – NC – Aigust 2026 - North Carolina State University has been chosen to lead a 10-year Department of War initiative aimed at modernizing textile manufacturing in the United States to support the defense industry.
The FutureTEX award – which includes $36 million in its first year and has a ceiling of $480 million over a decade – brings together industry, government, university and nonprofit partners to advance manufacturing technologies of textiles for military and domestic applications.
London, UK – August 2026 – UK-based sign and graphics specialist Signs Express has successfully delivered a striking retail installation for the England World Cup Fanatics Shop Experience on London's iconic Carnaby Street, using a range of printable media and laminates from global adhesive media manufacturer Drytac.
Reken – Germany – August 2026 – FabricVision GmbH, a textile and fabric solutions company, has announced a significant operational milestone, marking nearly one year of intensive infrastructure development with the installation of a sign outside its warehouse facility.
While the sign itself may appear modest, it represents the culmination of a year defined by substantial investment and operational transformation
Mexico City, Mexico – August 2026 – HP Graphic Arts has announced its participation in FESPA Mexico 2026, taking place from 10–12 September at Centro Banamex, Mexico City.
The HP Large Format team will be on-site to present its latest advancements in HP Latex and HP DesignJet technologies, offering print professionals a firsthand look at the future of large format printing.
FESPA Mexico is one of Latin America's foremost events for the print and visual communications industry, drawing together professionals, partners, and businesses seeking to stay ahead of an increasingly competitive market
Bracknel – Berkshire - August 2026 – UFABRIK, a leader in high-performance textile solutions, today highlights one of its latest innovation: the UFabrik Opaque Textile ECO.
Engineered for retail, events, exhibitions, banners, and soft signage applications, this groundbreaking blockout textile sets a new standard for sustainable, high-quality print media.
The UFabrik Opaque Textile ECO has been developed to deliver ultimate colour reproduction with both UV and Latex inks.
SOUTH NORMANTON, UK – August 2026 – Sun Chemical, a leading producer of printing inks, coatings, and supplies, has announced its participation in the 27th International Advertising Industry and Digital Printing Technologies Exhibition, SIGN İstanbul.
The company will exhibit at Hall 5, Booth 5C09, where it will present its latest innovations across textile printing, graphics, and packaging solutions to industry professionals from across the region.
Soyang Europe has strengthened its hardware team with the appointments of Andy Webb as Commercial Director and Ian Windebank as Wide-Format Print Specialist.
Both join Soyang with immediate effect, bringing decades of combined experience across print technology, hardware sales, customer support and the wider print industry.
Milano, Italy – August 2026 – Viscom Italia, the leading international trade fair for visual communication and the sign industry, has announced that Hyper Personalisation 2.0 will be a defining theme at its upcoming 2026 edition.
The event will take place on 28th and 29th October at Allianz MiCo Milano, bringing together industry professionals to explore the technologies and trends reshaping the future of print and visual communications.
Hyper Personalisation 2.0 marks a significant evolution in how the printing industry approaches customer engagement
Liverpool – UK – August 2026 – Hobs Repro, the UK's largest independent print network, has selected Razar, produced by Vivid Laminating Technologies Ltd, as part of its continued commitment to innovation and industry-leading service delivery.
The partnership marks a significant milestone for both organisations, bringing together two of the print industry's most forward-thinking names.
El Reno, Oklahoma – August 2026 – Trans-Tech, LLC, an AAR-M-1003 compliant railroad graphics manufacturer and the largest user of premium vinyl in the Southwest, has built its reputation on a straightforward promise: same-day railcar markings, every day.
Powered by a floor of over 20 Summa roll cutters, the El Reno-based company has upheld that standard for two decades, keeping North America's railcars compliant and on the move.
Hanover, Germany – August, 2026 – ColorGATE has announced its participation in the DIPA Workshop – Digital Manufacturing Toolbox, taking place on 15 September 2026 at Kursaal Stuttgart.
The half-day workshop, running from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, will bring together leading experts from across the digital manufacturing value chain ahead of Surface in Motion 2026.
Faversham – Kent - August 2026 – Prinfab, a UK-based print-on-demand textile company, has revealed how the industrial Monna Lisa ML-8000 printer sits at the heart of its high-quality, fast-turnaround production model.
By leveraging one of the textile industry's most advanced digital printing systems, Prinfab is removing the barriers that have long prevented independent designers and entrepreneurs from accessing commercial-grade fabric printing.
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.
