From digital printing onto sequin embellished kaftans to photographs laser projected onto boardshorts, apparel fabrics used in Australia and the innovative machinery that help create them are rapidly evolving. Australian fashion designer Camilla Franks, who launched her womenswear label seven years ago, has a luxury ready-to-wear line which features silks and embellished beaded items, and a separate, more casual summer diffusion line called Beach House.
“If you have tunnel vision in this industry you will never grow, which is why it is so important to keep moving with the changes,” Franks begins. “The sky is the limit with technology and it has to be a necessity in the fashion world.”
Franks stressed the importance of new apparel machinery, but says as soon as you begin using the latest innovation, something newer pops up.
“I go to so many trade fairs and there is always something new – I am constantly learning about different products and techniques,” Franks says.
“I love, for example, that I can take a photo of something on my travels, upload it onto my computer and that can then be printed onto fabric – the options are endless.”
Franks, who says she recently developed a babushka dolls print after randomly taking a photo of the dolls while overseas, is currently focusing on digital printing onto sequins.
She said although this option is widely available, up until now she had not found the right sort of machinery that could do the job while keeping the free flow of her garments.
“I didn’t like how it looked and felt before, and it’s important to me to maintain the flow of the material,” Franks added. “But now I have got the right machinery that will allow me to do this.”
Stella & Minx.
Franks, who will now spend time in her factory in India to work with the new technique, said she also still relies heavily on traditional methods used on her fabrics and fibres.
Hand beading, embroidery, painting and budla - a technique which involves wrapping fine pieces of metal such as silver or gold around each tiny hole in a mesh garment - are techniques also used at her factory which do not involve machines.
“There is such fine craftsmanship in India, and I like my clothing to have that hand-crafted feel, that’s not quite perfect – something a machine cannot replicate,” Franks explains. “It would be such a shame if machines ever took over from these things – such as in China, where the products are all same, same, same.”
Franks explained how one of her garments was crafted with small bits of silver and gold, similar to chain mail armour, using the budla technique and it took 20 months to create.
She also says it is not just the fabrics, fibres and production machines that are evolving, but all things production-related – including the washing machine systems that are used in factories.
Mister Zimi & founder Zoe Paul (above right).
Before possibly launching in the mass market, Franks is about to start trialling ‘techno-fabrics’.
As the price of some materials, such as silk, rises, Franks explains how more designers are now experimenting with these replica materials, which have the same look and feel, but are not authentic.
“I love my real silks but as the price of it goes up, and particularly with the USA being such a competitive market, more people are trying these modern techno-fabrics,” Franks says.
“It’s impacting the industry in a huge way – but it’s something I’m just exploring at this stage.”
Marketing and product development designer for Eclipse Textiles, Vanessa Kirk, says she is still amazed by some of the latest fabric and fibre innovations and updates in technology that are emerging in the apparel world.
Kirk explains how the quality and performance of holographic and foil film coatings in holograms is improving greatly, more clients are asking for eco-friendly fabrics, the knitting markets are evolving to embrace new fabrications and styles, and performance features in yarns are now becoming permanent.
“Designers are always looking for something new with a point of difference and an edge,” Kirk begins. “All technology nowadays evolves so quickly - any industry needs to keep up with new innovations and technology as it is now expected, not a given.”
Kirk says the main future technological advancement she has heard about recently is that digital printing is becoming extremely fast. She says currently it is slow, which makes it expensive, but if this speeds up the traditional screen printing could diminish.
Kirk says now new elastane and fibre types can give any garment performance features, which is now expected by the end consumer, and that old boundaries are now crossed from a print design point of view due to digital printing technology.
“Anti-microbial fabrics traditionally used to only be available as a finish, which washed out after approximately 20 washes. Now you can get fabric which has this feature permanently embedded into the yarn itself,” Kirk says. “Also, due to nanotechnology you can now access fabrics made from corn and even milk, which still amazes me.”
Design director and fabric technologist from lingerie and swimwear company Eveden Australia, Ruth Fox, says the desire for softer handle fabrics and garment performance is really driving the advancements in machinery.
Eveden offers fashion-conscious lingerie and bra-sized swimwear, which is stocked with more than 5,000 retailers, including national and independent stores, as well as online across the globe.
Melbourne-based Fox says the homogeneous fabric surface, compactness and the dense mesh structure in some of the apparel can only be achieved through superfine knit and that the wearing of these garments is like a second skin – which is possible thanks to fabric and machinery innovations.
“New technology is able to support a quicker turnaround on developments and offer greater flexibility to drive and experiment with new innovation,” Fox explains. “There is a desire for softer handle fabrics, improved modulus and garment performance and new fibres - and advancements in machinery is driving this.”
Supplying 100 per cent Australian made and owned fabric to a local and overseas customer base, Standardknit aims to combine the latest technology with ongoing research and development to provide innovative products.
National sales manager Graham Taylor has had 35 years experience in the textile industry and says new technology comes with a development cost and there are a lot of ‘price sensitivities’ in the soft retail environment that they have been experiencing.
“With cost and sell price a major factor in fabric decision making, many new developments can be shelved as they are cost-prohibitive in the current difficult retail market,” Taylor begins. “The basics of knitting haven’t changed dramatically in 60 years, but what has changed is the flexibility of the machines to produce a large variety of different fabrics and looks.
“There is no best method; rather it is a case of delivering what the market wants to meet the changing trends.”
Standardknit, which offers plain dyed light to medium weight knits in cotton, rayon, polyester blends among other variations, plans on investing in new knitting technology with commissioning of the machines due early in 2012.
The new equipment will be aimed at fashion orientated fabric options, designed to broaden the company’s range capability in the market.
“Designers and retailers will always push the boundaries and we are constantly modifying our machinery to develop new fabrics to meet the new season fashion trends,” Taylor added.
Founder and creative director of Mister Zimi, Zoe Paul, steers away from innovative machinery when it comes to her fabric and fibres and says technology is not the only way to get ahead in the fashion industry.
Her brand specialises in hand dyed fabrics and soft leathers with a feminine style and she only uses traditional methods for all fabric production – with the help from Balinese locals.
“We screen print everything, which is done by creating a screen for each layer or colour of the fabric, it is all dyed by hand and then sun-dried - therefore in rain season, as it is now, it can be a struggle,” Paul explains.
At Mister Zimi, they design all their own fabrics and Paul’s husband Jimi puts the graphics together on the computer. These are then turned into screens for the printing process and Paul’s artist friend then paints the fabrics.
“A lot of designers use laser printing, which is a quicker process which involves basically printing a picture onto fabric,” Paul begins. “It’s a more precise way of doing things, however Mister Zimi is all hand-made from the start to the finish of each product. That is why I wanted to have all the screen printing done by hand - it creates a unique painted effect.”
Paul says the customers love the fact that all their fabrics are individual and different, as opposed to being mass-produced by machines.
Chief executive officer of the New Zealand established company Moontide, Robert Bright, who has been with the brand for 32 years, says they use the latest garment technology to create their swimwear, but agrees that old technology is still relevant.
Bright says the onset of digital printing has opened up doors for swimwear manufactures to develop more complex and detailed prints in their garments.
“Over the past few years swimwear has become finer and lighter due to the use of micro yarns, as the thickness of the yarns has got thinner, then the fabrics have got softer and more drapeable without losing strength,” Bright says.
“Increases in technology have meant the elastanes in swimwear keep their strength and shape much longer and problems from mildew etc are greatly reduced.”
He says more and more mills and fabric technologists are working with polyester yarns to create new swimwear fabrics, as staple swimwear materiel nylon, which is a bi-product of oil, has grown more expensive.
“The result is if the oil price continues to rise, then I think we will see more and more polyester-based clothes being used in swimwear,” Bright added.
As well as the fabric advancements, thanks to new innovations in technology, Bright says that some of the old fabrics like ‘seersuckers’ are coming back and that many of the old machines have been brought back into work.
“Many of the old school swimwear manufacturers still argue that despite all of the current trends and micro-fibre mixes available on the market, nothing still beats the old 80/20 combination,” Bright says.