Theme: digital textile

THEME: DIGITAL TEXTILE

Abstract. This thesis examines the rising focus on digital textile printing in the home décor industry. The current textile market is dominated by roto-gravure and screen printing, making small, customized orders impossible. Industry analysts are predicting increases in digital printing because of customers’ increasing demands for a wider selection of products, as well more customized products. This changing desire is termed “mass customization” and is the lens through which the research is conducted. Three digital textile printers were interviewed to find out: 1) what is the current market for digitally printed textiles? 2) what is the workflow for a typical customized digital textile? 3) what are the future predictions for the market of customized digital textiles? Company A is an industry leader that offers customized workflow and production processes depending upon the customers’ final needs. Company B is a smallsized service provider, which is dedicated to providing whatever service or product the customer may desire. Company C is a small-sized printer that is currently in the process of leaving the digital textile industry after trying to offer mass customization through an online store. The findings show that sample printing is still a huge market for digital, while companies are slowly increasing their one-to-one custom textile sales. However, none of the companies have truly brought mass customization to digital textile printing. The material costs are still too high (ink, fabric) and there are too many variables involved to lend digital textile printing to the standardization of mass customization.