Textile Printing Meets Couture at Epson Digital Couture

While many of the crowds in New York City blend into a bundled sea black coats, a fraction of the city’s most fashionable prepare their most elaborate outfits to attend designer showcases and runway shows during Fashion Week. In celebration of couture’s capabilities in digital printing, Epson hosted their third annual Epson Digital Couture event in New York City at Pier 17 on February 6, inviting designers from across North and South America to share their collections with the world.

The Epson Digital Couture Project featured thirteen collections created by designers using Epson’s state-of-the-art dye-sublimation printing. The goal of this ambitious multi-tier collaboration between fashion and print showcased how Epson’s dye sublimation printing technology impacts design and expedites workflows.

Keith Kratzberg, President and CEO of Epson America introduced guests and shared a staggering statistic, setting context for the night’s purpose: 25% of textile production is digital. Designers both in-house at affordable mid-range clothing stores to the most prestigious labels are captivated by what this means for the future of fashion and Epson is at the forefront as a leader for what is possible.

Following Kratzberg’s introduction, the Digital Couture Event kicked off with a Fashion and Technology forum where experts in the fashion industry discussed social media, the significance of print technology, and what it means for sustainability.

The forum was lead by Anthony Cenname, Publisher of WSJ Magazine, and the panel included Mark Sunderland, Director of Global Fashion Enterprise at Thomas Jefferson University; Ryan Korban, Interior Designer; Aliza Licht, Executive Vice President, Brand Marketing and Communications for Alice + Olivia; and Anna Fusoni, Fashion Analyst and Critic.

While sustainability was a significant topic of conversation in the discussion, Fusoni pointed out that many in the industry are still catching on to the draw of digital printers and their conservation of resources.
Fusoni continued, “[For] sustainability, if you’re going to save water and electricity, anything that doesn’t draw from what the earth needs is good, but it has to be sold that way, don’t you think? You have to sort of put out the gospel that all this printing is sustainable and explain what things are made of, and how everything is much more efficient [with this technology.]”

Design Unlimited

One of the people sharing that gospel is Candice Cuoco, a designer invited to share her collection at Epson’s Digital Couture Event from Los Angeles. Cuoco began her career in fashion attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. Her designs, inspired by the convergence between the feminine and the fierce, earned her massive success and lead to her showing at New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles Fashion Weeks.
“Using this technology allowed me to bring designs to life in real-time. It is incredible what’s is capable and I think you’ll really gain an understanding for that seeing the showcase up close,” Cuoco said.

Regan Marriner, a Master’s student in Textile Design and designer invited to premier her collection using Epson technology, raved about the possibilities her work was empowered by using dye-sublimation printing. “By using the Epson dye-sublimation printer, we were able to produce all our fabrics on our campus. We were able to do testing with strike-offs and reprints within minutes. This really helped with our production time, efficiency and volume,” said Marriner. “I look forward to seeing more duality in function and purpose in fashion as Digital Couture technology becomes mainstream,” Marriner added.

What’s Next

In cohesion with their Digital Couture Event, Epson also introduced a new microsite – “Epson Brings Technology & Fashion Together” – dedicated to connecting digital fabric printing technology and solutions to fashion designers and entrepreneurs.

The new site provides fashion designers with an informative digital fabric printing destination, offering solution-based guidance for a range of digital fabric printing applications including, dye-sublimation, direct-to-garment, and direct-to-fabric printing on a variety of fabrics.

“Digital printing technology has changed every industry it’s touched, and now it’s revolutionizing the fashion industry by offering fashion designers amazing new ways to produce their designs on a range of fabrics,” said Mark Radogna, Strategic Marketing, Epson America, Inc. “The digital fabric printing market is evolving quickly, and as the leader in this innovative new product segment, Epson is taking the lead to help educate fashion designers about the benefits of this emerging technology.”