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GLOBAL INVESTOR 1.16 — 09<br />
SUSTAINABILITY<br />
PRINT THAT!<br />
Forget polka dots,<br />
stripes and rows<br />
of leaves. The new<br />
digitally printed<br />
fabric patterns are<br />
more like, well, artwork.<br />
Invented in the<br />
1980s, digital printing<br />
lays down an entire<br />
image on a piece of<br />
fabric in much the<br />
way a printer transfers<br />
an image to a<br />
piece of paper. Some<br />
designers use urban<br />
images they’ve taken<br />
with their iPhones.<br />
The technique is both<br />
more sustainable (it<br />
uses less water) and<br />
less labor-intensive<br />
than traditional screen<br />
printing. Digitally<br />
printed fashions have<br />
only recently become<br />
a fixture of the<br />
runway, but they have<br />
contributed to a new<br />
enthusiasm for prints.<br />
Among the pioneers<br />
are the late Alexander<br />
McQueen, whose<br />
Plato’s Atlantis collection<br />
of scaled- serpent<br />
prints caused a stir<br />
in 2010, Mary Katrantzou’s<br />
“hyper- real”<br />
prints and pioneering<br />
Bruno Basso and<br />
Christopher Brooke’s<br />
bold styles.<br />
✖<br />
FOR MORE ON<br />
SUSTAINABILITY, GO<br />
TO PAGES 38 AND 41
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