Digital printing in unconventional knitwear design

Abstract

With the support of computer-aided design (CAD) programmes and advanced printing devices, digital printing in textiles and clothing allows for precise reproduction of imagery without colour limitations. The digital printing trend in fashion is entering a new era. 'Engineered prints' have become prevalent and provide a new direction to print design. The emergent digital printing trend has led to a breakthrough in knitwear design. Simultaneously, the knitwear design trend has become more diverse. Innovative knitwear designs with drapes or asymmetric cuts bring challenges in both knitting and digital printing. It is a great challenge to apply digital printing to knitwear with unorthodox designs to respond to the growing trend of printing in fashion. There remains no comprehensive research on the application of digital printing in unconventional knitwear design. Such application in seamless knitwear with three-dimensional (3D) surfaces or irregular silhouettes is unprecedented in the current market and shows great potential for future development. A series of design and technology research was conducted to investigate the design and production process of digital printing in unconventional knitwear design. The specific objectives were 1) to review the evolution of digital printing and printing trends in fashion, 2) to study the development of digital printing in knitwear and advanced knitting technology in the fashion-forward knitwear industry, 3) to identify unconventional knitwear in terms of garment structures and methods of production, 4) to experiment and develop a new approach to apply digital printing to structurally engineered knitwear, and 5) to create a series of prototypes and multi-category design process models based on research findings and experiments. This study was practice-based and consisted of knowledge research, theoretical framework development, in-depth interviews, preliminary tests, design projects, and evaluations. The design projects were categorised into - 1) the study of digital printing on seamless knitwear with atypical designs and 2) the study of digital printing on engineered-design knitwear. The holistic design and production process of each design project were recorded and analysed. Interactions between designers and technicians in different domains were emphasised and contributed to the design process models. Artefacts created in the design projects were related to educational, artistic, and commercial design applications.