Print new focus in knitwear fashion

Knitwear emerges as a new print medium with a digitally printed garment entered by AUT University student Alysha Gover into this year’s New Zealand Pride In Print Awards.

AUT’s Textile and Design Lab Manager, Peter Heslop says Japan-based Shima Seiki developed a flat bed digital printer to allow designs converted by software to be translated into a pattern for printing onto garments using reactive dye.

“[Shima Seiki] introduced their range of digital printers as a means by which their clients could apply designs to items of knitwear that couldn't be done by the conventional method of knitting various colours of yarn into the piece,” he said.

According to Pride in Print statement, the processes involved are the pre-treatment of the garment or panel, printing using reactive dye so not to compromise the fibres, fixation of the dye using steam and finally a wet finish to remove both the pre-treatment and any residual dye.

Pictured: Alysha Gover with her printed knitwear design


"The range of printed 100% merino wool knitwear that our student Alysha Gover designed was the result of a summer research project she undertook to determine how printed knitwear would be perceived by local designers. She won the “Ensign Award of Excellence” at the Hokonui Design Awards last year for her digitally-printed knitwear,” said Heslop.

He says several machines developed by Shima Seiki have been sold to knitwear companies in Italy, Japan and the US, to create high-value designer knitwear.