This year our focus is to test as many new fabrics as we can find and get to know fabric mills worldwide. Through our exploration, we came across our new fabric base which has won our hearts.
Say Hello to our latest addition to the fabric family, Poppy! This fabric has a soft handle, a lovely texture when washed (you probably won’t even want to iron it!), brilliant colour reproduction and most important of all, colour fastness. We simply couldn’t resist introducing this glorious fabric to our range.
Keep on reading to find out more about our brand-new natural fabric print base and get inspired for your next project!
Fabric design: Sunday Drive to the Coast – Sue Michael
Printed Poppy fabric. You can print your own artwork online or select a unique design from Australian artists and designers in our Fabric Shop!
Fabric design: Checkered Lavender – Britney Munday
Fabric design: Sunflower Fields – Andrea Maurer
Poppy is a luscious 100% Organic Cotton fabric woven in fine sateen weave with a slight sheen. It has beautiful colour reproduction when printed due to its bright white base and washes well keeping the print lovely and bright. Even though this fabric washes well, the pigment inks are one of the most fragile inks on the market and require special care. For the best results, we recommend washing the fabric gently by hand with cold water or a cold, gentle machine wash with phosphate free detergent.
Unprinted Poppy fabric
Left side: colour chart before wash. Right side: colours and shrinkage after wash.
It’s a wonderfully versatile, easy to sew fabric with a maximum printable width of 145cm. It has a weight of 140 GSM making it a perfect lightweight print base for fashion garments and accessories such as skirts, dresses, pants, shirts, bandanas and hair scarves. It would also be suitable for some homewares such as table linen, pillowcases or even a sweet wedding banner!
Image source: Rachel Antonoff
Image source: Poppy and Honesty via Etsy
Sample swatches of Poppy are available through our Sample Pack Order Form in our ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘For the Little Ones’ and ‘Super Pack’ sample packs on the website. Contact us to find out if this fabric is a suitable option for your next textile project!!
Fabric design: Sunset Poppy – Jenni Rogers
Fabrics design: Snakes in Leaves Peachy Pink – Dominique Collins
Samples of Poppy fabric can be ordered online
This year our focus is to test as many new fabrics as we can find and get to know fabric mills worldwide. Through our exploration, we came across our new fabric base which has won our hearts.
Say Hello to our latest addition to the fabric family, Poppy! This fabric has a soft handle, a lovely texture when washed (you probably won’t even want to iron it!), brilliant colour reproduction and most important of all, colour fastness. We simply couldn’t resist introducing this glorious fabric to our range.
Keep on reading to find out more about our brand-new natural fabric print base and get inspired for your next project!
Fabric design: Sunday Drive to the Coast – Sue Michael
Printed Poppy fabric. You can print your own artwork online or select a unique design from Australian artists and designers in our Fabric Shop!
Fabric design: Checkered Lavender – Britney Munday
Fabric design: Sunflower Fields – Andrea Maurer
Poppy is a luscious 100% Organic Cotton fabric woven in fine sateen weave with a slight sheen. It has beautiful colour reproduction when printed due to its bright white base and washes well keeping the print lovely and bright. Even though this fabric washes well, the pigment inks are one of the most fragile inks on the market and require special care. For the best results, we recommend washing the fabric gently by hand with cold water or a cold, gentle machine wash with phosphate free detergent.
Unprinted Poppy fabric
Left side: colour chart before wash. Right side: colours and shrinkage after wash.
It’s a wonderfully versatile, easy to sew fabric with a maximum printable width of 145cm. It has a weight of 140 GSM making it a perfect lightweight print base for fashion garments and accessories such as skirts, dresses, pants, shirts, bandanas and hair scarves. It would also be suitable for some homewares such as table linen, pillowcases or even a sweet wedding banner!
Image source: Rachel Antonoff
Image source: Poppy and Honesty via Etsy
Sample swatches of Poppy are available through our Sample Pack Order Form in our ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘For the Little Ones’ and ‘Super Pack’ sample packs on the website. Contact us to find out if this fabric is a suitable option for your next textile project!!
Fabric design: Sunset Poppy – Jenni Rogers
Fabrics design: Snakes in Leaves Peachy Pink – Dominique Collins
Samples of Poppy fabric can be ordered online
Whenever you choose to order custom fabric through Digital Fabrics instead of a retail store, you reduce fabric waste in the world. The reality is that every year, Australians discard an average of 23kgs of textiles per person. In total, approximately 800,000 tonnes of textiles are sent to Australian landfills each year (and more has been historically sent overseas). This makes Aussies the second highest consumers of textiles behind the United States.
As we are emerging into the new world of social media and the ease of shopping accessibility, micro trends (which typically last 3-5 years) are now playing out in a matter of months.
The rise of fast fashion
Fashion is now the second most polluting industry on the planet – usurped only by oil production. The business of churning out fashion options to hungry consumers who crave the head-spinning speed of trends has a lot to answer for.
When large clothing conglomerates begin a design cycle, they order immense amounts of fabric. If all this fabric is not used, or if the clothing isn’t in demand; it becomes something known as deadstock fabric. Deadstock fabrics remain in the system, generally becoming waste, destined for landfill or incineration; generating greenhouse gases and other toxic emissions.
In 2018, we saw many eyes turn to fashion houses as whistleblowers exposed the burning of perfectly good stock, in order to preserve exclusivity. Fast-fashion giant H&M reportedly destroyed 60 tons of new and unsold merchandise between 2013-2017, a strategy also undertaken by Louis Vuitton, Nike and Burberry.
On top of this issue, according to UN figures, the production of one cotton shirt requires 2700 Litres – the amount a person drinks in 2.5 years! The 2.5 trillion dollar fashion industry is the 2nd highest user of water in the world. These numbers are shocking.
In May 2021 participants from across retail, fashion, charity, production, environment, research and waste management came together for Australia’s first ever National Clothing Textile Waste roundtable, hosted at Parliament House in Canberra.
This roundtable signals the start of a collaborative effort, drawing on a diversity of expertise across Australia to create action to reduce waste from clothing textiles going to landfill. There was a particular focus on increasing the ability to recycle textiles and driving action to improve product stewardship of textile waste. However, this doesn’t address the amount of textiles still being produced at large.
Why Digital Fabrics are doing things better
At Digital Fabrics, we don’t have piles of unsold or unused fabric sitting in the studio destined for landfill once a trend has trickled down to nonexistence. We only ever print-to-order and with low minimum order quantities of as little as 1 metre of fabric or 1 cushion cover this significantly reduces deadstock and wastage.
Sending us your own fabric designs gives you control over what your label, store or DIY project looks like, aligning directly with your style and project requirements. You can also shop directly from our range of designer textile prints which can be custom printed on any of our stocked fabrics.
Order what you need
Everything is printed for you on-site in Marrickville, Sydney and is strictly print ‘on demand’! This means we only use the materials that are completely necessary for each order placed, with minimal waste. We put a lot of effort and time sourcing our fabrics from reliable suppliers who either manufacture their fabrics preferably locally or have long-standing, established relationships with their manufacturers, ensuring the production and supply of high-quality fabrics. Most of our fabrics are from overseas manufacturers and are OEKO certified, which means that the manufacturer meets certain health, safety, environmental, and quality targets.
Whilst we take measures to keep waste to an absolute minimum there is still some waste during any production process. Any left-over unprinted fabric is either re-used by us for samples and strike-off printing, recycled or donated to local makers or craft groups who always have creative ways of repurposing the fabric.
We believe in slow fashion, and believe that we can all do our part to reject fast-fashion practices in favour of more sustainable methods, ethical workplaces, and supporting local makers.
Like the sounds of sustainability? Shop our fabrics now.
To gain some knowledge, research, and write this blog post we’ve used information that we’ve found in the reference links below. We know that you are curious just like us so please feel free to browse these links and learn more about textile waste in the world and its impact.
https://www.planetark.org/newsroom/news/tackling-australias-textile-waste
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgpkKDyPEez/?hl=en
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/product-stewardship/textile-waste-roundtable
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/17/17852294/fashion-brands-burning-merchandise-burberry-nike-h-and-m
https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/RCM_Website/RFSD_2018_Side_event_sustainable_fashion.pdf
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/product-stewardship/textile-waste-roundtable
Whenever you choose to order custom fabric through Digital Fabrics instead of a retail store, you reduce fabric waste in the world. The reality is that every year, Australians discard an average of 23kgs of textiles per person. In total, approximately 800,000 tonnes of textiles are sent to Australian landfills each year (and more has been historically sent overseas). This makes Aussies the second highest consumers of textiles behind the United States.
As we are emerging into the new world of social media and the ease of shopping accessibility, micro trends (which typically last 3-5 years) are now playing out in a matter of months.
The rise of fast fashion
Fashion is now the second most polluting industry on the planet – usurped only by oil production. The business of churning out fashion options to hungry consumers who crave the head-spinning speed of trends has a lot to answer for.
When large clothing conglomerates begin a design cycle, they order immense amounts of fabric. If all this fabric is not used, or if the clothing isn’t in demand; it becomes something known as deadstock fabric. Deadstock fabrics remain in the system, generally becoming waste, destined for landfill or incineration; generating greenhouse gases and other toxic emissions.
In 2018, we saw many eyes turn to fashion houses as whistleblowers exposed the burning of perfectly good stock, in order to preserve exclusivity. Fast-fashion giant H&M reportedly destroyed 60 tons of new and unsold merchandise between 2013-2017, a strategy also undertaken by Louis Vuitton, Nike and Burberry.
On top of this issue, according to UN figures, the production of one cotton shirt requires 2700 Litres – the amount a person drinks in 2.5 years! The 2.5 trillion dollar fashion industry is the 2nd highest user of water in the world. These numbers are shocking.
In May 2021 participants from across retail, fashion, charity, production, environment, research and waste management came together for Australia’s first ever National Clothing Textile Waste roundtable, hosted at Parliament House in Canberra.
This roundtable signals the start of a collaborative effort, drawing on a diversity of expertise across Australia to create action to reduce waste from clothing textiles going to landfill. There was a particular focus on increasing the ability to recycle textiles and driving action to improve product stewardship of textile waste. However, this doesn’t address the amount of textiles still being produced at large.
Why Digital Fabrics are doing things better
At Digital Fabrics, we don’t have piles of unsold or unused fabric sitting in the studio destined for landfill once a trend has trickled down to nonexistence. We only ever print-to-order and with low minimum order quantities of as little as 1 metre of fabric or 1 cushion cover this significantly reduces deadstock and wastage.
Sending us your own fabric designs gives you control over what your label, store or DIY project looks like, aligning directly with your style and project requirements. You can also shop directly from our range of designer textile prints which can be custom printed on any of our stocked fabrics.
Order what you need
Everything is printed for you on-site in Marrickville, Sydney and is strictly print ‘on demand’! This means we only use the materials that are completely necessary for each order placed, with minimal waste. We put a lot of effort and time sourcing our fabrics from reliable suppliers who either manufacture their fabrics preferably locally or have long-standing, established relationships with their manufacturers, ensuring the production and supply of high-quality fabrics. Most of our fabrics are from overseas manufacturers and are OEKO certified, which means that the manufacturer meets certain health, safety, environmental, and quality targets.
Whilst we take measures to keep waste to an absolute minimum there is still some waste during any production process. Any left-over unprinted fabric is either re-used by us for samples and strike-off printing, recycled or donated to local makers or craft groups who always have creative ways of repurposing the fabric.
We believe in slow fashion, and believe that we can all do our part to reject fast-fashion practices in favour of more sustainable methods, ethical workplaces, and supporting local makers.
Like the sounds of sustainability? Shop our fabrics now.
To gain some knowledge, research, and write this blog post we’ve used information that we’ve found in the reference links below. We know that you are curious just like us so please feel free to browse these links and learn more about textile waste in the world and its impact.
https://www.planetark.org/newsroom/news/tackling-australias-textile-waste
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgpkKDyPEez/?hl=en
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/product-stewardship/textile-waste-roundtable
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/17/17852294/fashion-brands-burning-merchandise-burberry-nike-h-and-m
https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/RCM_Website/RFSD_2018_Side_event_sustainable_fashion.pdf
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/product-stewardship/textile-waste-roundtable
Recently, we’ve been testing some fabulous fabric print bases to hopefully add to our print fabric range! One fabric that we are very excited to introduce is called Cooper. This is a fantastic commercial-grade interior fabric suitable for any creative upholstery or drapery projects.
Keep on reading to find out all about this brand-new print base fabric and get inspired for your next project!
Unprinted Cooper Fabric Print Base showing linen-look texture
Our Cooper is a high-quality, heavyweight 100% Polyester fabric that is both durable and versatile, it has a heavy weight of 380 GSM with a printable width 145 cm. This woven fabric has the most stunning linen-look texture and a vivid white base colour with a slight sheen in the slub texture. The vivid white colour of the fabric insures the strongest colour reproduction of digital designs.
Digitally printed Cooper fabric
This fabric has undergone the Martindale Test, which tests the durability and abrasion resistance of the fabric. Test results are given as a score of 1000’s of rubs or cycles, and the higher the number is, the more suitable the fabric is for heavier usage. Cooper fabric went through 50,000 cycles…wow! Meaning it’s a suitable fabric for heavy-duty commercial use, heavy-duty domestic use, and all commercial furniture applications and environments. It is important to note that the rub tests were performed on unprinted fabric.
Digitally printed Cooper fabric samplesAs Cooper is a polyester fabric, it’s easy to care for. Depending on the finished product it can be washed in cool or warm water using a gentle or standard machine cycle. To reduce wrinkles we recommend washing it in a half-loaded washing machine and for drying to air dry or tumble dry on low-temperature settings in a half-loaded machine.
This fabric is easy to work with, non-slippery, and has great movement whilst holding its shape very well. This makes it ideal for upholstery and drapery purposes such as sofas, chairs, throw cushions, table linen, and curtains. It’s also a perfect choice for some small DIY homewares and accessories projects like tote bags, wall hangings, and picnic rugs. We have put together a small collection of reference images to inspire you to create with Cooper fabric.
Sample swatches of the Cooper are available through our Sample Pack Order Form in Interior and Super Pack packs on the website. Contact us to find out if this fabric is a suitable option for a textile project you’re working on!
Interested in our Aerocorp fabric but unsure what it’s used for? We’ve put together an article that gives you some insight into this fabrics specifications, what to expect when printing and the type of projects it works well for. Keep reading to find out why this fabric is such a popular choice from our range of stock fabrics.
Aerocorp is a light-weight, fluid fabric with a fine texture and matte finish. It is 100% polyester, with a maximum printable width of 147cm and a weight of 125GSM. The fabric’s smooth and plain weave gives it the look and feel of a cotton fabric. Due to it’s bright white base Aerocorp provides excellent colour reproduction when printed making it a fantastic choice for designs featuring vibrant and deep colours.
Aerocorp is a microfiber fabric which provides moisture management and breathability which makes it an ultra comfortable fabric to wear. These qualities, teamed with the fabric’s soft surface and good drape makes it ideal for fashion. Shirts, dresses, skirts, bandanas and pants are all popular applications for Aerocorp, as well as some homewares projects including napkins and tablecloths. We’ve included some examples below of the types of products that our Aerocorp would be perfect for!
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Sample swatches of the Aerocorp are available through our Sample Pack Order Form and can be found in our ‘All Stock Super Pack’ and ‘Fashion Fabrics’ sample packs. Get in touch to find out if this fabric will be suitable for your next project!
We thought it would be a great time to introduce another one of our favourite natural fabrics, Cotton Drill! You’ve definitely heard of it, but what is it used for? Below we’ve listed the fabrics specs, printing characteristics and the types of projects, products and applications we think this fabric is perfect for!
Cotton Drill is a wonderful mid-weight cotton fabric with a crisp white base. The fabric is strong in construction without being heavy or rigid. The fabric is 195GSM, has a maximum printable width of 140cm, and features a beautiful twill weave and texture. Due to its bright white base, the Cotton Drill provides great colour reproduction when printed!
Please keep in mind when considering our Cotton Drill for your next project, that it’s normal for some fading to occur after washing with printed natural fabrics. Fading can be minimized through hand-washing in cool water and using a phosphate-free detergent.
Cotton Drill is extremely versatile and can be used across both apparel and interiors applications. Popular uses for the fabric are skirts, jackets, dresses, tablecloths and runners, napkins, banners, cushions, curtains and tea towels. We’ve included some examples below of the types of projects that this fabric is the ideal choice for!
Tea towel
A-line skirt
Jacket or coat
Cushion covers
Sample swatches of the Cotton Drill are available through our Sample Pack Order Form and can be found in our ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘Home and Interiors Fabrics’ and ‘Super pack’ sample packs. Get in touch to find out if this fabric will be suitable for your upcoming project!
Interested in our Aerocorp fabric but unsure what it’s used for? We’ve put together an article that gives you some insight into this fabrics specifications, what to expect when printing and the type of projects it works well for. Keep reading to find out why this fabric is such a popular choice from our range of stock fabrics.
Aerocorp is a light-weight, fluid fabric with a fine texture and matte finish. It is 100% polyester, with a maximum printable width of 147cm and a weight of 125GSM. The fabric’s smooth and plain weave gives it the look and feel of a cotton fabric. Due to it’s bright white base Aerocorp provides excellent colour reproduction when printed making it a fantastic choice for designs featuring vibrant and deep colours.
Aerocorp is a microfiber fabric which provides moisture management and breathability which makes it an ultra comfortable fabric to wear. These qualities, teamed with the fabric’s soft surface and good drape makes it ideal for fashion. Shirts, dresses, skirts, bandanas and pants are all popular applications for Aerocorp, as well as some homewares projects including napkins and tablecloths. We’ve included some examples below of the types of products that our Aerocorp would be perfect for!
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
Sample swatches of the Aerocorp are available through our Sample Pack Order Form and can be found in our ‘All Stock Super Pack’ and ‘Fashion Fabrics’ sample packs. Get in touch to find out if this fabric will be suitable for your next project!
We thought it would be a great time to introduce another one of our favourite natural fabrics, Cotton Drill! You’ve definitely heard of it, but what is it used for? Below we’ve listed the fabrics specs, printing characteristics and the types of projects, products and applications we think this fabric is perfect for!
Cotton Drill is a wonderful mid-weight cotton fabric with a crisp white base. The fabric is strong in construction without being heavy or rigid. The fabric is 195GSM, has a maximum printable width of 140cm, and features a beautiful twill weave and texture. Due to its bright white base, the Cotton Drill provides great colour reproduction when printed!
Please keep in mind when considering our Cotton Drill for your next project, that it’s normal for some fading to occur after washing with printed natural fabrics. Fading can be minimized through hand-washing in cool water and using a phosphate-free detergent.
Cotton Drill is extremely versatile and can be used across both apparel and interiors applications. Popular uses for the fabric are skirts, jackets, dresses, tablecloths and runners, napkins, banners, cushions, curtains and tea towels. We’ve included some examples below of the types of projects that this fabric is the ideal choice for!
Tea towel
A-line skirt
Jacket or coat
Cushion covers
Sample swatches of the Cotton Drill are available through our Sample Pack Order Form and can be found in our ‘Natural Fabrics’, ‘Home and Interiors Fabrics’ and ‘Super pack’ sample packs. Get in touch to find out if this fabric will be suitable for your upcoming project!
We thought we’d try something different and put together a guide that’s sure to get you beach ready. Let’s talk Summer essentials! Think durable tote bags, deluxe beach throws, quirky board shorts, divine kaftans and fun swimwear of course. Whether you’re an expert with a sewing machine or just getting a feel for custom textiles, the end of year holidays are the perfect time to start a DIY project. There’s nothing more satisfying than using your art to create something that’s both unique and practical to enjoy. In this article we go through our stock fabric top picks for the season and the popular beach products they’re perfect for so keep reading!
Image via Pinterest
COTTON LINEN – 97% Cotton / 3% Linen & 250gsm
Let start simple! Have you seen Turkish Towels or gorgeous Beach Throws? They’re trending Summer essentials and we think our Cotton Linen is the perfect fabric to use.
Cotton Linen is a wonderfully textured natural fibre blend with a durable weave. The fabric has a warm off-white base colour and a matte finish. To use this fabric for a beach throw simply print your custom design and then cut & hem the edges – easy!
Image via Pinterest
COTTON VOILE – 100% Cotton & 75gsm
Want to make your own kaftan or sarong for the warm weather? We think this is another simple project with our Cotton Voile being the perfect fabric for the job!
Cotton Voile is light-weight and super soft and can be compared to muslin, especially after washing as this fabric will only get softer over time! It has an off-white base colour, is semi-sheer and has a matte finish. This fabric is light and airy to wear making it perfect for poolside wraps and ultra-chic kaftans.
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
CANVAS – 100% Polyester & 300gsm
Interested in custom beach totes? Look no further! Our Polyester Canvas is just what you need to create a sturdy tote bag!
Our Polyester Canvas is a first choice canvas fabric which is highly durable and softens over time the more you use it. This is a plain weave fabric with a bright white base which ensures vibrant printing results ideal for beach accessories. This fabric is also easy to clean and is water resistant making this the ideal choice for beach bags.
Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest
VESNA (ECO-LYCRA) – 85% Recycled Polyester / 15% Spandex & 230gsm
For swimwear garments we recommend checking out our Vesna (Eco Lycra)! It’s an absolute must have fabric to rock an eco-friendly bikini this summer!
Vesna (Eco-Lycra) is an innovative fabric made using recycled plastic bottles! It has an off-white base, a smooth surface and moisture wicking properties. The fabric produces vibrant print results and the surface’s slight sheen will make your artwork pop! The Vesna has an even four-way stretch, a chlorine rating between 4-5 and a UPF rating of 50+ making it the perfect choice for your custom swimwear.
Image via Pinterest
AEROCORP – 100% Polyester & 125gsm
Ever considered creating your own board shorts? We think our Aerocorp fabric is an excellent choice to bring a custom pair of boardies to life!
Aerocorp is a light-weight, microfiber fabric with a smooth and fine texture. It has a bright white base and a matte finish and has excellent colour reproduction when printed. It also provides moisture management and breathability, making it super comfortable to wear – perfect for lounging by the pool.
Image via Pinterest
Ready to start your creative summer project? Order your custom fabric today! If you’re still unsure which of our fabrics will suit your project best, please get in touch!
