Digital Textile Printers U.K and Fashion/ garment Manufacturers

How to have your fashion designs manufactured,Suppliers?

When I started my company back in 2008 I was trained in Fashion and Textiles.  I had a good knowledge of design, processes and thought I understood manufacture, getting a design from drawing to manufacture and then into a shop.  However I found this process of getting my fashion design manufacturers the most difficult stage and below is a list of some suppliers to use or not to use!

Here is my guide for fashion/ textile designers starting out in the business of experiences I have had with digital textile printers in the U.K and garment manufacturers.  Please note that the content of this page is my opinion only of communications I may have had with suppliers.

Digitial Textile Printers U.K and Worldwide:

• V- Media Print, Leeds:

At V-Media Print we are proud to have taken delivery of one of only 6 state of the art Large Format Fabric Digital Printers located in the UK

From our Leeds base we are now able to offer very high quality comprehensive range of Large Format Graphics including:

Environmentally Friendly, Fully Recyclable Fabric Print This is a competitively priced alternative to traditional substrates. We are able to print in widths up to 2.5 meters and up to 100 meters in length with high definition 1440 dpi print quality. Using water based inks our prints are 100% recyclable, U/V Stable and offer a 24-month guarantee. Due to the lightweight nature of the fabric savings are also achieved in distribution costs.

• The Fabric Press, U.K:

Up-load your design and order your digitally printed fabric on-line. For the hobby designers.

• Spoon Flower,  U.S.A:

Good if you are a hobby based designer, you can up-load and have your designs printed on-line.

• Silk Bureau, Worcestershire:

Always very friendly, helpful when you call and a good selection of silks/ cotton.

• R A Smart, Macclesfield:

A company to use for industrial scale fabric printing and manufacture,

• Digetex, Trafford Park, Manchester:

Warning!!!!!! To New Designers and students Do not use Digetex!

I would never act to ruin the reputation of a local Manchester supplier such as Digetex, however the experience I had with this company was so bad that I warn new designers and students not to use Digetex.  When I started my company back in 2008 I was given an award from the  Princes Trust of £2000 to pay for the first supply of my company digitally printed fabric.

Digetex demanded payment up front of which they were provided.  The fabric was delivered and had a definate fault running through all one hundred and fifty plus meters, a line as if the printer had ran out of ink.  Digetex owner Roger Wills admitted the fault and promised to reprint.  No communication was received for weeks, eventually I went down to the factory and work had not even started.

Roger Wills then refused to reprint the fabric, when threated with court he said that if I took him to court that he would sue me for extra printing work that he had not even done.  At this stage in my company I felt it was best to avoid a legal battle and dropped the case.  So Digetex still have my £2000 pound and I have still until this day never recieved any fabric.

Finally I know of textile students in their third year of university that have used Digetex for their final collection and have had to defer graduation for a year because the fabric has never arrived or been such pure quality.  So again warning to all students and new designers do not use Digetex.

Wholesale suppliers U.K and Worldwide:

• Amii Garments China
  

A Chinese company selling wedding dresses and evening gowns (no contact ever made).

Note this article is still being up-dated: