While their parents try to decide whether to spend $300 or $500 on a new HP printer, college students in Waco, TX will be trying out their brand new $50,000 fabric printer. The printer is a fashion accessory for the fashion program at Baylor. The printer will print on bolts of fabric up to five feet wide.
Digital printers for fabrics have been around since the 1990s, but the process has been too slow to be useful; perhaps up until now. The new Baylor fabric printer is an inkjet printer.
According to the faculty report, the printer, purchased from Korea, uses environmentally friendly nano inks. In the past, even with nano inks, different varieties of textile and fabric types had to be pre-treated for printing. With more testing, this new fabric printer might prove a fore-runner for better general use fabric printing equipment.
The printer can print on any fabric, and is ideal for a course in fashion where students design and try new patterns every day. With this printer, students can easily print and develop their ideas. It remains to be seen if these inks will retain their integrity over time.
