13 North and Latin American Designers Use Digital Fabric Printing to Create Unique Couture for Fashion Showcase Leading up to NYFW

Long Beach, Calif. – Epson today announced it will host its fourth annual Epson Digital Couture Project on Feb. 6, 2018, leading up to Fashion Week in New York City. Designers from North and Latin America will leverage Epson’s world-class textile printing solutions to create fashion designs built around the theme “Cosmopolitan Couture with Impossible Colors – How Does Your Culture Dress-up?” This unique fashion presentation will showcase the design possibilities made possible with Epson’s digital imaging technology.

“The future of fashion is customization – from the colors and prints, to the size and shape of garments – all on-demand,” said Keith Kratzberg, president and CEO, Epson America, Inc. “Epson’s digital imaging technology is changing the business of fashion, providing a platform for designers to print higher quality, more unique designs for customers on-demand, as well as the ability to print just in time. This Digital Couture event showcases how the design potential and impact on the fashion marketplace is limitless.” 

Prior to the fashion showcase, Epson will host a Fashion and Technology panel – a thought-provoking conversation about how digital technology is evolving the fashion industry, as well as market trends and technology’s role in fashion. Anthony Cenname, vice president and publisher at WSJ. Magazine will moderate, with opening comments from Kratzberg and closing comments from Agustin Chacon, Epson America’s vice president of international marketing. Panel participants include interior designer Ryan Korban, Mark Sunderland from Thomas Jefferson University, and Aliza Licht, EVP Brand Marketing and Communications for Alice + Olivia and author of “LEAVE YOUR MARK.” 

At the Digital Couture Project event, each designer or design team will tell a story through their collection via textiles created with Epson dye-sublimation printing technology. These technologies enable limitless design possibilities, with the result being original prints of the highest quality unique to each designer, on fabrics that convey their signature style. The fourth annual Epson Digital Couture Project event will showcase the design capabilities through the featured collections of designers from North and Latin America:

1. Brazil – Lua Luá (Michele Gevaerd)
2. Canada (Toronto) – Hayley Elsaesser
3. Chile – Karyn Coo
4. Ecuador – Stephanie Ruiz
5. Guatemala – Eduardo Figueroa
6. Mexico – Emilio Mata
7. Paraguay – Ilse Jara
8. Peru – Ana María Guiulfo
9. Colombia – Lina Cantillo
10. United States (Los Angeles) – Candice Cuoco
11. United States (Miami) – Fernando Alberto 
12. United States (Philadelphia) – Thomas Jefferson University (Alexandra Pizzigoni and Patricia Franklin)
13. United States (New York) – threeASFOUR (Gabriel Asfour, Angela Donhauser and Adi Gil)

More about Epson Digital Textile Printing Solutions

Epson offers the textile and fabric printing market three printing solutions, allowing entrepreneurs and established fashion brands to print on a variety of fabrics in real-time, including cotton and synthetic fibers, for a new level of creative freedom. 

• Epson SureColor^® F-Series: Epson’s dye-sublimation printing technology provides designers an accessible means to bring their ideas and inspiration to life with outstanding quality. The newest SureColor F9370 is ideal for high-speed, economical, medium- to large-volume dye-sublimation transfer printing, delivering speeds up to 1,169 square feet/hour¹. The SureColor F-Series leverages PrecisionCore^® TFP^® printheads and Epson UltraChrome^® DS with High-Density Black ink to produce fabric output with exceptional color saturation and high contrast. Including a Wasatch SoftRIP workflow with specialty features for textile and fashion printing, the SureColor F-Series enables designers to create and print original designs with greater flexibility and control.

• Epson SureColor F2100: Designed exclusively for direct-to-garment printing, the SureColor F2100 offers an entirely purpose-built system for high-quality prints at production speeds. With the ability to print directly onto garments ranging from 100 percent cotton to 50/50 fabric blends, the SureColor F2100 offers fashion entrepreneurs a high-quality, affordable printing solution. The SureColor F2100 offers four color ink technology, plus White ink, to deliver improved image quality, speed, and efficiency. Additional improvements, including a quick-load platen and robust Epson Garment Creator Software, take productivity even further, while the all-new integrated self-cleaning system means less downtime.

• Monna Lisa: The Monna Lisa printer is the ultimate solution for the industrial textile market. It is produced by F.lli Robustelli and equipped with Epson PrecisionCore printheads and Genesta inks, designed by Epson in collaboration with For.Tex. Available in three widths (180, 220 and 320 cm), it offers numerous advantages, including the ability to print custom designs on a wide range of fabrics and the flexibility to produce low-cost samples. Fabrics printed with the Monna Lisa machines have high color yield, color fastness and reproducibility – essential features for fabrics used in the home textile industry, obtained also by means of pre-treatment processes.  

For more information about Digital Couture, visit www.epson.com/nyfw.