Currently many patterns are made with silk-screen printing; this leaves a layer of paint behind on the garment, which lowers the value of the material. For instance, when shredding garments, small bits of paint will stay behind on the fibres. It is possible to make patterns with laser cutting.
The paint often contains harmful chemicals. The whole silkscreen printing process costs an enormous amount of water. The design is made by rubbing an emulsion on the screen and lighting this with UV rays. Cleaning the screen in between different colours produces polluted water. With laser cutting you can make all sorts of patterns. You can also work with layers to create different patterns or work with the fact that synthetic fabrics can be melted with a laser. It is recommended to use synthetic fabrics or non-wovens, to prevent the fabric from fraying. Refinity made textiles that are more flexible because of the laser design. Refinity also worked with several layers to create designs from different colours.
I have also made a blog article on laser etching.
If you would like to learn more on laser cutting or engraving, take a look at the e-book " Laser cutters and engravers"
The paint often contains harmful chemicals. The whole silkscreen printing process costs an enormous amount of water. The design is made by rubbing an emulsion on the screen and lighting this with UV rays. Cleaning the screen in between different colours produces polluted water. With laser cutting you can make all sorts of patterns. You can also work with layers to create different patterns or work with the fact that synthetic fabrics can be melted with a laser. It is recommended to use synthetic fabrics or non-wovens, to prevent the fabric from fraying. Refinity made textiles that are more flexible because of the laser design. Refinity also worked with several layers to create designs from different colours.
I have also made a blog article on laser etching.
If you would like to learn more on laser cutting or engraving, take a look at the e-book " Laser cutters and engravers"