first2print blog

Interview with Lillie Toogood of Good & Co.

First2Print Team — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:04:04 +0000

Good & Co., a New Zealand based scarf company was born out of Lillie Toogood’s love for worldly travel and photography. Her current line of digitally printed 100% silk scarves depicts photographs of iconic locations throughout the world. Lillie was sweet enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions from yours truly. Through her experience working for other companies, she gained business insight as well as contacts that helped make it possible to get the wheels turning on starting her own business. When asked how digitally printing on fabric has effected her business model and creative freedom she said this:

“Digital Printing has been a major factor for my brand and starting up as I’ve been able to save so much time and money on set up costs, and have been able to design to my full extent without adjusting and cutting colours and prints due to budget restrictions. I’ve been able to hit the market with my products at 100% and have been able to make a good impact due to this. My range of scarf designs are all photographs I have taken, and the ones that make it to scarves are the ones with the most punchy,vibrant and interesting colours, along with the most interesting patterns and shapes that are all morphed and beautifully warped when wrapped around the body. This is a huge part of the appeal of my scarves, and to be restricted in colours when printing would destroy this.”

From left to right: Bricklane photo and scarf, Broadway Gallery photo and scarf.
Click to enlarge.

From left to right: Plaza Real photo and scarf, Portabello Snaps photo and scarf.
Click to enlarge.

If you find yourself in New Zealand or Australia, swing by one of the many boutiques that Good & Co. scarves are carried, such as Jamie Boutique in Auckland or Incu in Sydney. For a full list of boutiques that carry these glorious goods, check out the Good & Co. website. And for the rest of us that aren’t in Australia or New Zealand, scarves can be purchased online on the Good & Co. shop page.

Our Website is getting revamped!

First2Print Team — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:37:21 +0000

Our website is getting a face lift for 2012, but worry not! All info on our services can be found in the pages section on your left. (Contact, Services, Fabrics, FAQ). We’ll post our relaunch announcement across all media platforms as soon as it’s ready! We apologize for any inconvenience.

Fabrics We Carry

File Set-up for digital fabric printing

View projects we have worked on.

If you have a question, please see our FAQ page, or get in touch with us directly.

Mary Katrantzou for TopShop — and a peak at her Spring 2012

First2Print Team — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:48:02 +0000

Rumors have been circulating around the web about the exciting collaboration between Mary Katrantzou (the queen of digital prints) and Topshop. It’s said to be released in February of next year, but it’s still unclear if it will be available only in the UK, online or elsewhere at that time. Here’s a little peak of what to expect:

Sneak peak of upcoming Katrantzou/Topshop collab. (Image source: Stylebubble.com)

Katrantzou is famous for collageing vibrant imagery of architectural interiors onto garments that are themselves architectural in form. For her Spring 2012 collection she maintains her trompe-l’oeil aesthetic, but this time she gets a little more organic, blocking flora and fauna within each design. The pieces themselves are much more fluid, constructed with light and airy silks, that are much more street wearable.

Mary Katrantzou: Spring 2012

(Image source: DazedDigital.com)

FieldCandy — digital and nature have a sleepover, finally.

First2Print Team — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:17:30 +0000

The Always Room for one more Tent (Image source: Coolhunter.com)

FieldCandy, a UK based designer tent company, collaborated with twenty or so artists and designers (photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, branding and advertising designers) to create a series of limited edition tents. Each piece showcases a different designer’s high resolution image on the tent’s fly sheet — all digitally printed. Printing fabric digitally makes it possible for them to print hi-resolution, large scale pieces that match each other color wise, since they’ll need to be sewn together to form a 3 dimensional shape with a continuously flowing image.

John from FieldCandy said ”…the benefits of digital printing for us are two fold – firstly, we are a niche business, not interested in high volume mass production, but being able to create fine pieces of ‘Functional Art’ in relatively small numbers and secondly, being capable of very high quality reproduction of a photographers or artists work.”

The Spacious Tent (Image source: BeautifulLife.info)

The Animal Farm Tent (Image source: BeautifulLife.info)

The Rule Britannia Tent (Image source: BeautifulLife.info)

The Bricks and Mortar Tent (Image source: BeautifulLife.info)

UK Fine Art Graduate Students + Soft Goods Collaborate

First2Print Team — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:39:26 +0000

UK based home goods company, Fenton uses 100% digitally printed fabric in their pieces. Cherry Anderson and Steve Chapman, the creative duo behind the brand, scan the UK’s fine arts graduate shows for up and coming artists to collaborate with. Their artists du jour — Charles Robinson and Haroun Haward. Robinson graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in 2009 and Haward from Goldsmiths in 2010.

Fenton Cushion--100% digitally printed fabric

For more prints …

Highly Strung--A modern take on the English Rose Print

Lampshade--100% digitally printed cotton

We Printed It! Digitally printed cotton sateen for Osborn Design.

First2Print Team — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:40:52 +0000

Osborn Design implemented F2P’s reactive digital printing on cotton sateen for these Floral Oxford Shoes. These adorable gems are currently top rated @ Urban Outfitters online! (Pictured below: F2P colorist in Herald Square.)

One of our digital colorists sports her Osborn Floral Oxfords in Herald Square

Osborn is not just a shoe company, but an ethical example of what fashion can be. Each shoe is assembled by hand in a non-sweatshop, worker driven environment just outside of Guatemala City. For more on their admirable production methods and to view their full collection, visit their website: http://www.osborndesign.com/

Eunmi Hwang’s Final Project — ecologically innovative AND street wearable

First2Print Team — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:44:22 +0000

Eunmi Hwang of South Korea, and MA in Digital Fashion at the University of the Arts London, presented a great collection of both ecologically innovative and wearable garments for her 2011 final project. She believes in using digital technology to develop a more sustainable fashion industry. She uses projection technology in her creative process as well. Love it.

“Various kinds of digital technologies play an important role in the sustainable fashion industry, especially, digital textile printing which enables the digital production process to integrate with the promotional strategy…” -Hwang; Artist Statement

Eunmi Hwang, 2011 (Image source: walkthesand.blogspot)

Eunmi Hwang, 2011 (Image Source: walkthesand.blogspot)

We Printed It! Graffinis digitally printed nylon tricot for swimwear

First2Print Team — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:44:12 +0000

Graffinis — a New York based swimwear company run by Paul Cartelli — draws inspiration from graffiti, street signs and transit maps from New York City. Photos taken around the city, of graffiti, street signs, maps and other iconic New York sightings are placed within the boundaries of engineered panels (bottom back, bottom front, top right, top back) which are then digitally printed on swimwear fabric and finally sewn into suits. Engineered panels allow you to layout and print only what is needed for the suit itself, lessening the amount of fabric and ink that would otherwise go to waste while silmotaniously simplifying the cut and sew stage of production. PS. They make scarves too.

Digitally printed engineered panels by First2Print for Graffinis

For more images and to see their scarves…

Graffinis -- Digitally printed engineered panels on nylon tricot

Digitally printed silk for Graffinis new scarf line

Photoshop tutorials: First2Print’s playlist of helpful video guides

First2Print Team — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:20:55 +0000

We thought it could be useful to start sifting through Youtube, in search of Photoshop tutorials that actually help. There’s a lot out there, but not all of it is great. Check out our Youtube playlist, Photoshop Tutorials, for what we have amassed so far. Got a suggestion? Have a favorite tutorial channel? Send ‘em our way!

We Printed It! Digitally printed silk twill and chiffon for Rolando Santana’s SS 2012 Collection

First2Print Team — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:26:17 +0000

Rolando Santana’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection debuted at Exit Art in Manhattan on September 14th to a packed and oh so satisfied crowd. Inspired by the modern lifestyle of the city of Florence, Santana created a collection that is both wearable and elegant. He even teamed up with the iconic Manolo Blahnik to create a stilettos fit for the occasion. We were so happy to have been able to lend our talents to his creative design decisions!

Digitally printed silks for Rolando Santana SS2012, photo by Eka Halim

For larger images…

Digitally printed silks for Rolando Santana SS2012, photo by Eka Halim