Yet Another Study Visit..

This Morning i have been to citrus rain, a digital print company for fabric and textile based products. When i got there i was really amazed at the size of the unit they worked in on an industrial business park, it was tiny! I thought from hearing about them and reading on their website they would be quite a big company but they are actually relatively small but can produce quick turn arounds even on big orders with the maximum staff being 10 people - so you can imagine how small it was. As we have used them in the past for one of our modules i expected a big huge factory that produces all these different products but it was totally opposite.

We first of all spoke to the general manager who shown us fabric samples, and talked about how their company works, and explained alot about digital printing and why it isn't around in the area any more. Most of it is produced in Turkey and China, however they do not have the quick turn around like they do for shipping reasons etc, so citrus rain when working with the fashion industry are really helpful as they have a quick turn around for hundreds of meters of fabric, with shops like Primark creating designs and finished garments in just a couple of weeks, these facilities of on the door fabric printing is really ideal for the quick production.

In their unit they have five printers and two heat presses. They produce their fabrics on synthetic fabrics using transfer print, this enables them to print high quality designs onto fabric and then using the heat press to fix the dye. As a synthetic fabric reaches high temperatures the fibres expand and open in order for the inks to sink right in to give a better quality print and prevents it from ware and tear They do this through a heat press and also a heat roller for larger fabric lengths, because it is being pressed this stops the inks from moving anywhere else and keeps the line sharp. We were able to use a print printed onto transfer paper and then send it through the heat roller press to see and get a better understanding of how it works which was great. They use this technique as they find it suitable and easy for them and their customers as it gives the fastest turn around.

Then he explained to us about printing onto silk, and the extra care and processes it needs and how its more difficult than printing onto synthetics as the fabric needs to be chemically coated before the inks can be printed onto the fabric. It then also needs steaming and washing before it is ready to use to fix and set the dyes. Citrus rain do provide this service but as their space was so small they out source their coated fabrics, print them and then send them away to be washed and made ready for the customer.

We then spoke to the man in charge of the machines, who separates designs and gets them ready to print, weather it be putting into repeat, or reproducing someones art work or fabric, he showed us his software he uses and how he sends them to print. He was also working on the pad and pen matts to draw from which i have seen a lot throughout my study visits so it might me worth wile me investing in one myself :) although they are very expensive!

Our visit was very short but it was great to see how they worked and produce their designs and fabrics, after visiting these huge factories it was totally different to see a small little unit which could still produce mass amounts of fabrics for customers. It was great to see the difference and see how they both work :)