Fespa Global Print Expo 2018, Europe’s largest exhibition for the wide format print industry, which is schedule to take place in the month of May in Berlin, has announced the launch of Print Make Wear, a new, interactive visitor feature designed to replicate a fast fashion factory. It will see latest innovations and product launches in the digital, screen and textile printing sectors.

In Print Make Wear, Fespa will bring together collaborators from all areas of the printed fashion sector, including fashion brand owners, designers, garment printers and producers, to explore the latest production possibilities, exchange experiences and share knowledge in the interests of a more sustainable fashion value chain.

The feature, focused exclusively on fashion textiles, garments and printed accessories, will take the form of a live production environment, highlighting every step in the screen and digital printing production process, from initial design to finished product.

Demonstrating an integrated, end-to-end production environment, the Print Make Wear fast fashion factory will feature a screen printing carousel, washing and drying equipment, digital direct-to-garment printing, cutting and sewing, and solutions for welding and embellishment.

A live fashion catwalk will add the ‘Wear’ element, enabling visitors to see garments and accessories produced in the Print Make Wear ‘factory’. The items to be produced in Print Make Wear are being designed by Sandra Zomer from the Netherlands, a Fespa Young Star Award winner, who now works for fashion designer Julien MacDonald.

Neil Felton, CEO, Fespa, said that the trend data from Smithers Pira shows that the printed textile market today equates to around 30 billion sq/mt and that, in 2016, printed textile for clothing accounted for half of the total textile industry by volume.

Recognising the growth in digital textile printing in recent years, Fespa has been consistently expanding its textile proposition for visitors. Print Make Wear builds on this commitment, focusing specifically on the growth opportunity within so-called ‘fast fashion’.

Since 2008, FESPA has invested to expand coverage of textile printing across its event portfolio, making textile the fastest growing segment represented within Fespa Global Print Expo. Ten years later, at Fespa 2018, there will be two halls dedicated to textile printing, enabling visitors to explore a multitude of textile-related production and workflow technologies, materials and inks.

The Fespa Global Print Expo 2018, to take place from from 15 to 18 May 2018 in Berlin, Germany,