Fabric ink can change the design of a garment on demand

Netherlands-based fashion research agency Refinity has developed a technique for making removable prints, enabling wearers to redesign their garments.

Customizing clothes is nothing new, but just like the BLESSUS modular outfits we wrote about earlier in the year, this recent spotting helps fashion fans to do so more easily. Netherlands-based fashion research agency Refinity has developed a technique for making removable prints, enabling wearers to redesign their garments. Designer Fioen van Balgooi developed an ink which can be applied to clothing items in the same way as traditional fabric inks. The prints are machine washable and therefore remain in place; however when used with a special detergent the ink can be removed and replaced with a new design. This could enable followers of fashion to remain on trend without having to spend more on a new garment, as well as charities and brands to create temporary designs for short-term projects. It also means that the ink can be easily removed from a garment before it is recycled, making the sorting of fabrics by color during the recycling process much easier. Print services could also purchase the ink, offering a high-quality service for digitally printing garment designs. For best results, Refinity recommends using organic cotton material with its inks, however, the company is currently working on making the ink more suitable for other fabrics, as well as developing an in-house service for printing and removal. With the principle that trends are temporary whereas material resources are finite, Refinity aims to provide an environmentally-friendly way for customers to sport new designs using their old clothes. Could this be the future of fashion? Spotted by: Hemanth Chandrasekar