A design applied to a textile’s surface, rather than formed by weaving the pattern into the cloth.
Printing applies one or more colours to selected areas of a fabric in a design. In direct printing, the colours go straight onto white or dyed cloth. In discharge printing, a dyed cloth is printed with a paste that destroys the dye, leaving white or, if the paste carries another colour, replacing it. In resist printing, a resist agent goes on first, so those areas stay undyed when the cloth is dyed. The tools vary: a flat screen through which print paste is forced, a rotary screen that applies colour continuously from inside a perforated cylinder, engraved rollers, heat transfer, or digital ink-jet heads that place very small drops precisely.
The usual confusion is with a woven pattern. A print is added to cloth already made; a jacquard figure is formed by the yarns as the cloth is woven, in colour, texture or both.
In job listings
Alfred Dunhill’s Senior Designer, Soft Accessories & Print role in London required collaboration with technical teams on precise print repeats, colour matching and fabric suitability. Those tasks connect the surface design to its application on a product, where the repeat and the selected cloth both need technical attention. Search local jobs for “textile print”.
