Roland DG has worked with designer Fabia Goff to create a ‘dress release’ – a press release printed onto a dress – using its Texart XT-640S-F textile printer.

The dress is designed to act as a medium to showcase the benefits of XT-640S-F for short-run garment printing for the ‘fashion drop’ generation. It highlights the white ink and saturated colour capabilities of the new machine, alongside text which describes its benefits and attributes.

The dress, which ‘pays homage to the world of fashion design’, was produced between two fashion ‘capitals’ – designed and sewn in London and printed using a Roland Texart XT-640S-F in Milan.

Stephen Davis, EMEA marketing director at Roland DG, commented, ‘We were so excited to immerse ourselves in the world of fashion design to create this one-of-a-kind dress which shows off the capabilities of the Texart XT-640S-F. We worked with our Italian textile customers to design the machine, purpose-built for the ‘fashion drop’ generation, so it only felt right to continue our collaboration with industry creatives to bring the ‘dress release’ to life.

‘We hugely enjoyed working with talented designers, seamstresses, photographers and models to help turn our vision into reality, and we hope our customers feel inspired to make their own unique garments as a result.’

The company collaborated with designer Fabia Goff, who has worked with UK brands such as John Lewis and Laura Ashley, to create the pattern. It incorporates textual elements of a press release into a design inspired by both current trends and Japanese art and culture to celebrate Roland DG’s Japanese heritage.

Ms Goff commented, ‘The brief from Roland to ‘show off’ the printer’s capabilities through the pattern design and creation of a garment was not only fascinating but a career first for me. I specialise in lino printing, a traditional hand-carving technique similar to woodcut. Combined with my love of watercolour and graphic design I have developed towards pattern design in my career as a product designer, and this brief allowed me to bring these two passions together.

‘Right from the start of the project I wanted the pattern to be on trend, incorporating the bright colours we will be seeing on catwalks throughout 2022. Pantone’s ‘Very Peri’ Lilac was my chosen feature colour and inspired my floral focus. The contrasting white against the pattern and colour blocks creates focus on the text, highlighting the colour capabilities of the printer. It was important to reference Roland DG’s Japanese roots within the pattern, which is why I chose lilies and gingko leaves as the central motifs and used free-flowing brush strokes. ‘Press release’ quotes were placed to echo newspaper-like headlines.’

The XT-640S-F is aimed at apparel print houses and garment manufacturers, and suits fashion houses looking to build prototype versions of a clothing item or create a one-off piece for a show.