Welcome to the forum.
I think you ask a very good question, this industry does need to take a better look at the future of fabric, customization and personalization.
When I think of customization I think of Vinyl Plotters and DTG Printers. I am thinking about getting a plotter myselff. I have a friend who has one and altough is limited in some ways, it also gicves you the freedom to customize and do quality short runs.
printing techniques will develop. Some say than sublimation will become more common.I think that DTG will become cheaper (hardware to print) more user friendly consequently more common, but, only God knows...
Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas about the future of all this in terms of technology & advances in fabric and/or printing techniques?
DTG is a ticking bomb - it's only a matter of time before the industry goes digital. Personally I put that time at longer than most probably would, but it will happen.
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Originally Posted by iggylicious
I mean, the web right now is all about customization and personalization - should we be thinking about the same thing in the fabric - tshirt space?
Err... so is the t-shirt market. Bang on, neighbourhoodies, cafepress, etc. etc.
I think that polyester fabrics are actually the most common type nowadays.
Overall I don't know - it's possible that the use of poly in things like skirts, pants, etc. makes it the most common. Even then I think it's usually part of a blend, rather than pure poly. In the case of t-shirts... obviously cotton is far and away the most common. So unless dye sublimated polyester parachute pants are going to be the next big thing (in which case... I called it ), I still don't think so.