Creative Design: Professional

Sorbet Sunrise

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Abstract

Sorbet Sunrise arose from experimentation using three innovative technologies which have the ability to create entirely new production streams and design workflow in the textile and apparel complex. All processing steps to create this sweater used technology by Shima Seiki, a leader in flat-bed knitting technology. The technologies employed were first, the ApexONE software which guides the user through a series of steps to select various silhouettes for knitting; next, the actual knitting of the seamless garment on a MACH2X SWG-X 8-gauge machine; and lastly, the engineered digital printing using the SJp-160 Flat-Bed Product Printer. WholeGarment^â knitting is recognized for its ability to have all making up of a product conducted on the knitting machine, eliminating the need for seaming equipment or a labor force to join garment pieces together (Ma & Lamar, 2013). Combined with a flat-bed printer, design capabilities are virtually endless. This technology allows a graphic design to be applied to textile materials which cannot easily feed through a roll-to-roll digital printer (Chapman, 2016). By combining these technologies, a customer has the potential to purchase a highly individualized product through customized fit, silhouette and applied graphic design. This individualized attention for a customer, also known as mass customization, has posed an issue to the apparel industry with its traditional method of production (Nayak, Padhye, Wang, Chatterjee & Gupta, 2015).

Keywords: Engineered Textile Design, Apparel Automation, apparel automation, Engineered textile design, WholeGarment Knitting, 3D Knitting, 3D Knitting/WholeGarment knitting

How to Cite:

Foster, K., (2020) “Sorbet Sunrise”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 77(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.12239