We know, the term “Polyester” doesn’t necessarily invoke the most positive of emotions, especially among higher end designers and brands, but this simply down to what people tend to associate with Polyesters.
Many people when hearing this term associate it with textiles which look and feel cheap, such is the stigma that has been attached to this phrase simply due to the types of products that have been traditionally made from polyesters from the 70’s and beyond.
However, many UK brands, designers & business people are beginning to wake up to the fact that this is just an outdated perception, and are starting to see the huge potential that polyester fabrics now represent, and not only in the sports and performance market.
Please Note – any reference to lead times are a correct estimate at the time the article was published. Lead times are always estimated and never guaranteed, and for our current estimated lead times see: lead times & deadlines.
“Polyester” simply refers to the synthetic fibres that these fabrics are made from, of course. And although many people may instantly have images of cheaper products when they think of polyesters, very soon – thanks to the new range of amazing synthetic fabrics hitting the markets, people are going to start associating polyester fabrics with terms such as Stunning, Vibrant, Luxurious, Sustainable, Recycled, and Vegan – terms which we think you will agree, are helpful when it comes to selling products.
It’s not just polyester. Sell the sizzle, not the sausage!
To use another material as an analogy, Taylor guitars sell a stunning range of acoustic guitars, that cost between £4,500 – £5,000, or even more.
Can you imagine how many they would (or wouldn’t) sell if they focused on the technical description of the material, and sold them as simply made from “wood” rather than “Solid Hawaiian Koa”?
Whether it’s Hawaiian Koa, Tropical Mahogany or East Indian Rosewood, no one would market such a product as being made from “wood”, despite the fact that this would be technically correct.
The same goes for polyester – there isn’t just one polyester fabric. It’s such a versatile group of fibres, that there is a diverse and ever growing variety of polyester fabrics available, some of which may surprise and even excite you when you understand the ramifications for your business.
For example, when you hear “printed polyester fabrics”, that probably doesn’t sound like something that you, or your customers, would get particularly excited about.
But, what about: Linen look repreve fabric made 100% from recycled plastic bottles – which diverts the equivalent of approximately 2,242 litre plastic bottles, away from polluting the oceans, for every 50m roll?
This isn’t just “a printed polyester fabric”.
In fact the “polyester” element isn’t even particularly relevant, certainly not when it comes to marketing. For example, if you look at the marketing information for the Taylor Hawaiian Koa acoustic guitars previously mentioned, you’ll find the term “Hawaiian Koa” in most paragraphs, and the word “wood” is seldom used.
You’ve probably heard the term “sell the sizzle, not the sausage”, and we think this is very much worth keeping in mind when thinking about polyester fabrics. Why would you market a product as being made from “polyester”, when you can market a product as being “super sustainable, high quality linen look fabric made from 100% recycled plastic bottles”?
In fact, this fabric is not just “sustainably sourced”, but it’s preventing plastics from polluting the planet, nearly 20 billion plastic bottles to date. Who would have thought just ten or so years ago, that a “polyester fabric” would be helping to save our oceans??
Also, it’s a high quality fabric, and it’s highly durable. Also being dye sublimation printed, the print quality, vibrancy and definition is practically unbeatable. These are of course the elements you would focus on when describing your products made from this fabric, rather than focusing purely on “polyester”.
This is just one example!
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By the way: We’re commission digital fabric printers, we print our customer’s own designs onto fabrics
The photos of digitally printed fabrics you will see on this page and within our other articles, this isn’t stock printed fabric we’re supplying, these photos are just examples.
We’re just making this clear as we’ve had a couple of phone calls from people who’ve told us that they like the look of the fabric but don’t want that design.
So we just wanted to make this clear, we’re not selling stock digitally printed fabric – we’re a commission printer, we stock rolls of blank fabrics, which we transform into custom digitally printed fabric for our customers.
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We can have 100% cotton and linen fabrics FR coated after pigment printing, but this kind of FR treatment isn’t up to all FR specifications. Depending on the regulations you need to meet, you or your customers may need inherent FR.
This particular fabric is inherent FR, and it’s a high quality, highly durable fabric – which we produce via dye sublimation transfer, for permanent, high definition and high detail print.
These fabrics sell themselves when seen and touched by your customers, they’re such a high quality fabric, they’re durable, the print is permanent and incredibly high quality, yet these fabrics – digitally printed by ourselves, are relatively inexpensive.
Email us to receive our price lists, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
Another example is Eco Austin, which is quite a unique looking fabric, made from a blend of recycled and standard polyester fibres, and linen.
We have synthetic silk alternatives, Georgette, Crepe de Chine & Satin – which we would challenge even the most experienced fabric professionals to tell apart, yet which print better than you’d be able to print natural silks, and which cost a fraction of the price!
We have herringbone polyester fabrics, twill, various different pile fabrics, dimout fabrics, gaming table fabrics, canvas and “eco canvas” fabric made from 45% recycled fabrics, synthetic wool alternatives, and more.
And the range is continually growing, in fact we’re continually hearing about new exciting developments when it comes to new polyesters being developed for very specific purposes, including many more recycled fabrics, vegan alternative fabrics, and alternatives to processes that have historically made certain fabrics difficult and expensive to produce.
If you have any interest in finding out more about our digitally printed fabrics, whether you’re interested in the fabrics discussed in this particular article, or in our digitally printed cottons and linens, and/or in our made up, finished products made here in the UK, just email us, and we’ll send you further information including price lists.