Epson and Designer Yuima Nakazato Show a Glimpse of a More Sustainable Future for Fashion
28 January 2023: Epson has partnered with renowned Japanese fashion designer Yuima Nakazato and his eponymous YUIMA NAKAZATO brand at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week Spring – Summer 2023 to unveil creations that are both stunning and sustainable. In addition to utilizing Epson’s digital textile printing to reproduce his unique and creative worldview, YUIMA NAKAZATO realized some of its creations with the help of a new, more sustainable and potentially industry-transforming textile production process.
Epson’s dry fiber technology, which is already used commercially to recycle office paper and which requires virtually no water, has been adapted to produce printable non-woven fabric from used garments. The new fabric production process was revealed in Paris as part of a three-year collaboration between Epson and YUIMA NAKAZATO and was used in the creation of items for the first time during the latter’s runway show at the Palais de Tokyo on January 25, 2023.
The collaboration between Epson and YUIMA NAKAZATO builds on the success of the company’s printing support for his couture and evolves the level of his creations to enable the low-impact production of high-quality custom garments. Both Epson and YUIMA NAKAZATO are keen to raise awareness of the water and material waste associated with excess production.
Hitoshi Igarashi from Epson’s Printing Solutions Division explains the importance of the technology “Although in its early stages, Epson believes its dry fiber technology combined with pigment ink digital printing could offer the fashion industry a much more sustainable future, significantly reducing water use while allowing designers the freedom to fully express their creativity.
“Epson’s Environmental Vision is committed to contributing to a circular economy, and this development could be one step towards achieving this. Dry fiber technology applied to the fashion industry offers the possibility of producing material for new clothes that have been recycled from used garments.”
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