With the rise in demand for customization and sustainability in fashion, it’s not uncommon to see fashion designers pushing the boundaries of digital textile printing to create unique, truly custom garments. We’ve seen manufacturers like Kornit Digital and Epson hold fashion events year after year, showcasing the possibilities of this technology.

Most recently, Kyocera Document Solutions collaborated with Kunihiko Morinaga, the founder and designer of the Japanese fashion brand ANREALAGE. Using a FOREARTH inkjet textile printer, Morinaga created a collection of pieces based on the concept of “wind.”

“The clothes are transformed from ordinary form into an extraordinary form by wind inside,” Morinaga explained. “When the wind stops, the form of the clothes changes again to draped daily wear due to gravity. I also thought that the wind could be visualized through graphic design, which is essential for fashion. Normally, graphic prints are arranged regularly without the concept of gravity, but I thought that if the wind were to blow there, the graphic pattern itself would be released from the gravity on the earth and would float freely in the sky. I created graphic designs that allow petals to dance in floral patterns, and even polka dots, checkered patterns, houndstooth patterns, and tartan checks to dance freely in spaces. The wind, which is the theme of the collection, is expressed in the form of the clothes and the visuals by sending the wind into the textile space surrounded by the graphic.”

Morinaga printed on very lightweight fabrics like high-density polyester taffeta for this collection. The FOREARTH allowed him to print with the flexibility and sustainability he was after, using minimal water and connecting with his concept of wind.

“We believe that wind and water are inseparable for the environment,” he added. “What was also noteworthy about the clothes this time was the part where the textile expands lightly as if it were flying in the air when wind is fed into the clothes. For this reason, we used thin and light textiles that weigh only 23 grams per square meter, but we needed a technology that would not affect the weight and lightness of the textiles by placing prints on them. Ordinary pigment inkjet prints tend to be heavy and hard, but with “FOREARTH” we have been able to reproduce the light, flexible, and supple texture without losing its originality.”

The collaborative work was presented at the women’s collection of Paris Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2025 on Tuesday, Sept. 24. This is the second time Morinaga and Kyocera have collaborated on a fashion collection and showcased the possibilities of digital textile printing.