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“What’s Next. Now,” is how Springs Creative in Rock Hill, S.C., brands itself. And a tour to the Springs Creative site on Oct. 18 left all participants wanting to know a lot more about what’s next for this innovative company that offers digitally-printed textiles, product design, brand development, and merchandizing.
The Specialty Fabrics tour was part of the IFAI 2016 Expo in Charlotte, N.C. Springs Creative’s operations are located in a renovated cotton mill. The tour began with Kathy Phillips, creative director at Springs Creative, showing the group the files of thousands of fabric design, including vintage fabrics from 1910. She explained how vintage designs can be reused and reinterpreted for contemporary customers—whether for quilts, upholstery, apparel or crafting applications.
Tour participants were shown story boards of “what’s next” in fashion trends. The story boards included digitally-printed vintage designs that have been reinterpreted for customers with cutting edge sensibilities.
Harold Mull, general manager of digital printing services at Springs Creative, showed tour participants the digital printing facility where, among other things, custom textiles were being printed for the hospitality industry. Digital printing has given Springs Creative the capacity to quickly produce final products as well as prototypes.
Mull explained that Springs Creative holds the exclusive license to print fabrics that feature characters and designs from such well-known brands like Disney, Marvel, Peanuts and Nickelodean. These products are sold to retailers like Jo-Ann fabric stores, Michaels, Cabela’s and REI.