The screen printing technique explained & demystified

Our brand has a highly efficient manufacturing process that has been finely tuned over many years: from the design of the scarf itself (drawing, size, choice of materials and colors) to the cutting and finishing, leading to the final product that you know.

While all these steps are made in our Montreal workshop, the printing has been entrusted to Indian artisans since our beginnings, with whom we work closely for each new collection.

It is out of love for their ancient technique and meticulous craftsmanship that we have chosen to entrust them with this essential task for our scarves: applying color through screen printing.
Screen printing is a technique that requires placing the fabric under a frame and applying, color by color, the shades that will make up the pattern of our scarf. 

Numerous steps are required for screen printing: a meticulous and slow process carried out with great skill by talented artisans.

The first step is preparing the frame: it is cleaned, then a photosensitive emulsion is applied to it and left to dry in a darkroom.

Next, it's time to transfer the design onto a transparent film.

The frame and the transparent film are now ready: the film is placed on top of the frame, and they are exposed to bright light. The exposure allows the pattern to be imprinted on the emulsion, creating open areas corresponding to the design. 

After the exposure, the transparent film is removed from the frame, washed with water to remove the unexposed emulsion, and finally dried. 

Now it's time for printing! The prepared frame is placed on a flat surface above the fabric, ready to receive the colors of the pattern. Using a squeegee, the color is spread over the frame with constant pressure. The color passes through the open areas of the frame and deposits onto the fabric, forming the pattern. Remember that each of these steps needs to be repeated for each new color used in the pattern!

Once all the colors are applied, the printed fabric is passed under a heat source, such as an oven or a drying tunnel, to fix the colors and make them permanent.

Finally, the fabric is hung to dry completely.

What we love about this printing technique is its authenticity: it requires constant human involvement, and the result is (to us!) much more beautiful than digital printing.

In an upcoming post, we'll tell you more about our choice: stay tuned!

Until then, you can shop our newest collection...