Designers, merchandisers, fabric and apparel companies no longer have to wait for a sample to be
created on the loom to see the right pattern and color. By working with Vision Textile Express
(VTE), a textile service studio based in New York City, a companys designers can apply practical
textile know-how working with computers in every area of design development and coloration, from
creating a concept all the way through manufacturing.VTE hopes to solve the problem textile
companies run into with color matching when a fabric design is trusted to a faraway mill for
weaving, dyeing, printing or finishing. Even sending the most detailed directions for the color of
each thread might not guarantee a perfect match.VTE uses Epson Stylus Color 3000 ink-jet printers
to help deliver jobs for textile design, home furnishing, apparel design or surface design, for
even the smallest mini-body recoloring or pattern manipulations.VTE also relies on its sister
company Info Designs Vision System CAD/CAM software, which includes the modular Windows 95/98/NT
Fashion Studio Suite, to develop a highly reliable color management and design system for
customers, including top fashion designers like Calvin Klein and Isaac Mizrahi, merchandisers like
Macys and Victorias Secret, and fabric companies like Dundee Mills.The Epson printer is used as a
comping device at several phases of the VTE creative process, said Jacques Foussard, vice president
of VTE.As our designers mix colors to create a personal palette or literally weave fabric on the
computer screen, we continually study color comps produced from the printer to help us develop the
actual concept and design, he added.Vision System creates and produces a variety of weave types,
while designing stripes, dobbies, plaids and colorways or simulating two- or three-ply yarns, mixed
yarns, slubs, nubs and virtually any fabric texture.The combination of our Vision System CAD/CAM
software from Info Design with Epsons printer to present design layouts dramatically helps us
translate our color ideas and simulation techniques to show customers the true quality of designs,
Foussard said.
February 1999
