How Machine Embroidery Penetrated The Fashion Industry

Embroidery has been around for a very long time. In one form or the other, embroidery has survived through the years. Recently, high-end fashion brands embracing the embroidery in their product-line has poured in new life to the embroidery. Thanks to the machine embroidery, from catwalks to humble niche stores, embroidery is being vigorously embraced by the fashion industry. But everything was not always like this. A few years from now, embroidery was considered a covert ‘art form’ that lacked commercial interest of any form to the fashion industry. Not that embroidery embellishing was no longer appreciated or enchanted. To start with, the time consumed to produce hand embroidery is unrealistically high. This significantly increases labor costs. Other reasons that hindered mass adoption include lack of readily available skilled labor and absence of uniformity in designs. It was not until the late 1980s, that computers made an entry in almost every industry. The boom that machine embroidery enjoyed was after the advent of computerized embroidery machines. They were fast, efficient, and easy to operate. Moreover, the unprecedented ability of these machines to deal with intricate designs was a real game changer. Sophisticated embroidery machines and computer programs continued to sprout, making the process even more refined. The 90s saw a somewhat adoption of embroidery patches by the fashion world. The punk culture was on the rise and being quirky was not anymore unacceptable. Various designers like Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren sort of mainstreamed the embroidered patch. Not only it was partially interest based, the trend was short-lived. While the embroidery was out of fashion, the technological advancements in computerized machine embroidery continued to perpetuate. Machine embroidery and sophisticated technology once again came to the rescue. Computerized embroidery machines made it possible to produce designs that gave a lavishing finish while incorporating fine details at the same time. High-end fashion industry thought of the idea to be cool. Cool enough to hit the market high and make these designs crazy trendy. They were right about it and the embroidered designs are now almost anywhere. Not only limited to clothes, machine embroidery has made it possible to embroider over a variety of products. Not only leather jackets, denim jackets, and jeans, leather skirts, accessories like handbags, shoes, and belts are also now embroidered. < Previous Post Next Post >