Custom Printed Airflow Light Fabric

This is our well known digital print Airflow Light fabric, order a test print and see how it works with your own patterns. Allowing air to flow through the textile, this breathable material also offers superb comfort, making it a perfect choice for athleisure garments too.

Surface Textures

The eyelet knit provides a series of indentations which allows air to flow through - hence the name Airflow Light. This soft and sleek custom airflow fabric has a clean finish on both sides, with a slightly raised texture on the surface. There is a certain amount of give to it on the weft, as it is highly elastic, allowing it to stretch slightly with the grain of the fabric. The slight sheen to the fabric reflects light nicely.

Print Detail

Digital printing on Airflow Light fabric allows very bright and bold color printing due to the stark white base color. The extremely fine and almost mesh-like quality of the Airflow material still leaves a matte finish, so when printing the image is not disrupted in any way, leaving a flawless print. The fabric is slightly opaque when light shines through, holding a solid color when on its own.

Usage

The breathable nature of this fabric, makes it ideal for sportswear like vests, tops, and streetwear such as basketball pinnies etc. Get printing on Airflow Light fabric for your personalized garments. Our Airflow Light material has also been used for custom speaker grill cloth.

Sizing For Hemming And Shrinkage

We have a full Cut & Sew service here at Contrado, and are able to hem your fabric prints for a small additional charge. We create a small one- or two-fold hem that typically uses 0.2" to 0.75" (5-20mm) of material, depending on the thickness of the fabric. So, for example, if you want a finished piece of fabric that measures 39.37" x 39.37", you will need to order a size of 39.96" x 39.96" to allow for the hem (on top of that please also allow for shrinkage of min 2%). The thicker the fabric, the bigger the hem will be. You can choose to have your prints hemmed with either Black or White thread. On our silk and other light woven fabrics, one hemmed edge will be straight (vertically down the roll) and the other will be slightly rippled. The hemming material allowances are as follows and you need to make your print bigger to accommodate the hem:

• Light Fabrics (0.59oz-2.95oz): For silks and other light fabrics, we use 0.24" - 0.32" / 6mm-8mm in the hem (2 fold), so overall width/height will be minus 0.48"-0.56""/ 12-16mm
• Medium Fabrics (2.98oz-5.90oz): For medium-weight fabrics that fray, we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (2 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.4" - 1.6" / 35-40mm
• Stiff/Heavy/No-fray fabrics: we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (1 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.5" / 35-40mm

All of these measurements are approximate and can vary. Including with shrinkage, it can mean a fairly significant difference to ordered dimensions, so please plan your print accordingly. Depending on how open the weave is, our fabric can shrink anywhere from 2% to 8% with the average being 2.5%.

How Would you Like the Edge?

• As it comes. We cut around your image, leaving a simply scissor cut, perhaps uneven white fabric border. 
• Hem with thread. We can hem your fabric with a choice of black or white thread. Please allow 1-2 days additional production time. See below for information on how hemming affects the size of your print. We offer an overlock hem, as well as a folded hem (one or two fold depending on the fabric) however not all fabrics are suited to both hem types. If you can see both options, it means both are suitable, and you will be able to choose whichever you prefer. 
• Cut on the line. We will cut neatly on the edge of your design. This means that if you have a border around your design we will cut around that border, if your design takes the whole space of the fabric, then we will neatly cut around the edge of that image. Please be aware, when we cut along the line, we have to cut against the grain of the fabric. This is the standard procedure for fabric cutting. This means that with some fabrics, for example, Georgette and Mulmul, which have a slight wave in them, some fraying will occur. This is unavoidable, as the cut follows the grain of the textile. 

All of our fabrics are cut manually by hand, with the utmost care and attention. If your fabric has a slightly uneven look on the edges or a touch of fraying, this does not indicate a flaw in the textile. It is not always possible to achieve a perfectly straight cut with certain fabrics, so please do bare this in mind when it comes to your design. If you have any queries or would like to know about our cutting methods in more detail, please get in touch and we will be more than happy to discuss them with you.

Please note: As we make everything by hand, all sizes may vary slightly.

For further information about our fabrics see our FAQs.

Is This the Only Breathable Material?

We have many other breathable alternatives, including waterproof, natural and synthetic options. Take a look at the breathable waterproof, the bamboo, the jerseys, and the microfibers. We suggest you order a swatch pack and choose from the samples.

Does This Material Pill Easily?

It’s not a usual occurrence, but if you’re worried about it try washing your clothes inside out and using fabric softener to help separate the fabric and prevent stray fibers from sticking to the front of your garment.

Is There a Type of Clothing That This Was Designed For?

This material is designed for multiple different uses, but is ideal for sportswear due to it’s pique mesh breathable capabilities. The knitted texture is one that is popular in the use of sports pinnies and shorts.