LIBERTY
Liberty is a movement dedicated to discovery, animated by arts, culture, design and the pursuit of beauty. Liberty London is famed for its original curation, directional design and celebration of craftsmanship. In the spirit of our founder, Arthur Lasenby Liberty, we remain unapologetically eccentric and committed to bringing good design to all.
Our Heritage
Original British design since 1875
Shortly after opening on Regent Street London in 1875, Arthur Liberty printed the first Liberty fabrics. By the 1890s Liberty Fabrics was a byword for the very best of avant-garde textile design. Today, every bolt of Liberty fabric is the product of a bespoke production process: hand-drawn by the in-house design team and printed in its factory a stone’s throw from Lake Como and cared for by skilled technicians who oversee the production of over 150 different designs a year.
Tana Lawn : A fabric built by obsession
Central to this story is our signature Tana Lawn™ cotton. A famous masterpiece of fabric technology, Tana Lawn™ is fine, cool and durable with a silk-like feel and brilliant reproduction of Liberty’s lustrous prints. Made from specially selected ultra-fine long staple cotton, its bespoke process has been fine-tuned by Liberty Fabric experts over the last 100 years, advancing the product in pinpoint detail. Today, Tana Lawn™ is a process of continual improvement; a living, breathing thing that continually evolves as Liberty Fabrics refines its methods and works with new technologies.
The Liberty Print Archive
Our vast print archive is a national treasure, encompassing well over 45,000 designs and dating from the 1800s to the present day - including collaborations with artists throughout our history. Today’s in-house print designers draw from the breadth of
THE LIBERTY PRINTING MILL
Liberty has been a pioneer of fabric innovation since we began printing our own designs well over a century ago. Today we have our own mill, located near the banks of Lake Como – the centre of the European textile industry. Using both cutting-edge technology and traditional techniques, archival and studio-fresh designs are printed to stunning effect on bases such as linen, chambray and, of course, our signature Tana Lawn cotton.
Our specialists print millions of metres of fabric every year, using both rotary screen and digital printing technologies. Swathes of fabric moves through printing, steaming, washing and softening processes. They are later quality checked by eagle-eyed technologists, before the fabric is cut, rolled and shipped around the globe.
Our mill is proud to continue with tried-and-tested traditional screen printing techniques, but also sits at the frontline of digital printing advancement, having recently invested in a new colour-by-colour printing machine that is one of only a few in the world. The continual honing of skills and technologies ensures we bring our studio designers’ photographic and painterly creations to life in the most vivid way possible.
Our mill reflects both sides of the Liberty spirit – a proud history of heritage design, combined with a restlessly inventive approach.
Sustainability: Our Commitment
Liberty Fabrics recognises that the production of fabric has significant environmental and social impact on the world around us – the company takes its duty towards responsible production seriously, making every endeavour to continuously improve progress in this area.
DESIGN STUDIO
Liberty Fabrics has been at the cutting-edge of design and decorative arts since 1875 – and this resolution is embedded in our legacy today: distinctive prints, unmatchable fabrics and exciting collaborations. Liberty’s London store acts as the iconic brand home – and at the heart of it is the Liberty Design Studio. Connected to Liberty’s flagship building by a wooden bridge, the unique in-house studio is occupied by 18 highly-skilled creatives, who conceptualise, re-work and hand-draw artwork creating over 250 fabric designs every year.
“We’ve got two archivists who work in the studio with us who are constantly updating the archive with our new artwork whilst working on a library system so we can access everything for new collections,” explains Design Director, Mary-Ann Dunkley. “We can find things that were done in the early 1900s and then take elements of them, redraw, rescale and give them a new energy. In terms of drawing, everyone in the studio has different handwriting, we have some incredibly talented artists in the team. Actively recruiting people who can bring something different to the archive - that has always been the case. That’s why we have so many different styles of work to revisit and take inspiration from".
Our Process
New technologies have transformed the way the design team works today: “Digital printing facilities are getting better and better every season,” says Mary-Ann. “Because we have our own factory in Italy, we work closely with them to make sure that when we are printing digitally, we’re doing it better than anyone else. We’re working hard to achieve similar qualities that you get with screen printing, one of them being the penetration of the ink on the fabric.”
What remains is an unparalleled investment in every single design. “We have design meetings at every stage of the process. We all look at the artwork on the body and from a distance to make sure that nothing stripes, spots or jumps out of the repeat. Our textile designers are experts at creating artwork that has balance, flow and rhythm, making fabrics that are flattering and beautiful.”
Liberty Fabrics has been at the cutting-edge of design and decorative arts since 1875 and now forms an international wholesale business, working with retailers, brands and designers across womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and homewares, and craft. With Liberty fabric being offered in draperies across the globe, where our fabrics are sold by the metre, the business has reached new levels of international recognition.
Designed by an in-house team in the heart of London, printing takes place at our mill in northern Italy, which uses both innovative digital technology and age-old techniques. From signature, obsessively fine-tuned Tana Lawn™ cotton and luxurious silk to lightweight linen, Liberty fabrics are brilliant canvases for bespoke creations of all kinds.
Liberty’s flagship London store acts as the iconic brand home - and in its core sits the Liberty Design Studio. The team of highly skilled artists conceptualise, rework, and hand-draw artworks to create hundreds of new designs every year for each division: Fashion, Interiors, and Crafting. With our founding ethos of discovery and adventure remaining at the heart of our design house’s legacy, Liberty continues to stand at the forefront of design. Designers will draw out each individual artwork by hand in the studio, working with a wide variety of materials to create a diverse yet cohesive collection of prints. The hand-drawn artworks are then translated into digital repeats using advanced software, allowing the studio to create multiple colourways and differently sized scale interpretations of their prints.
Liberty Fabrics continue to provide the fabric for many prestigious fashion brands across the globe. Being a customer of Liberty Fabrics gives brands and garments an authority on quality and style.
Our Heritage
Original British design since 1875
Shortly after opening on Regent Street London in 1875, Arthur Liberty printed the first Liberty fabrics. By the 1890s Liberty Fabrics was a byword for the very best of avant-garde textile design. Today, every bolt of Liberty fabric is the product of a bespoke production process: hand-drawn by the in-house design team and printed in its factory a stone’s throw from Lake Como and cared for by skilled technicians who oversee the production of over 150 different designs a year.
Tana Lawn : A fabric built by obsession
Central to this story is our signature Tana Lawn™ cotton. A famous masterpiece of fabric technology, Tana Lawn™ is fine, cool and durable with a silk-like feel and brilliant reproduction of Liberty’s lustrous prints. Made from specially selected ultra-fine long staple cotton, its bespoke process has been fine-tuned by Liberty Fabric experts over the last 100 years, advancing the product in pinpoint detail. Today, Tana Lawn™ is a process of continual improvement; a living, breathing thing that continually evolves as Liberty Fabrics refines its methods and works with new technologies.
The Liberty Print Archive
Our vast print archive is a national treasure, encompassing well over 45,000 designs and dating from the 1800s to the present day - including collaborations with artists throughout our history. Today’s in-house print designers draw from the breadth of
THE LIBERTY PRINTING MILL
Liberty has been a pioneer of fabric innovation since we began printing our own designs well over a century ago. Today we have our own mill, located near the banks of Lake Como – the centre of the European textile industry. Using both cutting-edge technology and traditional techniques, archival and studio-fresh designs are printed to stunning effect on bases such as linen, chambray and, of course, our signature Tana Lawn cotton.
Our specialists print millions of metres of fabric every year, using both rotary screen and digital printing technologies. Swathes of fabric moves through printing, steaming, washing and softening processes. They are later quality checked by eagle-eyed technologists, before the fabric is cut, rolled and shipped around the globe.
Our mill is proud to continue with tried-and-tested traditional screen printing techniques, but also sits at the frontline of digital printing advancement, having recently invested in a new colour-by-colour printing machine that is one of only a few in the world. The continual honing of skills and technologies ensures we bring our studio designers’ photographic and painterly creations to life in the most vivid way possible.
Our mill reflects both sides of the Liberty spirit – a proud history of heritage design, combined with a restlessly inventive approach.
Sustainability: Our Commitment
Liberty Fabrics recognises that the production of fabric has significant environmental and social impact on the world around us – the company takes its duty towards responsible production seriously, making every endeavour to continuously improve progress in this area.
DESIGN STUDIO
Liberty Fabrics has been at the cutting-edge of design and decorative arts since 1875 – and this resolution is embedded in our legacy today: distinctive prints, unmatchable fabrics and exciting collaborations. Liberty’s London store acts as the iconic brand home – and at the heart of it is the Liberty Design Studio. Connected to Liberty’s flagship building by a wooden bridge, the unique in-house studio is occupied by 18 highly-skilled creatives, who conceptualise, re-work and hand-draw artwork creating over 250 fabric designs every year.
“We’ve got two archivists who work in the studio with us who are constantly updating the archive with our new artwork whilst working on a library system so we can access everything for new collections,” explains Design Director, Mary-Ann Dunkley. “We can find things that were done in the early 1900s and then take elements of them, redraw, rescale and give them a new energy. In terms of drawing, everyone in the studio has different handwriting, we have some incredibly talented artists in the team. Actively recruiting people who can bring something different to the archive - that has always been the case. That’s why we have so many different styles of work to revisit and take inspiration from".
Our Process
New technologies have transformed the way the design team works today: “Digital printing facilities are getting better and better every season,” says Mary-Ann. “Because we have our own factory in Italy, we work closely with them to make sure that when we are printing digitally, we’re doing it better than anyone else. We’re working hard to achieve similar qualities that you get with screen printing, one of them being the penetration of the ink on the fabric.”
What remains is an unparalleled investment in every single design. “We have design meetings at every stage of the process. We all look at the artwork on the body and from a distance to make sure that nothing stripes, spots or jumps out of the repeat. Our textile designers are experts at creating artwork that has balance, flow and rhythm, making fabrics that are flattering and beautiful.”
Liberty Fabrics has been at the cutting-edge of design and decorative arts since 1875 and now forms an international wholesale business, working with retailers, brands and designers across womenswear, menswear, childrenswear and homewares, and craft. With Liberty fabric being offered in draperies across the globe, where our fabrics are sold by the metre, the business has reached new levels of international recognition.
Designed by an in-house team in the heart of London, printing takes place at our mill in northern Italy, which uses both innovative digital technology and age-old techniques. From signature, obsessively fine-tuned Tana Lawn™ cotton and luxurious silk to lightweight linen, Liberty fabrics are brilliant canvases for bespoke creations of all kinds.
Liberty’s flagship London store acts as the iconic brand home - and in its core sits the Liberty Design Studio. The team of highly skilled artists conceptualise, rework, and hand-draw artworks to create hundreds of new designs every year for each division: Fashion, Interiors, and Crafting. With our founding ethos of discovery and adventure remaining at the heart of our design house’s legacy, Liberty continues to stand at the forefront of design. Designers will draw out each individual artwork by hand in the studio, working with a wide variety of materials to create a diverse yet cohesive collection of prints. The hand-drawn artworks are then translated into digital repeats using advanced software, allowing the studio to create multiple colourways and differently sized scale interpretations of their prints.
Liberty Fabrics continue to provide the fabric for many prestigious fashion brands across the globe. Being a customer of Liberty Fabrics gives brands and garments an authority on quality and style.