Devoré burnout printing
Also known as: Burnout print, Etch print, Devoré
Chemical etch printing process that dissolves cellulose fibres in blend fabrics and creates semi-transparent patterns.
Description
Devoré (French for "devoured") is a textile printing process developed in Lyon at the turn of the 20th century. A blend fabric of cellulose fibres (viscose, cotton, rayon) and protein fibres (usually silk, occasionally wool) or polyester is printed with an acidic paste containing sodium hydrogen sulphate and then heat-cured in an oven.
On heating the acid completely destroys the cellulose in the printed areas while the protein or polyester fibre remains intact. After washing the design appears as a transparent negative, producing the classic burnout velvet or devoré T-shirt look — popular in the 1920s and revived from the late 1980s by Jasper Conran and Georgina von Etzdorf.
- Only meaningful with blends of clearly different fibre classes
- Handling requires extraction and pH neutralisation in the after-wash bath
- Typical results: burnout velvet, sheer blouses, scarves, patterned T-shirts
- Not possible on pure cotton, polyester-only or pure silk fabrics
Properties
| Process | Acid etch printing with sodium hydrogen sulphate |
|---|---|
| Suitable substrates | Blends of cellulose/silk or cellulose/PES |
| Application | Burnout velvet, scarves, patterned T-shirts, dresses |
| Care | Gentle wash at 30 °C, no tumble-dry, cool iron |
Related product categories
Sources & references
2- Wikipedia: Devoré Wikipedia — Freie Enzyklopädie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devor%C3%A9
- V&A Museum: Devoré scarves vam.ac.uk https://www.vam.ac.uk/
