Textile printing, the various processes by which fabrics are printed in colored design is an ancient art. Although the time and place of origin are uncertain, examples of Greek fabrics from the 4th cent. B.C. have been found. India exported block prints to the Mediterranean region in the 5th cent. B.C., and Indian chintz was imported into Europe during the Renaissance and widely imitated. France became a leading center and was noted especially for the toile de Joey manufactured at Joey from 1760 to 1811.

Early forms of textile printing are stencil work, highly developed by Japanese artists, and block printing. A separate block is used for each color, and pitch pins at the corners guide the placing of the blocks to assure accurate repeating of the pattern. The design is engraved on the copper rollers by hand or machine pressure or etched by pantograph or photoengraving methods, the color paste is applied to the rollers through feed rollers rotating in a color box, the color being scraped off the smooth portion of the rollers with knives.

Many recent printing processes include screen printing a hand method especially suitable for large patterns with soft outlines in which screens one for each color are placed on the fabric and the color paste pressed through by a wooden squeegee spray printing, in which a spray gun forces the color through a screen; and electro coating, used to apply an patterned pile. Color may be applied by the various processes directly; by the discharge method, which uses chemicals to destroy a portion of a previously dyed ground or by the resist, or reserve, method, which prevents the development of a subsequently applied color to a portion of the fabric treated with a chemical or with a mechanical resist.