An unbacked transport and conditioning printing system for printing a pattern on a fabric is disclosed. The system includes a fabric characterization and tension control subsystem for gathering information on variations in the fabric and an irregularity detection subsystem for detecting irregularities in the fabric, as well as, crease detection and removal. The fabric passes through a fabric drying and conditioning subsystem for characterization of the fabric. The system also includes a fabric control subsystem for advancing the fabric through a print zone, where a pattern is printed on an unbacked fabric. The fabric is transported through a drying and post-processing subsystem and a closed-loop color control subsystem.