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| Issue date:01/10/2008 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Oct 2008 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
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by John Scrimshaw
As digital printing makes its steady inroads into the territory once occupied exclusively by screen technology, one sector of the industry is outperforming all the rest
Digital printing on textiles has surprised observers by the speed with which it has become established in a wide variety of market niches -- not just replacing traditional techniques, but opening up new opportunities for a fast-turnaround, customised service in such diverse areas as display graphics, garment decoration and fashion fabrics.
Digital textile printing is not entirely new. For many years, printers have used wide-format or garment machines to create images capable of transfer to fabrics; or they have printed directly on to heavily coated textile to create banners and vehicle sidings, using the same wide- and superwide-machines that also print on vinyl or paper. But what has changed in recent years is the massive step forward we have seen in print-head and ink combinations, which have made direct printing on all kinds of textile substrate, often with photo-quality images, a practical proposition.
Digitally printed fashion fabrics (Picture source: R.A. Smart) |
In outdoor applications, the new inks won't fade or abrade under the onslaught of the weather, while those designed for fashion or household textiles will stand up to washing and sunlight in the same way as dyed fabrics. What's more, the new, dye-based digital inks give a more natural feel to the fabric than older, plasticised pigment inks.
Walk round the streets of any town or city and the results of this are plain to see, with brightly printed advertising banners adorning the exteriors of many commercial premises; photo-realistic images on canvas lorry sidings; and massive, printed building wraps that both disguise and protect construction sites. Inside high-street shops, the traditional hanging sign board, advertising special promotions, has given way in many instances to more aesthetically pleasing silky or gauze hangings.
Higher visual demands raise hopes to advanced printing
Several digital printer manufacturers, such as EFI Vutek, Leggett & Platt and Gandinnovations, now offer models capable of printing fabrics more than three metres wide, usually with either solvent-based or UV curing inks.
In the related area of flag printing, higher-volume print heads are capable of jetting enough ink to penetrate the fabric and colour both sides in a single run. The advantages of this are clear, when you realise that, in principle, a printer could produce the flags of all nations in a single run -- and compare that with the time and screen-manufacturing implications of attempting to reproduce this feat using screen printing.
These same high-volume print heads have also brought digital technology into the realm of pile-fabric and carpet printing, with machines such as the Zimmer Chromojet.
A carpet printed on Zimmer’s Chromojet |
The change is perhaps even more profound in the garment-decoration sector. Whereas a few years ago digital garment printing meant the creation of dye sublimation heat transfers, which needed to be ironed on, now a whole multi-coloured image can be applied directly on to the garment in less than a minute. And, because the process is computer controlled, the next garment can have a completely different image.
Recent variants to this technique have included “resist” printing, which gives an effect like batik, and, while three years ago direct printing was only possible on light-coloured garments, now machinery suppliers such as Kornit Digital have introduced new systems, capable of printing on dark substrates. Japan’s Shima Seiki, better known for machines that can knit a whole garment, without any seams, even has a printer that can decorate the whole surface area of a shirt, with an automatic sensor to recognise where the edges lie.
All this development has opened up new commercial opportunities in short-run work- and promotional-wear, but most notably in extreme customisation. There are websites such as Zazzle.com or TshirtStudio.com, where consumers can upload their own images and receive an individually printed garment within a couple of weeks.
This is a market where the printer has a wide choice of models and cost structures. The entry-level T-Jet garment printer from the US Screen & Digital costs well under US$20,000, but you would have to pay several times that for the high speed of the Kornit 93X series. Other leaders in the market include Mimaki, Brother and Italy's MS.
Digital textile printing has met its sternest test in the area of fabrics for fashion or interior decoration. Here, the finished product has to meet the requirements of domestic laundering, meaning that inks generally have to contain the dyes appropriate to the fibre type -- disperse for polyester; reactive for cotton; acid for silk, etc. Pigment inks, suitable for most other applications, only lie on the surface of the fibre, rather than penetrating into it, and are therefore of limited application.
At the turn of the century, the “state of the art” was the small studio printer -- usually a Mimaki or Mutoh, converted for fabric by the addition of a special handling system. This was capable of producing perhaps 6m2 an hour, just enough for sampling purposes.
But around 2003, a whole new category of machine -- the production fabric printer -- hit the market, with speeds from 30m2 to 150m2 an hour. These machines use water-based dye inks, developed by the leading dyestuff manufacturers to be compatible with specific print heads. These inks are expensive, creating a drag on the take-up of the technology by the mainstream textile-printing industry. However, there are pockets of remarkable success, such as the silk-printing industry around Como, Italy, where dozens of these machines -- the Monna Lisa, from Epson/Robustelli; the Nassenger V from KonicaMinolta; or the DReAM from Reggiani -- are now in use.
The Reggiani DReAM production fabric printer |
2007 has seen even faster versions of these machines emerge, using new and more forgiving print heads that promise a more “open” approach to ink selection. And just round the corner is a monster of a production machine -- the Isis, from the Dutch firm Osiris. This can print around 1,000 running metres of fabric an hour, in a resolution that is ideal for many furnishing or fashion fabrics, where the design contains mainly flat colours. What’s more, the inks are very inexpensive, working out at only around US$0.54 a square metre. The first machine is still undergoing production trials in the Netherlands, prior to delivery to the Italian printer Maver.
This is definitely digital printing for the “big boys”, with the price tag for the Isis starting at around US$4.6 million.
All these developments indicate that interest in digital textile printing is taking off in a big way. There are now at least 40 companies worldwide, offering systems for direct printing on either fabric or garments.
In this mix, garment printing is clearly the star performer, but after a lull caused by the textile recession of 2004-5, we are also seeing more take-up by mainstream fabric printers. On the other hand, many of these companies are heavily invested in traditional screen technology and it remains to be seen whether they will have the resources or confidence to fill the digital space. Perhaps the graphics sector, already more familiar with the fast-moving world of on-demand printing, will get there first.
Market might multiple to US$6 billion by 2010
It is a market that looks set to grow almost exponentially. In a report earlier this year, US consultancy IT Strategies calculated that the worldwide retail value in 2005 of the printed output from all inkjet textile printers was US$3.3 billion. Its startling forecast was that this would grow to more than US$18 billion by 2010, an annual growth rate of 40%.
Most of this growth will be in direct printing of garments. IT Strategies says that by 2010, garment printing alone will account for almost US$13 billion, with its share of the total rising to approximately 70%.
Examining the technology and supplies market, IT Strategies estimated that in 2005, manufacturers’ revenues (sales of hardware, media and ink) for digital textile printers were US$1.9 billion. It forecast that this would grow to almost US$6 billion by 2010, an annual rate of 26%.
IT Strategies has also projected the sales and production volumes of both roll-to-roll and garment printers. The company estimates that, in 2005, an installed base of 2,300 dedicated digital fabric-printing machines worldwide produced more than 84 million square metres of printed textiles. Of this, 75% (just under 65 million square metres) was signage-related and 25% (22 million square metres) was in newer areas such as interior furnishings and apparel.
It predicts that by 2010, digitally printed textiles will have grown at an annual compound rate of 19%, to more than 186 million square metres, printed on more than 5,000 dedicated digital textile printers. The company expects the relative importance of the signage and non-signage markets to remain similar, with the non-signage sector accounting for 26% of production in 2010.
IT Strategies predicts even faster growth in sales of direct-to-garment inkjet printers. It estimates that in 2005, just over 3,000 machines were sold worldwide. By 2010, it expects this to increase to almost 20,000 -- a compound growth rate of 45%. More than 90% of the printers sold are low-end (less than $50,000).
Enthusiasts for digital textile printing, or simply those who wish to look into the future potential of this dynamic sector, will have the opportunity to attend a range of industry seminars and demonstrations on the latest technological advancements during the FESPA World Expo Asia-Pacific, which will take place for the first time at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) from November 28 to 30 with international screen and digital printing exhibitors.
Source: FESPA World Expo Asia Pacific
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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