Digital printing direct to fabrics and garments: developments and growth prospects

Digital textile printing allows for unlimited colour choices, customisation, and flexibility in design and production. The digital textile printing industry has come a long way in a relatively short space of time, and it has seen significant advancements over the past decade in particular. These advancements have been driven by improvements in automation, ink formulations and print head technology. Early machines brought many advantages but relied on modified office inkjet heads with the result that speeds were limited, and there were issues relating to the range of fabrics which were compatible. Today, digital textile printing can be carried out on an industrial scale using roll-to-roll dye sublimation machines which are extremely flexible and capable of high speeds. Further to this, two other key digital textile printing technologies have emerged in the past decade—namely direct-to-garment (DTG) and direct-to-film (DTF) printing—and these are having a profound impact on the industry. Companies manufacturing the latest machines in digital printing include Brother, ColorJet, EFI Reggiani, Epson, Kornit Digital, Mimaki and Sawgrass. These machines are extremely flexible and can print on a wide variety of fabrics. Furthermore, many of these machines do not require pre-processing and post-processing equipment or specialist operators. As a result, they are resource efficient and cost effective, and have a low impact on the environment.