As the gold standard for innovation & technology in textile – ITMA, culminates in the fashion capital of the world, Milan, there are no doubts that the Digital Textile Pavilion has been a major crowd puller. This is owing to the numerous technology developments & updates showcased on the back of a rapidly growing demand for digital printing on textile for apparel and for home furnishings. At the digital textile pavilion industrial single pass printing competing with rotary screen-printing speeds and new ink innovations for pigment printing created the major interest among the visitors.
We at Inkjet Forum India feel that for digital textile printing which now contributes about 3% of the total printed textile output, the key drivers to increase presence are going to be the success of industrial single pass technology and the techno-commercial acceptance of pigment digital textile printing by the industry.
In line with the same thought, ITMA 2015 saw the launch of 3 new printers to join MS-LaRio in the industrial single pass printer club. They are Konica Minolta Nassenger SP-1, Atexco Vega One and the much awaited SPGPrints Pike. Miyakoshi a innovative Japanese manufacturer of innovative printing machines also previewed their soon to be launched Industrial single pass printer. While MS has a head-start with around 12 installations around the world we can definitely expect interesting times ahead. Konica Minolta has reinforced its presence by recently setting up a 5 Million Euro demonstration and training facility showcasing the Nassenger SP-1 along with the Nassenger 8 & 10. Not a company to be left behind SPGPrints has ambitious plans for the Pike based on the new archer print bar technology based on the Fujifilm Samba printheads.
The Debate – Single Pass vs Scanning Mode
As industrial single pass technology is creating interest in the industry there is another school of thought in the industry, which believes that the conventional scanning mode provides more quality, flexibility and reliability for digital textile printing. Taking a look at the advantage for scanning mode based printers, this allows the textile mill or processing house to have a multiple of printers with different ink chemistries targeting different product segments and carrying out different jobs simultaneously. Industrial single pass printing technology on the other hand introduces a completely different economics with a high capital cost and low product costs allowing higher production volumes and for the company to achieve higher profit margins.
However based on the outputs of the single pass technology the company needs to be in sync with their pretreatment, design, post-treatment and marketing to utilize the full advantage of the system. The single pass printers give the optimum performance when they are running on a continuous basis with low downtime.
Eventually it will come down to two key points in making the decision for single pass and scanning mode – economics of the process & end application of the company.
Pigment Inks for Digital Textile
This is a great opportunity for digital textile printing industry to increase its market share considering that in conventional print, pigment printing occupies a healthy market share of close to 50% and the interest for digital textile in home textile industry is increasing which primarily relies on pigment prints do to requirement of high light fastness. The digital pigment printing process has not grown in popularity so far due to apprehensions in terms of:
- Printhead life with pigment inks
- Brightness of inks
- Wash fastness
- Hand-feel
- Commercial implications.
Pigment inks have been evolving over time and companies have been addressing the issues above to make pigment digital printing acceptable to the industry. However pigment printing does provide a comparatively eco-friendly process with reduction in water consumption and waste and also simplifies the entire production process compared to digital printing with dye based inks. Additionally since this process does not generate waste water it also allows the printing companies to setup the printing sites closer to the fashion and home furnishing markets.
Some new products that were launched at ITMA 2015 included:
Kiian: Kiian launched the Digistar K-Choice, a new pigment ink for the Kyocera heads at the show and also showcased their complete portfolio of aqueous inks. A special focus has been made by Kiian to ensure brighter color reproduction with their inks
Velvet jet: Velvet Jet, a company devoted to developing and manufacturing high quality inks, introduced their new pigment printing solution for digital textile printing.
Fujifilm Imaging Colorants: FFIC showcased their new Pro-JET TX pigment based ink for high speed textile printing with dry heat fixation technology with allows for waterless fixation
There were a few OEM's and machine manufacturers in the digital textile pavilion exhibiting machines running on pigment ink successfully. The machines included the Durst Alpha 330, Colorjet Metro. Miyakoshi MTP Series, Kornit Allegro and MS – JPK Evo indicating the evolution of pigment inks to suit high speed production machines. Barring the MS JPK Evo the other four printers were launched at ITMA 2015.
Interesting Propositions.
Kothari Info-Tech Ltd.: Kothari Info-Tech Ltd (KITL) launched its new Charu Fashion range of high-energy disperse inks for direct printing of polyester fabrics. Along with the standard colors available they also showcased the fluorescent colour range allowing the prints to achieve deep, saturate and bright colours.
Sensient: Among other products Sensient launched the Xennia® Amethyst™ Ultra Black reactive dye digital textile ink which is a darker black for deeper tone. Dr Simon Daplyn, Sensient Product Manager for Textile Inks, comments, "The new Amethyst Ultra Black extends that lead. Benchmark testing against other inks available in the industry demonstrates a clear and distinct advantage for Amethyst Ultra Black in color depth and richness. This allows textile printers to add a new dimension in jet black design elements and stunning contrast with the bright Amethyst colors already being used by those looking for ultimate performance."
Technijet: The UK based company introduced their Swiftjet line of machines for on-demand pre-treatment for digital printing. Swiftjet uses a unique high-pressure spray application method that controls the droplet size down to a micron level, this allows for a precise and controlled application rate.
Archroma: Archroma, together with a Swiss technology provider, introduced for the very first time at ITMA 2015 a pioneering system that Archroma believes will mark a turnaround in the textile digital printing market – Inkpresso ®. The Inkpresso system enables mixing of the required ink on site and on demand taking the ink manufacturing to the printers themselves.
Kornit: Kornit launched the Vulcan at ITMA 2015 which is positioned to be a cost effective digital printing solution for medium to long runs for the garment industry. It can print up to 250 garments per hour for both dark and light garments. The printer promises photo realistic quality with 60 re-circulating print heads.
Summing it up if we take a look at the textile industry – it's a fact that inkjet textile printers are steadily penetrating the market with good business growth backed by recent improvements in print-head functionality, ink quality, and printer performance, as well as the unique qualities of digital printing. Important factors here are on-demand printing, plate-less printing and design flexibility, as well as greater environment friendliness resulting from the reduction of effluent and CO2 emission. The success of single pass printing technology and pigment inks will fuel the growth of digital textile printing in the coming 5 years
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