FOREARTH is designed to virtually eliminate water consumption in fabric printing and helps reduce the environmental impact of the fashion industry.
KYOCERA Corporation introduces FOREARTH, a new inkjet textile printer that virtually eliminates water consumption in fabric printing. As such, this printer plays a part in ending water pollution from textile printing. This has long been a problem in the textile and apparel industry, for which we now present the solution.
Background to the development
Traditional, analogue textile printing consumes a lot of water, especially during washing and steaming. As a result, wastewater pollution from textile printing has long been a problem around the world. In addition, the waste generated by the disposal of large quantities of surplus garments means an environmental problem. The textile and apparel industry is under pressure to take immediate action to alleviate these problems. Kyocera has therefore developed the new FOREARTH inkjet textile printer. This combines patented inkjet, ink and printer technology to help solve these environmental problems.
Key features are:
Water-free concept - Dramatically reduces water consumption in textile printing.
Free creativity - A patented pigment ink ensures soft, hand-flattering prints while maintaining high strength on a wide range of fabrics.
Free choice of location - Textile printing no longer relies on water resources. This enables optimisation of production volumes and locations, and helps reduce logistics costs, time and excess inventory.
Water-free concept
Generally, dye-based ink is used in textile printing. 1 Pre- and post-treatment, such as steaming and washing, requires a large amount of water. FOREARTH acts as an all-in-one printing system using a new patented pigment ink 2, a pre-treatment liquid and a finishing agent. These are continuously dispensed from the inkjet head in the same sequence. This system eliminates the pre- and post-processing steps required in conventional colour printing and reduces water consumption in textile printing by 99%.3 In addition, this new printing solution helps reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by eliminating the need for large-scale pre- and post-processing equipment in textile printing.
Free creativity
Conventional digital printing with dyes generally requires diverse types of dyes for diverse fabrics made from diverse fibres. FOREARTH solves the typical problems of pigment printing, especially lower colour development, strength and hard feel, by using Kyocera's patented ink technology and know-how in a new all-in-one printing system. This makes it possible to print a wide range of fabrics in rich detail - from cotton, silk and polyester to nylon and blended fabrics - on a single machine. It is also adaptable to a wide range of categories, from womenswear and sportswear to babywear and home textiles.
Free choice of location
Generally, dyeing plants are located in regions with sufficient water resources because the printing process requires a large amount of water. FOREARTH, on the other hand, requires only a small amount of water for printing, so production can take place anywhere, for example on the coast, near the coast or in more suitable regions, such as near consumers. In addition, FOREARTH's simple two-step printing and drying process drastically shortens the number of steps from design to production. Thanks to these lean processes, FOREARTH enables an optimised choice of production location. This allows it to handle short-run printing and shorten delivery times. This reduces logistics costs and excess inventory. In addition, FOREARTH can handle printing in the smallest possible space.
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