David Savastano, Editor07.29.16
The textile market has been evolving, and printing has been gaining a foothold in this sizable field, with screenprinting the initial choice for printing fabrics. However, the market for the digital printing of textiles is emerging rapidly.
With the advent of digital printing for textiles, much has changed in recent years. Initially, inkjet was used for prototyping and one-offs, as the time and cost of setting up screens made inkjet a better value. Now, with the growth of customization as well as more efficient production equipment, digital printing is becoming more mainstream.
“Digital technology has changed everything it has touched, including the textile and printing markets,” said Fernando Urteaga, group manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. “Textile printing is a $7.5 billion market, and is projected to grow more than 34% worldwide, providing outstanding opportunities.”
Nufar Kiryati, marcom manager for Bordeaux Digital PrintInk, noted that the textile industry is one of the world’s largest industries, and it has come a long way.
“The textile printing industry represents 30 billion square meters of material volume on an annual basis worldwide,” Kiryati said. “Industry data shows that after a decade of advances in digital printing technologies for textile, only 2% of the world’s printed textiles are produced digitally. The majority of digital printing on textiles is done today mainly on polyester fabrics using dye sublimation.”
“What is driving the market, in very basic terms, is the increasing demand for rapid customization to create beautiful, unique clothing or household products,” noted Dr. J. D. Hayward of Smithers Pira, author of the report, “The Future of Dye-Sublimation Printing to 2021.”
“This is more and more made possible by digital printing technology. In turn, printers must turn around the production and delivery of dye sublimation products ever more quickly to meet this demand,” Dr. Hayward added.
Dr. Hayward estimated a total of nearly 384 million square meters of fabric were printed digitally via dye sublimation in the year to Q1 2016, having grown by just under 18.4% in the past year 2015-16. This is set to rise to 892 million square meters in 2021. Dye sublimation inks revenues amount to a total of around €259 million to end Q1 2016.
According to Smithers Pira, digital textile printing output grew at more than 45% annually between 2004 and 2009, albeit from a low base. Dye sublimation digital printing came into its own after 2010, growing in some countries at more than 50% per year from a low base from 2011 onward.
Tony Cox, business manager, Sun Chemical, said that printed textiles have traditionally been featured across many markets, from carpets to apparel and home furnishing to soft signage.
“All of these markets have usually used screenprinting techniques over the years,” added Cox. “These markets continue to be strong with an excellent growth forecast over the coming years. This growth has been energized by the adoption of digital printing in the textile market and has created some new and exciting opportunities.
“The design and color flexibility of digital textile printing has enabled more customization and personalization, as well as economic short runs, and shorter delivery times with no need to hold large stocks,” Cox said. “These are the key drivers leading to the strong growth forecasts in the digital textile market over the coming years.”
“While textile is still about clothing and home-use textiles, the textile industry as a whole is one of the largest printing industries in the world with great diversity,” said Ruth Zach, marketing coordinator for Bordeaux Digital PrintInk. “Textile printing is also used in industrial textiles, which include hundreds of types of textiles for many industries such as automotive, upholstery, outdoor gear, protective clothing, agro-textiles used in agriculture and even engineering textiles used for various technical purposes.”
“In the early days, the advantages of digital textile printing was mostly seen in smaller jobs and shorter runs, sampling, and fashion design printing,” said Brian Meldrum, president, FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants. “As the technology has developed over time and with the advent of high speed single pass large printers, more and more of older conventional printers are being phased out and replaced by digital printers. This is allowing the fashion industry to truly take advantage of benefits of digital printing at production scale with high productivity.”
Acquisitions in the Digital Textile Industry
In the past year, there has been a flurry of activity in the digital textile space, beginning in May 2015, when Sensient Technologies acquired the assets of Xennia Technology from Royal Ten Cate NV. EFI followed by acquiring Reggiani Macchine, a water-based inks industrial inkjet print specialist, in July 2015, forming EFI Reggiani.
In October 2015, Dover Corporation purchased JK Group SPA and its three ink subsidiaries: J-Teck, Kiian Digital and Sawgrass. In June 2016, Epson Group company Epson Italia S.p.A. agreed to acquire 100% of the capital of Fratelli Robustelli S.r.l., a leader in the textile printing industry, allowing Epson Group to leverage its manufacturing capability to bring the advantages of its digital inkjet textile printers to more customers.
“The textile inkjet market is still growing very fast and we are taking our share of that growth, especially after the acquisition of Xennia, which has positioned Sensient as the largest independent provider of all textile inks technologies,” said Dr. Christophe Bulliard, marketing director, Sensient Imaging Technologies SA. “Digital printing as fully entered production floor in the areas where it is creating new business models (fast fashion, etc.) and providing additional benefits (‘make what you sell/sell all what you make’ equals no stock, cash flow management, etc.)”
“Textile has amazing growth potential. EFI is seeing growth all around, and that is why it was so exciting for us to get into this market last year with the acquisition of Reggiani Macchine,” said Mike Wozny, senior product manager for EFI. “As direct-to-fabric becomes feasible with a greater variety of textiles, and as pre- and post-treatment steps get eliminated or optimized, digital printing will ramp up even faster in apparel and décor markets.With soft signage, the growth opportunity is very dynamic, as we are talking about what is mostly an untapped market.”
Outlook for the Digital Textile Market
With outstanding potential for growth, digital textile suppliers see excellent opportunities ahead in the marketplace.
“There is a growing demand for greater variety of colors and design at quicker turnaround cycles,” Kiryati said. “Textile designers are rethinking their approach to production and manufacturing of textile. Whether designing for sportswear or a fashion line or even for furniture upholstery – all these markets are changing the way they present their style. Styles and trends are constantly changing in today’s fast paced world. Thus, short cycles of fashion lines demand fast turnaround in production and manufacturing of textile. Responding to this trend of ‘fast fashion’ and switching from mass production to mass customization, digital textile production is becoming the cost effective choice for brands in both the apparel and home markets.”
“Short run times for the fashion industry is extremely important,” Meldrum added. “Digital printing now allows for producers to keep up with the fashion cycles and four seasons in real time. It will be interesting to see how the fashion designers will use digital printing for ‘fast’ fashion in future.”
“We expect a strong growth in the volume printed digitally,” Dr. Bulliard said. “This is creating a strong dynamic in the market which has already led to some consolidation, and it is likely to continue.”
“EFI is constantly evaluating how different segments of the market – décor, apparel and soft signage display – are going to develop in any different region,” said Wozny. “But the big picture analysis is pretty bright and there is a lot of opportunity there. The World Textile Information Network estimates that the digital textile printing has a 25% growth rate, which is phenomenal for any type of print technology.”
“We expect the digital textile printing market worldwide will grow at an annual rate of approximately 25% going forward until approximately 2019,” Urteaga concluded. “The shift from analog to digital printing is accelerating in areas where mixed short-run production with a short turnaround time is required. We are estimating more than 30% growth annually, which is faster than market growth, and by absorbing Robustelli’s knowledge and expertise, Epson will accelerate this shift.”
With the advent of digital printing for textiles, much has changed in recent years. Initially, inkjet was used for prototyping and one-offs, as the time and cost of setting up screens made inkjet a better value. Now, with the growth of customization as well as more efficient production equipment, digital printing is becoming more mainstream.
“Digital technology has changed everything it has touched, including the textile and printing markets,” said Fernando Urteaga, group manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc. “Textile printing is a $7.5 billion market, and is projected to grow more than 34% worldwide, providing outstanding opportunities.”
Nufar Kiryati, marcom manager for Bordeaux Digital PrintInk, noted that the textile industry is one of the world’s largest industries, and it has come a long way.
“The textile printing industry represents 30 billion square meters of material volume on an annual basis worldwide,” Kiryati said. “Industry data shows that after a decade of advances in digital printing technologies for textile, only 2% of the world’s printed textiles are produced digitally. The majority of digital printing on textiles is done today mainly on polyester fabrics using dye sublimation.”
“What is driving the market, in very basic terms, is the increasing demand for rapid customization to create beautiful, unique clothing or household products,” noted Dr. J. D. Hayward of Smithers Pira, author of the report, “The Future of Dye-Sublimation Printing to 2021.”
“This is more and more made possible by digital printing technology. In turn, printers must turn around the production and delivery of dye sublimation products ever more quickly to meet this demand,” Dr. Hayward added.
Dr. Hayward estimated a total of nearly 384 million square meters of fabric were printed digitally via dye sublimation in the year to Q1 2016, having grown by just under 18.4% in the past year 2015-16. This is set to rise to 892 million square meters in 2021. Dye sublimation inks revenues amount to a total of around €259 million to end Q1 2016.
According to Smithers Pira, digital textile printing output grew at more than 45% annually between 2004 and 2009, albeit from a low base. Dye sublimation digital printing came into its own after 2010, growing in some countries at more than 50% per year from a low base from 2011 onward.
Tony Cox, business manager, Sun Chemical, said that printed textiles have traditionally been featured across many markets, from carpets to apparel and home furnishing to soft signage.
“All of these markets have usually used screenprinting techniques over the years,” added Cox. “These markets continue to be strong with an excellent growth forecast over the coming years. This growth has been energized by the adoption of digital printing in the textile market and has created some new and exciting opportunities.
“The design and color flexibility of digital textile printing has enabled more customization and personalization, as well as economic short runs, and shorter delivery times with no need to hold large stocks,” Cox said. “These are the key drivers leading to the strong growth forecasts in the digital textile market over the coming years.”
“While textile is still about clothing and home-use textiles, the textile industry as a whole is one of the largest printing industries in the world with great diversity,” said Ruth Zach, marketing coordinator for Bordeaux Digital PrintInk. “Textile printing is also used in industrial textiles, which include hundreds of types of textiles for many industries such as automotive, upholstery, outdoor gear, protective clothing, agro-textiles used in agriculture and even engineering textiles used for various technical purposes.”
“In the early days, the advantages of digital textile printing was mostly seen in smaller jobs and shorter runs, sampling, and fashion design printing,” said Brian Meldrum, president, FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants. “As the technology has developed over time and with the advent of high speed single pass large printers, more and more of older conventional printers are being phased out and replaced by digital printers. This is allowing the fashion industry to truly take advantage of benefits of digital printing at production scale with high productivity.”
Acquisitions in the Digital Textile Industry
In the past year, there has been a flurry of activity in the digital textile space, beginning in May 2015, when Sensient Technologies acquired the assets of Xennia Technology from Royal Ten Cate NV. EFI followed by acquiring Reggiani Macchine, a water-based inks industrial inkjet print specialist, in July 2015, forming EFI Reggiani.
In October 2015, Dover Corporation purchased JK Group SPA and its three ink subsidiaries: J-Teck, Kiian Digital and Sawgrass. In June 2016, Epson Group company Epson Italia S.p.A. agreed to acquire 100% of the capital of Fratelli Robustelli S.r.l., a leader in the textile printing industry, allowing Epson Group to leverage its manufacturing capability to bring the advantages of its digital inkjet textile printers to more customers.
“The textile inkjet market is still growing very fast and we are taking our share of that growth, especially after the acquisition of Xennia, which has positioned Sensient as the largest independent provider of all textile inks technologies,” said Dr. Christophe Bulliard, marketing director, Sensient Imaging Technologies SA. “Digital printing as fully entered production floor in the areas where it is creating new business models (fast fashion, etc.) and providing additional benefits (‘make what you sell/sell all what you make’ equals no stock, cash flow management, etc.)”
“Textile has amazing growth potential. EFI is seeing growth all around, and that is why it was so exciting for us to get into this market last year with the acquisition of Reggiani Macchine,” said Mike Wozny, senior product manager for EFI. “As direct-to-fabric becomes feasible with a greater variety of textiles, and as pre- and post-treatment steps get eliminated or optimized, digital printing will ramp up even faster in apparel and décor markets.With soft signage, the growth opportunity is very dynamic, as we are talking about what is mostly an untapped market.”
Outlook for the Digital Textile Market
With outstanding potential for growth, digital textile suppliers see excellent opportunities ahead in the marketplace.
“There is a growing demand for greater variety of colors and design at quicker turnaround cycles,” Kiryati said. “Textile designers are rethinking their approach to production and manufacturing of textile. Whether designing for sportswear or a fashion line or even for furniture upholstery – all these markets are changing the way they present their style. Styles and trends are constantly changing in today’s fast paced world. Thus, short cycles of fashion lines demand fast turnaround in production and manufacturing of textile. Responding to this trend of ‘fast fashion’ and switching from mass production to mass customization, digital textile production is becoming the cost effective choice for brands in both the apparel and home markets.”
“Short run times for the fashion industry is extremely important,” Meldrum added. “Digital printing now allows for producers to keep up with the fashion cycles and four seasons in real time. It will be interesting to see how the fashion designers will use digital printing for ‘fast’ fashion in future.”
“We expect a strong growth in the volume printed digitally,” Dr. Bulliard said. “This is creating a strong dynamic in the market which has already led to some consolidation, and it is likely to continue.”
“EFI is constantly evaluating how different segments of the market – décor, apparel and soft signage display – are going to develop in any different region,” said Wozny. “But the big picture analysis is pretty bright and there is a lot of opportunity there. The World Textile Information Network estimates that the digital textile printing has a 25% growth rate, which is phenomenal for any type of print technology.”
“We expect the digital textile printing market worldwide will grow at an annual rate of approximately 25% going forward until approximately 2019,” Urteaga concluded. “The shift from analog to digital printing is accelerating in areas where mixed short-run production with a short turnaround time is required. We are estimating more than 30% growth annually, which is faster than market growth, and by absorbing Robustelli’s knowledge and expertise, Epson will accelerate this shift.”