David Savastano, Editor10.14.21
Digital printing of textiles has come a long way, but there is so much more room to grow. As the presses improve, so do the inks that go on them; pigmented inkjet inks are making headway in a field long reserved for dye-based inks.
According to Research and Markets, the global digital textile ink segment was valued at approximately $970 million in 2020; more interestingly, Research and Markets is placing the market at a CAGR of 9.37%, estimating the field to reach more than $1.66 billion by 2026.
That would be excellent growth for sure. The reality is that the market for digital textile printing is growing rapidly, and with new presses being debuted and more designers and brand owners finding the benefits of inkjet and textiles, this expansion could be achieved.
One of the key benefits of digital printing is the ability produce inventory on demand, and with the present logistical challenges of transporting goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, more retailers and designers alike are looking closer and adopting digital printing.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Digital Textile Printing
The pandemic virtually shut down many retail businesses, leaving consumers looking for ways to buy products. Even now, as transportation issues remain, bringing textiles from overseas is a
serious challenge.
Simon Daplyn, manager, product marketing for Sun Chemical, said that the pandemic has brought the benefits of digital print into clearer focus.
“Many brands were caught with open orders (placed months in advance) or inventory in transit by sea when stores closed, and the garments were unable to be sold through traditional channels,” Daplyn observed. “There is now a greater understanding of the importance of inventory management in a supply chain that can be more flexible in terms of both minimum volume per design and having production closer to the consumer. The trend of re-shoring is accelerating but will take time for the supply chains to balance the need of fabric, finishing and printing.
“One area that grew significantly is digital printing for home textiles,” Daplyn added. “As people spent more time and money on home renovations, the demand for bespoke interior fabrics grew. This is also reflected in the increase in digital pigment printing. Digital textile printing still only represents 7%-8% of the total textiles printed, meaning the potential for further growth is still significant.”
Tim Check, product manager, professional imaging, Epson America, Inc., pointed to the benefits of customization.
“Buyers are spending more time in their homes and are spending more on personalized décor and unique apparel,” Check said. “The acceleration of online shipping has provided many new designers and startups a platform to compete with well-established retail brands. Digital textile printing has lowered the cost of entry to become a décor or apparel producer.”
Lily Hunter, Roland DGA senior product manager, noted that COVID-19 has accelerated interest in different market segments for digital textile printing.
“For example, during lockdown when people stayed home, the market for most attire and sports uniforms plummeted. However, demand for personalized facemasks, gaiters, T-shirts, and other accessories skyrocketed,” Hunter reported.
Eric Beyeler, global marketing manager, DuPont Artistri Digital Inks, said that DuPont believes that digital pigment printing has proved to be successful during the pandemic.
“We believe it has, especially for digital pigment printing,” Beyeler said. “In direct-to-garment (DTG), direct to film (DTF) or roll-to-roll (RTR), pigment ink jet inks allow for a short supply chain, delivers great and consistent colors for short runs and lowers the environmental footprint on the garment and fabric industry.”
Micol Gamba, product marketing manager for EFI Reggiani, said that interest levels for digital printing of textiles were high even before the pandemic, especially because some trends – such as stricter environmental regulation, design to shelf speed and the need for efficient print-on-demand capabilities – made digital a preferred option over analog.
“Of course, the pandemic has accelerated this trend,” Gamba said. “One side effect of the health emergency was the impact on global supply chains, so, for example, brands that rely on all of their goods to come from Asia started looking more at digital printing as a way to manufacture closer to the point of need.
“But, the same factors that affect manufacturing, shipments and also the purchase of textiles – for example difficulties in a country that has a strict lockdown – can also have an impact on installing new digital printers,” Gamba added. “EFI Reggiani is based in Northern Italy, which was one of the hardest hit regions of the world early in the pandemic. We learned from that and developed methods of remote service and support to help ensure successful printer installations. And, at the same time, we further leveraged our strong global network of technicians and service centers around the world.
“While COVID-19 has severely impacted the textile industry, since the second half of 2020 we have witnessed a positive recovery,” Gamba noted. “There are customers that decided to increase their digital capability with new printers and brand new customers approaching a market full of potential with increasing demand for customized, on demand products.”
Growth in Digital Textile Printing
Even discounting the effect of the pandemic on textile buying habits of retailers and consumers, the market is growing quickly, driven by personalization.
“The main driver is personalization/customization,” Hunter said. “Many designers can create one-offs and samplings of various seasonal collections and bring them to market quicker. This can be for fashion as well as home décor. Web-to-print online stores are also very common as consumers can order personalized goods. Therefore, digital printing allows that flexibility for these types of production needs.”
Gamba said EFI Reggiani is seeing growth in digital printing, driven by several different market needs.
“Consumers’ behavior trends are moving in the digital direction: design to shelf speed has reduced due to multi-season trends and shorter collections,” Gamba noted. “Today, it is not unusual for a large percentage of any one piece of apparel to go unsold. Designers and apparel brands are moving to a more sustainable model, seeking ways to economically produce smaller quantities of a greater number of designs, while ensuring reduced setup time and leaner inventory management thanks to the possibility of efficient print-on-demand capabilities.
“Digital printing is an important tool for that, as it allows apparel companies quickly produce one design and then, just as quickly switch to another one,” she added. “And if a particular garment design takes off and creates more demand, our printers make it easy to go back and quickly print a past design again.”
Check said that Epson is seeing excellent growth with digital textile print applications.
“Over the past 18 months, there has been a shift from in-store to online purchasing,” Check noted. “As such, buyers have significantly more options and customization in the products – apparel, décor, gift items. Digital textile printing enables designers to create and sell unique designs on a made-to-order basis.”
Daplyn said that if we consider a three to five year period, there has certainly been an increase in digital printing of textiles.
“Due to the pandemic, some factories shut down to comply with government guidelines and retail stores reported a significant drop in sales,” Daplyn noted. “These factors have led to an overall slowdown in the textile industry. As we emerge from this, digital printing is leading the recovery, enabling shorter runs with more agility in terms of design mix, delivery and logistics.
“Designers have some influence on the growth,” he added. “In the leading textile design shows, a greater percentage of patterns are best achieved by digital print as they incorporate color vignettes, fine detail and a range of colors expanded beyond the limitations of a rotary screen process.”
Beyeler noted that as economies around the world are recovering from the pandemic lows, digital printing of textiles is growing worldwide.
“More specifically, we are seeing fast growth in direct to film printing and roll to roll pigment printing,” Beyeler reported. “The growth drivers include sustainability, as these technologies help lower environmental footprint vs. the analog options, but also design considerations. DTF will allow efficient print on a variety of substrates and RTR pigment printing provides great image pattern freedom.”
Key Advantages of Digital Textile Printing
For designers, customization is the number one advantage of digital textile printing. A design prototype can be made quickly, without the need to create a screen for each color. Epson America’s Check observed that digitally producing textile products provides the designer with more creative flexibility with virtually no limit on the number of colors or size of patterns, and with significantly higher quality to produce photographic level details.
For retailers, the ability to sell a limited amount of inventory is ideal, as it limits their risk.
“The benefit for retailers is twofold,” added Check. “First, they can take a risk with offering products from a new or unknown designer, which can increase product exclusivity and reasons for shoppers to come and visit in-person or online. The second reason is financial; digital production offers the benefit of just-in-time production, which frees up warehouse inventory costs and storage space. Products can be produced cost effectively in low and high quantities to support fresh product offerings regularly.”
“For designers, digital brings a freedom to create that is unmatched and, with the latest pigment inkjet technology, without compromising on color or durability. For retailers looking for a shorter supply chain and looking to respond to consumers’ sustainability standards, digital printing is the clear solution,” Beyeler said.
Daplyn said that there are a number of advantages in terms of design.
“First, there is no limitation on the design repeat length,” he said. “In rotary screen printing, the design is limited to the circumference of the screen cylinder; however, in digital print the only limit is the processing speed of the software getting information to the printheads. Screen printers can usually handle a maximum of 12 pre-mixed spot colors, whereas digital printing can allow for an almost unlimited palette of colors within a design.
“Another challenge for screen print is achieving smooth gradients within a color and shading in light tones. This is easily achieved with digital print, which enables smooth color and tones while achieving excellent fine detail and sharpness,” Daplyn said.
“For retailers, digital print enables a greater flexibility on their operations,” Daplyn continued. “Typically, when using screen printing, there is a minimum length of print needed to justify the set-up costs, whereas digital print can be cost competitive at any run length. This avoids the need to commit to large volumes of a design, reducing the risk of unused fabric or unsold inventory. Digital print allows a just-in-time approach where retailers can follow trends and print what sells when they need it. Additionally, digital printers tend to have a smaller footprint and the up-front investment is lower, allowing production to be located closer to the consumer while also reducing transportation times and costs.”
Gamba observed that with digital printers, designers are not stuck with the tremendous volume of unsold product that plagues the industry.
“Designers and manufacturers can fine-tune the amount of product they make for any given design, and then quickly adopt new, exciting designs,” she noted. “In apparel, the core idea of manufacturing in a quantity that closely meets actual demand, and then quickly moving to new designs, is something that is influencing the apparel industry as a whole, and we have designed our digital production platforms to help our customers achieve those goals.
“Moreover, digital ensures unparalleled results in terms of design versatility and color brightness and gamut, delivering products with better and richer color palettes and more-detailed designs,” Gamba continued.
Gamba said that sustainability is another major driving force for inkjet in the textile space.
“Not only is there the waste I have mentioned in unsold product, but the textile industry generates tremendous amounts of pollution in the form of wastewater from dyeing and other processes,” Gamba pointed out. “Some of the world’s largest textile manufacturing countries have established more stringent regulations around pollution, leading manufacturers to adopt digital print solutions that use less water and less energy, like our pigment ink-based solutions such as the EFI Reggiani TERRA series of printers, which do direct-to-fabric printing with in-line fixation, eliminating the need for washing, steaming and stentering steps in the production process.”
Important Segments for Digital Printing of Textiles
The history of digital printing is interesting. Typically, inkjet printing starts as a niche in a given market, and as the digital printers become more efficient, the market shifts. Billboard printing is one example where inkjet printing is now completely dominant; ceramic tiles are another.
Right now, digital textile printing is in the niche phase, as less that 10% of printed textiles are inkjet printed. That will grow over time. The question is which market will be first to switch over.
“As inkjet represents less than 10% of total textile printing, it is not dominant in many segments where rolls of fabric are printed,” said Daplyn. “However, one apparel segment has a significantly higher adoption rate—direct to garment printing. Decorating t-shirts directly on digital printers has continued to grow and offers process efficiency and design flexibility not possible with other printing methods.”
Daplyn also noted that digital printing is also used widely in sign and display markets printing for flag, signage, exhibition displays and more.
“In this segment, sublimation printing dominates and the benefits of digital print are significant,” Daplyn said. “Other areas where growth is strong are in fashion, sports and home textile. In fashion, designs change regularly and the need for a rapid response to the consumer is paramount, meaning that digital printing is the best method for production. As more markets adopt this model, the level of digital adoption will continue to grow.”
“Digital is still less than 10% of the textile market, and while it would be unfair to say it dominates in any area, in some geographies like Europe and segments like apparel – particularly with new businesses growing online – digital has definitely acquired more and more market share above the market average,” Gamba noted. “While there are large textile manufacturers upgrading for large-volume manufacturing with our EFI Reggiani UNICA rotary printers, we are already seeing fewer and fewer industrial manufacturers that only do rotary printing. Inkjet is expanding rapidly in nearly all areas of the textile industry and will continue to do so, boosted by key drivers like sustainability, personalization and on demand production.”
“The web-to-print space is where inkjet printing dominates, along with any businesses offering customized textile products, whether it’s home décor, apparel, uniforms, tradeshow signage, or general signage,” said Hunter. “Graphics with photorealistic images and gradients are typically digitally printed.”
“Home furnishings has the potential of shifting to pigment inkjet as it can deliver on cost effective customization, low environmental footprint, durability and enable the unique designs that make your home attractive and unique,” Beyeler said. “And the improved color intensity and rub fastness performance make pigment ink jet inks attractive for apparel and fashion applications.”
Challenges Ahead
Considering that digital textile printing has less than 10% of the total textile printing market, there are areas that need to be improved.
Roland DGA’s Hunter said that some of the challenges include production speed, as rotary screen printing still remains a little faster than digital printing, even though there have been vast improvements in printer technology. She added that some customers are fearful using technology or learning new technology when they’ve been used to a manual process for so long. Also, screen-printed goods typically cost less, especially if they have been mass produced and/or are commodity items.
“As the value chain participants get to understand all the benefits that digital printing can bring, especially the technology advances that have been made over the last three years in pigment inkjet printing, the digital shift will accelerate,” Beyeler said.
Gamba pointed out that most of the textile printed output, especially high-volume production, is still manufactured with rotary printing technology due to the productivity level of this technology and cost per meter competitiveness.
“To convert these significant volumes around the globe, single-pass printing technology is the real driver, provided that it is able to address customers’ concerns related to reliability, especially of printheads, uptime, printing quality and cost per meter competitiveness of course,” she added.
“In traditional printing, around 50% of textiles are printed using pigment inks. The share of pigment printing of textiles printed digitally is around 4% today, having grown from 2.5% in 2019,” Daplyn reported.
“The potential for further growth is great but will require a further advancement of technology, both in terms of quality and price, to enable wider adoption.
“Aside from this, most obstacles to digital print have been overcome. The advancements in printhead and ink technology combined with software and process management tools mean that digital printing of textiles is an industrially robust method with high reliability. Printers cover a full range of requirements from low volume and sampling to high speed, high volume production. The barriers to success no longer exist; if you select the right ink, your chances of success are high,” Daplyn added.
“One growing area of focus is on sustainability,” Daplyn said. “Digital textile printing already offers huge sustainability benefits over screen printing, but the potential for improvement is also great. Advancements in chemistry will allow for further reductions in waste, water consumption and energy use with a further drive towards a circular economy for textiles.”
According to Research and Markets, the global digital textile ink segment was valued at approximately $970 million in 2020; more interestingly, Research and Markets is placing the market at a CAGR of 9.37%, estimating the field to reach more than $1.66 billion by 2026.
That would be excellent growth for sure. The reality is that the market for digital textile printing is growing rapidly, and with new presses being debuted and more designers and brand owners finding the benefits of inkjet and textiles, this expansion could be achieved.
One of the key benefits of digital printing is the ability produce inventory on demand, and with the present logistical challenges of transporting goods during the COVID-19 pandemic, more retailers and designers alike are looking closer and adopting digital printing.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Digital Textile Printing
The pandemic virtually shut down many retail businesses, leaving consumers looking for ways to buy products. Even now, as transportation issues remain, bringing textiles from overseas is a
serious challenge.
Simon Daplyn, manager, product marketing for Sun Chemical, said that the pandemic has brought the benefits of digital print into clearer focus.
“Many brands were caught with open orders (placed months in advance) or inventory in transit by sea when stores closed, and the garments were unable to be sold through traditional channels,” Daplyn observed. “There is now a greater understanding of the importance of inventory management in a supply chain that can be more flexible in terms of both minimum volume per design and having production closer to the consumer. The trend of re-shoring is accelerating but will take time for the supply chains to balance the need of fabric, finishing and printing.
“One area that grew significantly is digital printing for home textiles,” Daplyn added. “As people spent more time and money on home renovations, the demand for bespoke interior fabrics grew. This is also reflected in the increase in digital pigment printing. Digital textile printing still only represents 7%-8% of the total textiles printed, meaning the potential for further growth is still significant.”
Tim Check, product manager, professional imaging, Epson America, Inc., pointed to the benefits of customization.
“Buyers are spending more time in their homes and are spending more on personalized décor and unique apparel,” Check said. “The acceleration of online shipping has provided many new designers and startups a platform to compete with well-established retail brands. Digital textile printing has lowered the cost of entry to become a décor or apparel producer.”
Lily Hunter, Roland DGA senior product manager, noted that COVID-19 has accelerated interest in different market segments for digital textile printing.
“For example, during lockdown when people stayed home, the market for most attire and sports uniforms plummeted. However, demand for personalized facemasks, gaiters, T-shirts, and other accessories skyrocketed,” Hunter reported.
Eric Beyeler, global marketing manager, DuPont Artistri Digital Inks, said that DuPont believes that digital pigment printing has proved to be successful during the pandemic.
“We believe it has, especially for digital pigment printing,” Beyeler said. “In direct-to-garment (DTG), direct to film (DTF) or roll-to-roll (RTR), pigment ink jet inks allow for a short supply chain, delivers great and consistent colors for short runs and lowers the environmental footprint on the garment and fabric industry.”
Micol Gamba, product marketing manager for EFI Reggiani, said that interest levels for digital printing of textiles were high even before the pandemic, especially because some trends – such as stricter environmental regulation, design to shelf speed and the need for efficient print-on-demand capabilities – made digital a preferred option over analog.
“Of course, the pandemic has accelerated this trend,” Gamba said. “One side effect of the health emergency was the impact on global supply chains, so, for example, brands that rely on all of their goods to come from Asia started looking more at digital printing as a way to manufacture closer to the point of need.
“But, the same factors that affect manufacturing, shipments and also the purchase of textiles – for example difficulties in a country that has a strict lockdown – can also have an impact on installing new digital printers,” Gamba added. “EFI Reggiani is based in Northern Italy, which was one of the hardest hit regions of the world early in the pandemic. We learned from that and developed methods of remote service and support to help ensure successful printer installations. And, at the same time, we further leveraged our strong global network of technicians and service centers around the world.
“While COVID-19 has severely impacted the textile industry, since the second half of 2020 we have witnessed a positive recovery,” Gamba noted. “There are customers that decided to increase their digital capability with new printers and brand new customers approaching a market full of potential with increasing demand for customized, on demand products.”
Growth in Digital Textile Printing
Even discounting the effect of the pandemic on textile buying habits of retailers and consumers, the market is growing quickly, driven by personalization.
“The main driver is personalization/customization,” Hunter said. “Many designers can create one-offs and samplings of various seasonal collections and bring them to market quicker. This can be for fashion as well as home décor. Web-to-print online stores are also very common as consumers can order personalized goods. Therefore, digital printing allows that flexibility for these types of production needs.”
Gamba said EFI Reggiani is seeing growth in digital printing, driven by several different market needs.
“Consumers’ behavior trends are moving in the digital direction: design to shelf speed has reduced due to multi-season trends and shorter collections,” Gamba noted. “Today, it is not unusual for a large percentage of any one piece of apparel to go unsold. Designers and apparel brands are moving to a more sustainable model, seeking ways to economically produce smaller quantities of a greater number of designs, while ensuring reduced setup time and leaner inventory management thanks to the possibility of efficient print-on-demand capabilities.
“Digital printing is an important tool for that, as it allows apparel companies quickly produce one design and then, just as quickly switch to another one,” she added. “And if a particular garment design takes off and creates more demand, our printers make it easy to go back and quickly print a past design again.”
Check said that Epson is seeing excellent growth with digital textile print applications.
“Over the past 18 months, there has been a shift from in-store to online purchasing,” Check noted. “As such, buyers have significantly more options and customization in the products – apparel, décor, gift items. Digital textile printing enables designers to create and sell unique designs on a made-to-order basis.”
Daplyn said that if we consider a three to five year period, there has certainly been an increase in digital printing of textiles.
“Due to the pandemic, some factories shut down to comply with government guidelines and retail stores reported a significant drop in sales,” Daplyn noted. “These factors have led to an overall slowdown in the textile industry. As we emerge from this, digital printing is leading the recovery, enabling shorter runs with more agility in terms of design mix, delivery and logistics.
“Designers have some influence on the growth,” he added. “In the leading textile design shows, a greater percentage of patterns are best achieved by digital print as they incorporate color vignettes, fine detail and a range of colors expanded beyond the limitations of a rotary screen process.”
Beyeler noted that as economies around the world are recovering from the pandemic lows, digital printing of textiles is growing worldwide.
“More specifically, we are seeing fast growth in direct to film printing and roll to roll pigment printing,” Beyeler reported. “The growth drivers include sustainability, as these technologies help lower environmental footprint vs. the analog options, but also design considerations. DTF will allow efficient print on a variety of substrates and RTR pigment printing provides great image pattern freedom.”
Key Advantages of Digital Textile Printing
For designers, customization is the number one advantage of digital textile printing. A design prototype can be made quickly, without the need to create a screen for each color. Epson America’s Check observed that digitally producing textile products provides the designer with more creative flexibility with virtually no limit on the number of colors or size of patterns, and with significantly higher quality to produce photographic level details.
For retailers, the ability to sell a limited amount of inventory is ideal, as it limits their risk.
“The benefit for retailers is twofold,” added Check. “First, they can take a risk with offering products from a new or unknown designer, which can increase product exclusivity and reasons for shoppers to come and visit in-person or online. The second reason is financial; digital production offers the benefit of just-in-time production, which frees up warehouse inventory costs and storage space. Products can be produced cost effectively in low and high quantities to support fresh product offerings regularly.”
“For designers, digital brings a freedom to create that is unmatched and, with the latest pigment inkjet technology, without compromising on color or durability. For retailers looking for a shorter supply chain and looking to respond to consumers’ sustainability standards, digital printing is the clear solution,” Beyeler said.
Daplyn said that there are a number of advantages in terms of design.
“First, there is no limitation on the design repeat length,” he said. “In rotary screen printing, the design is limited to the circumference of the screen cylinder; however, in digital print the only limit is the processing speed of the software getting information to the printheads. Screen printers can usually handle a maximum of 12 pre-mixed spot colors, whereas digital printing can allow for an almost unlimited palette of colors within a design.
“Another challenge for screen print is achieving smooth gradients within a color and shading in light tones. This is easily achieved with digital print, which enables smooth color and tones while achieving excellent fine detail and sharpness,” Daplyn said.
“For retailers, digital print enables a greater flexibility on their operations,” Daplyn continued. “Typically, when using screen printing, there is a minimum length of print needed to justify the set-up costs, whereas digital print can be cost competitive at any run length. This avoids the need to commit to large volumes of a design, reducing the risk of unused fabric or unsold inventory. Digital print allows a just-in-time approach where retailers can follow trends and print what sells when they need it. Additionally, digital printers tend to have a smaller footprint and the up-front investment is lower, allowing production to be located closer to the consumer while also reducing transportation times and costs.”
Gamba observed that with digital printers, designers are not stuck with the tremendous volume of unsold product that plagues the industry.
“Designers and manufacturers can fine-tune the amount of product they make for any given design, and then quickly adopt new, exciting designs,” she noted. “In apparel, the core idea of manufacturing in a quantity that closely meets actual demand, and then quickly moving to new designs, is something that is influencing the apparel industry as a whole, and we have designed our digital production platforms to help our customers achieve those goals.
“Moreover, digital ensures unparalleled results in terms of design versatility and color brightness and gamut, delivering products with better and richer color palettes and more-detailed designs,” Gamba continued.
Gamba said that sustainability is another major driving force for inkjet in the textile space.
“Not only is there the waste I have mentioned in unsold product, but the textile industry generates tremendous amounts of pollution in the form of wastewater from dyeing and other processes,” Gamba pointed out. “Some of the world’s largest textile manufacturing countries have established more stringent regulations around pollution, leading manufacturers to adopt digital print solutions that use less water and less energy, like our pigment ink-based solutions such as the EFI Reggiani TERRA series of printers, which do direct-to-fabric printing with in-line fixation, eliminating the need for washing, steaming and stentering steps in the production process.”
Important Segments for Digital Printing of Textiles
The history of digital printing is interesting. Typically, inkjet printing starts as a niche in a given market, and as the digital printers become more efficient, the market shifts. Billboard printing is one example where inkjet printing is now completely dominant; ceramic tiles are another.
Right now, digital textile printing is in the niche phase, as less that 10% of printed textiles are inkjet printed. That will grow over time. The question is which market will be first to switch over.
“As inkjet represents less than 10% of total textile printing, it is not dominant in many segments where rolls of fabric are printed,” said Daplyn. “However, one apparel segment has a significantly higher adoption rate—direct to garment printing. Decorating t-shirts directly on digital printers has continued to grow and offers process efficiency and design flexibility not possible with other printing methods.”
Daplyn also noted that digital printing is also used widely in sign and display markets printing for flag, signage, exhibition displays and more.
“In this segment, sublimation printing dominates and the benefits of digital print are significant,” Daplyn said. “Other areas where growth is strong are in fashion, sports and home textile. In fashion, designs change regularly and the need for a rapid response to the consumer is paramount, meaning that digital printing is the best method for production. As more markets adopt this model, the level of digital adoption will continue to grow.”
“Digital is still less than 10% of the textile market, and while it would be unfair to say it dominates in any area, in some geographies like Europe and segments like apparel – particularly with new businesses growing online – digital has definitely acquired more and more market share above the market average,” Gamba noted. “While there are large textile manufacturers upgrading for large-volume manufacturing with our EFI Reggiani UNICA rotary printers, we are already seeing fewer and fewer industrial manufacturers that only do rotary printing. Inkjet is expanding rapidly in nearly all areas of the textile industry and will continue to do so, boosted by key drivers like sustainability, personalization and on demand production.”
“The web-to-print space is where inkjet printing dominates, along with any businesses offering customized textile products, whether it’s home décor, apparel, uniforms, tradeshow signage, or general signage,” said Hunter. “Graphics with photorealistic images and gradients are typically digitally printed.”
“Home furnishings has the potential of shifting to pigment inkjet as it can deliver on cost effective customization, low environmental footprint, durability and enable the unique designs that make your home attractive and unique,” Beyeler said. “And the improved color intensity and rub fastness performance make pigment ink jet inks attractive for apparel and fashion applications.”
Challenges Ahead
Considering that digital textile printing has less than 10% of the total textile printing market, there are areas that need to be improved.
Roland DGA’s Hunter said that some of the challenges include production speed, as rotary screen printing still remains a little faster than digital printing, even though there have been vast improvements in printer technology. She added that some customers are fearful using technology or learning new technology when they’ve been used to a manual process for so long. Also, screen-printed goods typically cost less, especially if they have been mass produced and/or are commodity items.
“As the value chain participants get to understand all the benefits that digital printing can bring, especially the technology advances that have been made over the last three years in pigment inkjet printing, the digital shift will accelerate,” Beyeler said.
Gamba pointed out that most of the textile printed output, especially high-volume production, is still manufactured with rotary printing technology due to the productivity level of this technology and cost per meter competitiveness.
“To convert these significant volumes around the globe, single-pass printing technology is the real driver, provided that it is able to address customers’ concerns related to reliability, especially of printheads, uptime, printing quality and cost per meter competitiveness of course,” she added.
“In traditional printing, around 50% of textiles are printed using pigment inks. The share of pigment printing of textiles printed digitally is around 4% today, having grown from 2.5% in 2019,” Daplyn reported.
“The potential for further growth is great but will require a further advancement of technology, both in terms of quality and price, to enable wider adoption.
“Aside from this, most obstacles to digital print have been overcome. The advancements in printhead and ink technology combined with software and process management tools mean that digital printing of textiles is an industrially robust method with high reliability. Printers cover a full range of requirements from low volume and sampling to high speed, high volume production. The barriers to success no longer exist; if you select the right ink, your chances of success are high,” Daplyn added.
“One growing area of focus is on sustainability,” Daplyn said. “Digital textile printing already offers huge sustainability benefits over screen printing, but the potential for improvement is also great. Advancements in chemistry will allow for further reductions in waste, water consumption and energy use with a further drive towards a circular economy for textiles.”
