Wide-format Graphics: The fabric of the future

by all | 28 October 2014 11:07 am

[1]By Roland Biemans
One of the most interesting trends relating to the digital textile printing market is how regional factors have been gaining strength, enabling a noticeable shift of decorated fabric production back to Canada and other western countries. While inexpensive commodity textiles are still not part of this trend, it is becoming increasingly common to digitally print textiles for point-of-purchase (POP) displays closer to the retailers who use them. In the past, these clients would order large quantities of printed fabrics and then draw upon that supply for longer periods. Today, production is going digital and local, courtesy of sign shops and print service providers (PSPs).

This arrangement will drive digital textile printing forward because it offers many benefits to these customers. There is less uncertainty about delivery times, material choices and print quality. As the market shifts to ‘print on demand,’ transportation costs are reduced, as are inventory storage requirements.

It has also become possible for local signs shops to offer broader choices in wide-format graphics, given the availability of different types of digitally printable fabrics in more sizes and with wider pricing variations.

Together, these capabilities have made it more cost-effective and feasible to print fabrics on demand for major events, like the recent Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, where timing is critically important.

Now that this trend is working well in one market, there will be a push to extend it to others. The garment industry, for example, could experience the same benefits in terms of delivery time, quality and warehousing as have been seen for banners and flags. As such, these factors could help offset the cost differences between domestic and overseas production of clothing. Quantities and size requirements could be readily adjusted in accordance with shifts in supply and demand and the volume of unsold stock would be greatly reduced, helping retailers and manufactures avoid the need to deeply discount or even destroy extra goods.

Scaling up technology
The trend is enabled by technology. While there are still further developments to be made in digital textile printing, it is now more of a matter of ‘scaling up’ existing systems, rather than one of waiting for the next technological breakthrough.

There are already printheads suitable for full production runs, for example. And a shift away from using solvent-based inks with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and even ultraviolet-curable (UV-curable) inks, in favour of dye sublimation and durable aqueous ‘latex’ inks, is also playing a part in attracting textile decoration work back to countries like Canada. Water-based inks, especially, are an asset to traditional textile buyers, as they meet many standards for environmental certification.

Ink formulators, in turn, are working with printhead developers and printer manufacturers to ensure inks are designed for new printers before they reach the market. Some of these are ‘original equipment manufacturer’ (OEM) inks developed
for specific brands, while others are marketed as third-party or after-market inks.

There can be challenges when choosing between after-market ink suppliers. Some of these companies have built up strong expertise over a long period and continue to do so with active research and development (R&D) teams and continuous training. In addition to well-established relationships with customers, they are also on good terms with the printer manufacturers. Indeed, they may well also develop OEM inks at the same time.

Others, however, try to develop and sell inks on price alone or opportunistically produce small quantities of inks for local markets without offering quality assurance or support. For these reasons, the image of after-market and third-party inks is mixed at best. There is a big difference between suppliers who put extensive effort into testing, sampling, profiling, certifying and investing in new ink technologies and those who do not.

So, when choosing a supplier, it is important to distinguish between them on this basis. Low price alone may not deliver the best value if it means a severe compromise in quality, reliability and consistency. There needs to be trust in the product.

Understanding the differences
The term ‘textile printing’ only makes sense in reference to a general, collective market. There is no other way to describe the printing of banners, soft signs, flags, carpets, interior décor, upholstery, garments and other textile applications within a single term.

Within the textile printing market, the differences between each type of substrate can be significant. Each material has its own characteristics and requires its own printing and finishing processes.

It is important to understand these differences and how ink chemistry reacts with different textile-based materials, particularly as technologies in the market evolve. This involves knowing which printer settings to use, how to achieve accurate colour reproduction, which transfer papers are best, how to properly clean and maintain printers and generally ensure ‘best practices’ are being followed consistently.

As with inks, the least expensive printing equipment will not necessarily carry the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). A signmaker needs to understand how well its printheads perform, how much throughput it can achieve, whether the level of startup waste is within industry norms and where it will be possible to achieve savings without compromising graphic quality.

Trends on the rise
As much as fabric graphics are a growing trend, only about one to two per cent of all textiles are digitally printed, so the potential for inkjet-based output is only just beginning to be realized. The use of pigment-based inks has been increasing and will continue to do so, as will the range of textile-based substrates that can be printed digitally.

Printheads will become more stable and capable of producing higher volumes of graphics, which will facilitate higher-capacity printers. Other technological advances will enable faster single-pass printing of textiles and fixed printhead arrays may displace certain scanning configurations.

One question regarding higher-volume production of printed textiles is whether it will be primarily facilitated by centralized, large printing companies or by a large number of smaller printers spread across a local market. This question will be addressed by web-to-print technology, which is already common for textile printing, but will continue to grow. Customers can upload their design files to be fed into an end-to-end digital workflow, dispatched for finishing or, depending on the job, finished on-site.

This will make it easier to customize interior décor and upholstery and switch colourful brands and designs as per the client’s personal choice. The possibilities are exciting as the innovative applications being handled today become larger trends and, perhaps, established practice tomorrow.

Roland Biemans, who has worked in the inkjet printing field since 1996, is marketing director for Kiian Digital, which formulates specialty inks for digital textile printing. For more information, visit www.kiian.com[2].

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/wide-format-graphics-the-fabric-of-the-future/

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