What is digital textile printing and what are the advantages for your company?

The way that we print on textile has changed over the past decade. Digital textile printing is a growing technology that complements the traditional screen printing technology. But what exactly is digital textile printing? How does digital textile printing work? What are the differences between single-pass and scanning inkjet printers in terms of their capabilities? What are the differences between single-pass and scanning inkjet printers? And most importantly, how can digital printing help textile printing companies set new standards in terms of print quality and production speed?

What are the latest developments in digital textile printing?

The textile market is expanding rapidly. The major trends such as population growth, increased purchasing power, and rapidly changing fashion styles (just take a look at the frequency that fashion brands like Zara, TopShop, and H&M change their collections) are key drivers of growth in the textile printing industry. Global production of printed textiles is expected to exceed 36.8 billion square metres by 2024. Digital textile printing is expected to control between 5 and 10% of the global textile printing market by 2024.

This means that textile printing companies are under immense pressure to meet their time-to-market goals. To achieve these goals, the market must look for other methods to print on fabric. Digital textile printing is the solution to these problems.

What’s digital textile printing?

What is digital textile printing? Digital textile printers work with digital technologies, just like your home printer. When viewed from the bird’s eye, the digital textile printing process has many similarities to conventional textile printing. The fabric is selected and pretreated. It will then pass through the printer at high speeds and be steam, washed, and dried.

Instead of printing the pre-mixed dyes on fabric using rotary screens that each have their own patterns engraved, the digital printer prints the desired color onto fabric with tiny droplets of ink.

How do you select the right digital printer for your needs? To find out more, download the Guide to Digital Textile Printing.

What are the differences between multi-pass scanning technology and single-pass digital printing?

There are two types of digital inkjet printers, as the title already indicates: the multi-pass scanning printer and the single-pass scanner.

• Multi-pass scanning machine

Multi-pass scanning printers have been in existence for 26 years and have seen great technological advances. The scanner receives the image and converts it into drop color position data. This simply means that the file tells a printer how many drops of a particular color ink should go at each location on the fabric.

The printheads are attached to the carriage of the scanner. It moves left to right, right to left and left to right over the fabric. The carriage moves the fabric a distance after each movement. When it stops, the carriage makes its next stroke. The image is then printed horizontally as bars. To hide any printing errors that may occur in one stroke, these bars are partially overlapped (the term “multiple passes”). These printers can print at speeds up to 400 meters per hour, and typically run at 20 to 40 linear meters per hour.

• Single-pass Printer

A single-pass printer does not have a moving carriage. One printhead for each color is mounted on a fixed print-bar over the entire width of the fabric. Because the fabric moves at a constant speed under these bars, the image is constructed in one stroke (hence the term’single-pass’). The image is created by 1 vertical image bar that spans the entire width. This allows for very fast printing speeds, up to 2400 linear metres per hour. However, any printing errors cannot be covered as the image is created in one print pass. This means that reliable inkjet technology is more sought after than a scanning printer.

A single-pass printer requires a lot more print head (typically 7–10x more), and printheads can cost several thousand of euros each. This means that a single-pass printer will run you several million euros, while a scanner printer may cost you several 100.000 euros.

What are some of the benefits of digital textile printing?

We have already discussed the key drivers of digital textile printing technology at the beginning of this blog. What are the benefits of digital printing in textile printing?

• Low fixed cost due to lack of color separation and screen engraving;
• Low sample cost since it isn’t necessary to produce and test individual patterns. It is therefore cost-effective for smaller orders.
• Quick sampling and Short term delivery can both be done digitally. The designs can also be adjusted right away. Every adjustment to conventional screen printing takes a new rotary screen, which reduces lead time.
• No stock (brands take stock risks from brand owners and ‘produce what is sold’ rather than’sell what we produce’);
• Fine patterns and high resolution (digital printers can print unlimited number of rotary screens; i.e., they are not limited to the maximum number of rotary screens). colors);
• Great savings on energy and water as there’s no need to wash the rotary screens to apply new colors. This saves you a lot of time and money.
• Less waste because droplets of ink are printed on the fabric very precisely. Excess dye and chemicals from rotary screen printing are not disposed of, as they can cause harm to the environment.
• There is no nickelof screens being deposited onto the fabric. Future regulations will be more stringent.
• Unlimited repeat size the repeat size of the rotary screen is not restricted to its diameter.

Digital textile printing can meet today’s needs for quick turnarounds and short runs. Digital technologies allow for higher quality standards on a wide range of fabrics. This allows customers to have more flexibility and speed up the delivery of their ideas to the market.

Is digital textile printing worth your investment?

The fastest-growing segment of textile machinery is digital textile printing. Due to the above advantages, more printers are moving from traditional textile printing to digital.

Is digital textile printing really worth it?

Gherzi, a management consulting and engineering firm, conducted a global independent study to determine the primary investment reasons for digital print.