Research specialist Smithers has forecast double digit annual growth for the global digitally printed textiles market. It will zoom into the billions within a couple of years, in fact $US5.5bn ($8.67bn) by 2023.
In New Zealand, wide format specialist Aarque has the agency for HP Stitch printers. These dye sublimation printers enable printing for a range of applications such as sportswear, fashion, interior décor, and soft signage. Steve Wilton Jones, national equipment sales consultant at Aarque, says, “These sectors are all enjoying growth right now.”
The range includes the HP Stitch S300 and the HP Stitch S500, both 1.6m printers and last year, HP introduced the HP Stitch S1000 3.2m printer. He says, “HP has taken the lead here. HP did not invent dye sublimation printing but, with these new printers, you can see how HP is reinventing it.
“The HP Stitch portfolio of printers couples HP Thermal Inkjet technology with industry standard dyes for superior colour durability. The first ever built-in spectrophotometer helps to enable Stitch’s fast and exact colour matching.
With the industry’s first user replaceable print heads, the HP Stitch S300 targets those new to the dye sublimation market. Along with reduced downtime and lower service costs, it also offers ease of operation and speed. He says, “Unlike other printers that need manual maintenance for the heads and alignment, the HP Stitch S300 offers greater automation for the operator. It works as the ideal entry into this sector for growing signage and print companies.
Aiming at high productivity and simplified operation, and able to print direct or onto transfer papers, the HP Stitch S1000 super wide dye sub production printer enables you to make the most of fabric printing.
Wilton-Jones says, “With HP Stitch, you can target the polyester market, which makes up 60 per cent of digital textile printing volume. You can service the needs of customers in the signage, soft signage, interior decor, sportswear, and apparel markets. Interior decor is moving quickly into polyester.
“As signage moves from PVC to fabric, with the better quality it offers, you can also offer your customers a more environmentally friendly product while you save money; transporting a PVC banner costs five times more than a fabric banner because of the weight difference.
“Right now, and you will see this at Fespa and drupa, sportswear has become the dominant space for dye sublimation. Consumer trends lie behind this market growth. Millennials and the Y and Z generations have a greater affinity for healthier lifestyles and work/life balance. We see a growth in demand for sports from an apparel and sportswear perspective, which has led to the situation where fast fashion has adopted polyester from a price point. With fast fashion, speed is crucial. It really fits the digital printing business model.”
Steve Wilton-Jones lists the main HP Stitch S Series printer features:• Reliable colour – using HP SmartColor tools, you can distribute jobs across the shop floor with colour consistency from printer to printer.• Less waste – avoid reprints and media waste with 1200 native dpi print heads and HP Smart Nozzle Compensation system• Footprint – save up to 50 per cent floor space with frontal media loading and a spindle-less system.• Papers – Aarque and HP also offer a set of dye sublimation papers for the HP Stitch S Printer series. Designed and tested as a system with HP dye sublimation inks and the HP Stitch S Printer series, these papers help you to achieve excellent image quality and colour consistency.• Colour management – HP SmartColor gives you predictable colour fast and easy. You can download or create your own colour profiles in less than an hour and automatically get the closest visual colour match when a Pantone colour is out of your gamut.• Save time and money – print from one single device on both transfer paper and direct to fabric.• Predictable and reliable – Control your print operations from anywhere at any time with HP PrintOS.• Streamlined production – big ink supplies, larger rolls, and HP’s Tension-Sensing Winder allow unattended operations, even overnight, complete with HP Services and cloud fleet management tools.
