The textile market is a major industry, and the printing of textiles has been changing over the years. Screenprinting has been the primary selection for printing, but the use of digital printing, while still small, has been growing quickly.
 
“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,” said Nufar Kiryati, marcom manager for Bordeaux Digital PrintInk. “The majority of digital printing on textiles is done today mainly on polyester fabrics using dye sublimation.”
 
“Textile printing is a $7.5 billion market and is projected to grow more than 34% worldwide, providing outstanding opportunities,” added Fernando Urteaga, group manager, Professional Imaging, Epson America, Inc.
 
Ink manufacturers are taking note, and have launched a series of new products for the digital textile marketplace.
 
Bordeaux is showcasing its EDEN PG pigment ink, which can be used for all types of fabrics, allowing printers to service any type of textile application.
 
“As part of our continuous commitment to develop comprehensive yet simple solutions to the digital printing industry, we added a new product to our leading textile inks solutions and expended it with the game changing pigment ink,” said Guy Evron, director of marketing at Bordeaux.
 
Dr. Christophe Bulliard, marketing director, Sensient Imaging Technologies SA, noted that Sensient is working intensively on pigmented inks for textile printing.
 
“We already have strong products out there but are preparing the next generation,” Dr. Bulliard said.
   
“We have launched ElvaJet Punch EP and Elvajet Swift, two revolutionary ranges of sublimation inks which are pushing further the boundaries of efficiency and cost in use: very strong color, unbeaten transfer properties from coated and non coated paper,” Dr. Bulliard added.
 
Brian J. Meldrum, president, FUJIFILM Imaging Colorants, said that ProJet TX120, the company’s new high OD pigmented black reactive ink, is gaining notice.
 
“Fujifilm’s high OD black reactive ink ProJet TX120 shows yet again innovation in an areas that had been optimized for decades by the biggest players in the market” said Meldrum. “We see the shade neutrality of this black being highly desired by the fashion and apparel industry. Our ProJet TX431 pigment ink series is the latest Fujifilm technology offering. This six color set ink uses our own Fujifilm proprietary reactive dispersant’s technology in an Fujifilm Samba printhead. It is a Fujifilm inkjet technology ‘bundle’ that you are about to see more and more in some of the newest scanning and single pass OEM printers that are about to enter the market.”
 
Tony Cox, business manager, Sun Chemical, reported that during FESPA Digital 2016 in Amsterdam, Sun Chemical launched SunTex, a new range of inkjet inks developed specifically for digital textile applications.
 
“During the show, a dye sublimation ink for transfer print applications which combines bright strong colors, dense black and a tough highly resistant ink film was introduced, as well as a direct print dispersed dye ink for flag and banner applications,” Cox noted. “The inks provide excellent ‘show-through’ for double sided output, such as flag printing where the image is viewed from either side and vibrant, strong color and dense black reproduction is crucial for high visual impact soft signage. Both inks should be printed onto polyester and polyester-rich textiles and materials.
   
“Sun Chemical has also introduced a new range of pigmented inkjet textile inks,” Cox added. “These inks offer excellent adhesion to a wide range of fabrics and deliver high levels of wash fastness and wet rub resistance. The use of pigmented inks eliminates the need for any post-treatment processes, which reduces waste water and speeds up production. The inks are suitable for a wide variety of fashion and home furnishing applications.”
 
On the equipment side, EFI and Epson are developing new partnerships with equipment manufacturers through acquisitions, with EFI purchasing Reggiani and forming EFI Reggiani and Epson acquiring Robustelli. This is leading to further developments, such as EFI’s VUTEk FabriVU series.
 
“Our newest product, the VUTEk FabriVU series, prints at speeds more than 5300 square feet per hour. It has the highest productivity in its class, as well as the highest quality with ultra-high resolutions up to 2,400 dpi,” said Mike Wozny, senior product manager, EFI. “It is also very efficient in ink usage, and economizing on ink usage is important. High coverage is fairly common in textile applications so it makes sense to save as much money as possible with ink costs. A patented ink circulation system on the printer recovers 95% of all nozzle outages without wasting a single drop of ink.”
 
Urteaga said that within the past decade, both direct-to-garment and dye-sublimation technology has been developed and redefined, allowing entrepreneurs and established fashion brands to print on a variety of fabrics in real-time, including cotton and synthetic fibers, for a new level of creative freedom
 
“With this new technology Epson is expanding the possibilities to print on all types of fabric, and with higher production speed. The Epson SureColor F-Series dye-sublimation printers provide designers an accessible means to bring their ideas and inspiration to life with unsurpassable quality,” Urteaga reported. “The SureColor F-Series printers leverage Epson UltraChrome DS ink with a high density Black ink to deliver black density with better tonal transitions and grayscale, plus rich colors and smooth gradations onto fabric.
 
“The Epson SureColor F2000-Series direct-to-garment (DTG) inkjet printers deliver industrial-level production, image quality, and reliability,” Urteaga added. “With the ability to print directly onto garments ranging from 100 percent cotton to 50/50 fabric blends, the SureColor F2000 offers fashion entrepreneurs a quality, affordable printing solution. The Epson SureColor F2000 Standard Edition is a high-speed CMYK-only model and the White Edition offers the added benefit of white ink for printing on dark or color fabrics.”