The year 2018 may not have been the biggest year for innovation and investment in digital textile printing technology but there have certainly been some developments of note.
Mergers and acquisitions
Compared with previous years, industry consolidation and the presence of new market entrants has been limited. However, there have been some market movements. Back in February, Dover Corporation officially announced the creation of Dover Digital Printing, a long-awaited merger following the company’s acquisition of MS Printing Solutions, JK Group and Caldera.
Whilst Dover maintains that there will not be complete integration of the MS, JK and Caldera brands, the three parts of the business will work together on product development in order to maintain a competitive edge in the market. This collaboration across the group has already resulted in the development of Dybrid inks for the signage market, launched at SGIA in October, and will also see JK Group introduce its first reactive ink product in 2019. It is estimated that around 25% of the analogue textile printing market currently uses reactive inks, whilst reactives also make up 36% of the digital textile printing market; JK will be the first Italian producer of digital reactive inks, tapping into this key high-growth sector.
Technology provider MTEX is also looking to expand its market reach as we move towards 2019, building on a recent merger and pending acquisition. The newly formed MTEX Solutions SA brand is about to open the first round of investment from a US-based company. Whilst details of the acquisition cannot currently be shared in full, that company has said that the US investor is already operating in the digital printing space but not in the textile sector. MTEX hopes to announce further details in the next quarter, with a focus on moving into the Asian and the US markets.
Also expanding in the US, 2018 has seen further investment from digital textile printing group Imprima. The company acquired City Prints and its sister company Premier Fabrics back in February, its fifth strategic deal. City Prints and Premier Fabrics are headquartered in New York and Los Angeles respectively and specialise in textile printing for the programmed collection market. The companies supply printed fabrics, based on proprietary design, to US retailers such as Walmart, Target and Macy’s, to fashion brands including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and to online retailers such as Amazon.
And, the final acquisition of the year was made by Konica Minolta in June. The company bought Panasonic’s industrial print head business, including both manufacturing facilities and engineering assets. According to Konica Minolta, the aim is to accelerate its penetration of the industrial print head industry by acquiring Si MEMS print head technology and thin film MEMS mass production equipment. With Konica Minolta already occupying a strong position in the digital textile printing market – both with the Nassenger range of printers and the company’s native print head technology – this acquisition is likely to only further its market penetration.
New market entrant
The year 2018 saw only one new digital textile market entrant. Noecha entered the digital textile printing sector at FESPA in May with an industrial dye-sublimation solution, which speaks volumes about the prominence of this application in the market. Founded in 2010, Noecha’s primary focus has, until now, been UV printing for graphics and packaging. However, the company’s launch of its dye-sub printer and the confirmation that it is also developing a direct-to-textile solution signals new intentions as the company looks to grow. The NoeCha Roll 2 was created at the request of a Noecha textile industry contact in Italy, and the first machine was sold prior to its official launch.
The tortoise or the hare?
In a year where the majority of digital textile printer OEMs have been restrained in launching new products, EFI Reggiani has dominated the headlines. Not only has the company finally launched its single pass solution, BOLT, but it also launched a 12-colour printer – originally named COLORS but set to be rebranded as part of the TERRA range – at ITM, and released the TERRA pigment solution, which incorporates a binder into the ink, and the EFI Fiery Textile Bundle. The latter of these developments stems from the acquisition of Generation Digital by EFI in 2017 and incorporates software that provides design and production workflow tools.
These new product launches followed other prominent announcements from EFI Reggiani in 2017 and the company now offers a myriad of printing solutions for the textile industry. With ITMA coming up next year, EFI’s clear commitment to get in front of the market before its competition is an interesting strategy. We will see if it pays off with investments over the next six months.
Software
EFI Reggiani is not alone in its focus on workflow and enhanced software for this purpose is emerging in line with broader Industry 4.0 developments. This recently saw Mimaki taking steps towards the Internet of Things (IoT) with the launch of Digital Printing Connection (DPC). The solution aims to help users incorporate Mimaki printers into production lines for unattended, on-demand production and mass customisation. DPC is able to communicate with robots, conveyor belts, inspection devices, sensors and other peripheral equipment, as well as the printers themselves. The first two solutions to be introduced within this solution were the MDL commands and Mimaki Job Controller. MDL commands are used to control Mimaki printers from customer production systems and through peripheral devices whilst the Mimaki Job Controller communicates with the printer for transmission of optimal printing data and printing conditions.
Mimaki is not the only OEM expanding in this area with Dover (Caldera), Kornit and Durst of those also developing or offering solutions. And, design software improvements are also being made to better link with the supply chain. CAD weaving software provider Pointcarré, for example, entered the printing market this year with the launch a new software module, ColorSep, which enables the designer to explore printing colour, cost and efficiency options for both analogue and digital applications.
Inks
When it comes to advancements in the digital textile printing ink space, it is impossible to overlook pigments. As well as EFI Reggiani’s pigment solution (previously mentioned), which is said to be robust enough to work with single pass technology, other OEMs have also made headway.
Applauded for its technical and niche developments for the digital textile printing sector, Zimmer Austria also launched a digital pigment system in 2018. This new solution completes Zimmer’s ink portfolio and is said to offer very good light, wash and rub fastness. Printing for the full three-days of SGIA Las Vegas on Zimmer’s Colaris printer, the company also noted the use of its Magnoroll multipurpose coating machine for pre- and post-processing, to complete its pigment printing system.
Whilst digital pigment inks still only make up a small percentage of all digitally printed textiles globally, some notable industrial print houses have confirmed they invested in pigments in 2018. For example, Dubai-based Safetex Group has grown to become one of the largest manufacturers of home textiles in the Middle East, and recently invested in the UAE’s first 3.2m-wide digital textile printer for pigment inks, choosing Chinese brand Wit Color Digital as their supplier. On the other side of the world, Colombia-based Estampamos and Mexican Grupo Providencia have made similar investments.
Another notable ink development in 2018 came from Huntsman, this time with a dye-base. The company launched its Teratop XKS HL inks for light-fast printing of automotive and outdoor textiles, and Terasil TS sublimation inks for transfer and direct printing on polyester.
And, as of spring 2018, Bordeaux – and the VelvetJet brand – were back in business following a year long hiatus. Taking a modest booth at FESPA Berlin in May, the company signalled a prudent return to the industry and CEO Moshe Zach was keen to set minds at rest about the past and the future of the company: “From early to mid-2017 we were involved in financial difficulties due to issues with our main banks, who then had to put us in an idle phase where we couldn’t support our customers and had to stop our production and delivery. It was a very tough period for us. A lot of our customers were understandably frustrated about this situation, especially as some of them were 100% dependant on Bordeaux.” Following Bordeaux’s return to the market it is also introducing new services for its customers, the first being the ability to purchase Bordeaux inks on Amazon.
Printing on thread
Using speciality inkjet technology to print on thread rather than fabric has created a new market segment, and this area has also seen developments in 2018. Delta Galil became the first beta customer for Twine Solutions’ proprietary technology and Twine has since been invested in by industrial thread manufacturer Coats. Coats is investing US$5m in the company in return for a 9.5% share and a seat on the Board.
Meanwhile, Twine competitor Coloreel has entered into a long-term partnership with inkjet technology business Ricoh. Ricoh’s role in the partnership is to develop and build one of the major sub-systems in the Coloreel unit, based around its own inkjet printing technology and Coloreel’s colourisation expertise. Following years of cooperation, the companies have finally agreed terms on an official contract and the duo’s initial objective will be to create, and launch, a commercial thread-colouring unit.
And, a third competitor entered this space in 2018 following a successful Kickstarter campaign last year. Naming its technology GiDelave, Hong Kong-based start-up Cosmos Studios appears to have been sold to Chinese business Sunvim Group. The GiDelave technology is now being marketed by one of Sunvim’s brands, Taylor Home & Fashions. In contrast to the Coloreel and Twine solutions, whose solutions currently focus on polyester yarn printing, GiDelave technology has been developed to print on cellulosic yarns.
Other developments of note
In addition to advancements being made at the core of the digital textile printing market, 2018 also saw two other key developments for the digital textile printing sector, in the areas of carpet printing and conductive printing.
At the very beginning of 2018, a project was spearheaded by heat setting machinery specialist Power-heat-set, carpet weaving technology expert, Stäubli and digital printing machinery manufacture Zimmer Austria, whose technology has been harnessed to enable the application. The project was also supported by manmade fibres machinery provider Oerlikon Neumag, and spinning machinery specialist, Saurer, and resulted in the creation of an end-to-end vertical solution for woven polyester, digitally printed carpets. The solution was almost immediately invested in by Iranian carpet manufacturer Mohtasham Carpet, who installed a Zimmer COLARIS printer complete with the unique penetration booster system that ensures ink saturation on woven white PET carpets.
Graphene has also entered the digital textile printing space in 2018 with the innovation of a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) digital ink by the University of Manchester, UK. According to a recent patent, the invention specified is an “electrically conductive material comprising: a porous substrate material; a hydrophobic surface coating covering at least a portion of a surface of the porous substrate material; and an electrically conductive track or film disposed on the hydrophobic surface coating.” The electrically conductive track or film is said to comprise graphene and/or rGO. Crucially, the process for forming the electrically conductive material is said to include “digitally printing (eg inkjet printing) a hydrophobic surface coating formulation onto at least a portion of a surface of the porous substrate material to form a hydrophobic surface on the substrate.”
The market
With all of these new developments in 2018, continued high growth is expected for the digital textile printing market. Mutlu Chaouch Orozco, lead analyst – industry digitalisation, WTiN, says: “Although the latest full-year figures are not available yet, it is most likely that we will find there to have been stable growth rates, in terms of new installations, across 2018. In this steady environment, South East Asian countries are drawing the attention of OEMs and ink manufacturers with their increasing digital printing capacity.
“The other hot topic of the year has been environmental regulations in China, its impact on raw materials, dye manufacturers and of course ink prices. There is a common expectation from the market that ink prices are likely to increase in the coming years, although this hasn’t been the case in 2018. Regulations are also expected to help the growth of pigment inks, and this is supported by news of more R&D taking place in this area. This is also a positive sign for home textile applications. The final full 2018 digital textile printing market figures will be available by the end of February 2019.”
