Direct to Garment printing – is it worth the investment?
Why be part of a problem if 30% of textiles produced today never get purchased? Instead, you could drive the solution and make money.
Currently, 21 millions tons of textiles are going to be thrown away. That’s 28 trillion litres of water—enough to hydrate 300 million people for a lifetime—wasted on pieces the market doesn’t want.
If you’ve been dependent on the 18-month, forecast-based fashion cycles, whatever the rise of Amazon and the so-called “retail apocalypse” failed to communicate, the rise of a global pandemic economy certainly made clear: The old way won’t work anymore. Your business will be affected, whether or not you act. You have to decide whether you will adapt and grow, or if you will remain static and go downhill.
The bad news: your market can be fickle and unpredictable. And the internet offers consumers the chance to buy whatever they want from whoever is willing to offer them the best terms.
The good news is, the tools are now available to empower businesses like yours to meet those fickle and unpredictable demands in real time, and build a streamlined, end-to-end model of efficiency that gives them what they want while making your operations more profitable—because you only make what you sell, and need never rely on forecasting again.
Create security on demand.
Widely-dispersed, international supply chains are ill-suited to the needs of today’s wired, see-now-buy-now consumer base. When you’re selling via online stores, “shelf space” is virtually unlimited, but physically producing each piece to match that inventory is inherently slow and cumbersome, and does nothing to solve your waste issue. Digital production processes can help meet the challenges of digital shopping.
Direct-to garment (DTG), digital production technology, gives brands, print service providers, and fulfillment houses the flexibility they need to produce on demand and minimise inventory risks while offering quality and variety to consumers. Kornit Digital improved the deal by introducing a one-step production method that eliminates the need to pre- or post-treatments.
Our systems use eco friendly, pigment-based dyes compatible with many common fabrics. We serve a variety customers. T-shirts, hoodies, onesies, jackets, those stretchy yoga pants…pick your colour, and if the design can be rendered onscreen, it can be printed on that piece, with impressive colour accuracy.
“Speed of print, the reliability factor, and the cost per print were the three main factors for me,” said Daragh Murphy of Ireland-based Hairy Baby Clothing Company. “We have a lot of demand for crazy graphics, and the only way we can reproduce these is by using Kornit technology.”
Hairy Baby shares it digital journey
The right tool for every job
This technology provides print shops with a powerful, new tool that can be used for the right jobs. Screens will always be there for the large-run, bread-and-butter jobs that don’t use too many colours. But when you need to create something with minimal setup time, unlimited colours, in small numbers, or maybe even just produce some samples without the hassle that comes with analogue processes—digital makes it happen at the push of a button.
These systems offer the capability to print whatever the market demands, in brilliant detail, unlimited colours, and any quantity, and it’s always profitable because their speed makes it possible to sell first, then produce, and ship within days or even hours.
Here’s where it gets crazy.
People still want embroidery. People still want dye-sublimation. People still want vinyl-heat transfer. It takes time to do each method, it produces waste and it requires a machine that is different. We thought: why not make all of them into one machine?
That brings us to Kornit’s MAX technology, which give users every benefit they’ve come to expect from Kornit’s patented sustainable, single-step production process – but also 3D imagery that seems to leap off the surface. It simulates stitches. It simulates vinyl heat transfers. It also simulates dye sub impressions. And it does all of this using one inkset, with one machine, with a smaller footprint—both carbon and on your production floor.
Word on the street is, it’s good
Georg Stricker of Germany-based Boender & Beutel was one of the first to gain hands-on experience with this new equipment.
“The colours, I must say, are exceptionally good,” Stricker said of the technology. “The designs are looking more bright and beautiful. You can feel it’s something that is unique in the textile industry.”
Hanne Dinkel, of Spreadshirt in Germany, also used Kornit MAX for her production and was impressed by its versatility.
“With this technology, you can print like embroidery, or you can print like screen printing,” said Dinkel. “We are printing on demand, and that means we have to handle a lot of different garments. I think it’s going to be a game-changer in the print-on-demand business.”
The puzzle pieces are put together
“There’s a growing realisation and acceptance that on-demand production is the answer to meet the demands of today’s consumer,” said Kornit Digital CEO Ronen Samuel, upon announcing the release of Kornit’s MAX technology.
“Kornit’s MAX technology defines the future of on-demand, sustainable textile production, and the future is here now. MAX offers a rare sustainable symbiosis, more creativity, less waste.”
Producers like you can generate more profit in the future by capitalising on the true power of digitalised production. Visit Kornit.com for more information.
Kornit XDi: 3D fabric printing