Oliver Mustoe-Playfair, Director and Owner of Prinfab, has outlined how it has scaled up its versatile print on demand capabilities in response to exponential growth.
He says: Since we launched in 2016 Prinfab has become a trusted supplier of printed fabric to thousands of individuals and businesses worldwide.
The business has grown exponentially year on year and by the end of 2020 we had moved three times and were running a fleet of about ten direct-to-textile pigment and dye-sublimation printers.
We print on a wide range of natural fibre and synthetic fabrics that are used for many purposes including homeware, fashion, and clothing, such as aprons, swimsuits, scarves, and dresses. Really anything that’s using textiles. The quality and consistency of the prints is of paramount importance in our particular business. We only have to get it wrong once and we lose a customer.
As we manufacture in the UK, we also have oversight of the whole production process and far greater openness and transparency with the supply chain.
We know exactly where our fabrics come from. And we are using state-of-the-art printers to produce this fabric. This is quality we haven’t seen from overseas manufacturers.
Our whole business is built on repeat custom so unless the quality is there, we don’t have a business.
We quickly realised that in order for the business to scale up we were going to have to start using larger industrial machines so that’s exactly what we did.
The Epson Monna Lisa really stood out in the market.
The print quality really is next level. The combination of the system itself with the Genesta Pigment Inks offered a level of print that we didn’t see anywhere else. That, combined with the right workflow, was a perfect fit for our very fast paced print-on-demand business.
We are also enjoying a whole new world of commercial opportunity made possible by offering an on-demand textile printing service with no minimum order and commercially viable pricing.
For the first time, print technology has enabled that to be a thing.
Now anyone can start printing their own fabric. They only have to print one meter, and they can start a business from that. They can design a dress, they can design an apron, and if it sells they can order more. If it doesn’t they haven’t lost a great deal.
So, by making commercial grade fabric printing accessible to anyone, it has opened up a wealth of opportunities for entrepreneurial, creative, people.