Time to go with the soft option?
Is textile printing finally going to take off within the large-format inkjet print sector in the UK? Derric Landor explains why he thinks the long anticipated trend will finally become a reality.
As the print industry was gearing up for the wider use of fabrics in print display and signage applications the economic downturn put a rather dramatic slowdown to this expected trend in the UK. But is it about to regain momentum?
Despite the higher base cost of printable textiles compared to the more commonly used PVC substrates, soft signage is a natural evolution of print into new markets and is an attractive proposition when it expands promotional as well as environmental opportunities and taste in display markets.
The evolution of wall coverings is a good example. Whereas, in the past we’ve seen PVC and board fixtures on walls, the simplified and environmental attributes of wall coverings applied direct to the wall have grown rapidly over the past few years, largely due to their cost, waste and labour saving credentials.
Fabric wall coverings are becoming more powerful a medium to use as their soft, subtle look and more environmentally sound properties become obviously more appealing. Now the trend is to work with fabric-based wall coverings in preference to PVC coated wall coverings.
More and more responsible companies - from large brand owners to the larger printers supplying these markets – have been reacting to the pressures of government and environmentalists to work with more environmentally friendly substrates as the effect of print and waste of lesser environmentally friendly products became a more apparent issue both in the public eye but also in the eyes of their consumers.
Printer manufacturers are increasingly promoting their ‘fabric capable’ printers and the environmentally friendly nature of their machines as an opportunity for users to expand into textile and soft signage alongside ‘conventional’ large-format print.
Inkjet printers today can either print direct to textiles or can be adapted to work with fabrics (treatments are needed for some processes). But, the growth in fabric print has been somewhat underwhelming – up ‘til now.
Fabrics continue to be an excellent sales argument or sales promotion to those concerned with the use of lesser environmentally friendly products! For many years the US market has - and continues to - provide print onto textiles with the use of a dye sublimation paper/ink print combination then a transfer process to fabrics where the time, skill and effort is reliably rewarded with washable, re-useable and long lasting use of conventional fabrics.
In the UK, dye-sublimation has and continues to some extent to be somewhat of a niche market although its added value and sales message continues to strengthen. To my mind direct-to-substrate inkjet printers in the market today do simplify some of the processes used in dye-sublimation but there are quality trade-offs.
One of the more major issues preventing the widespread take-up of textile printing with inkjet machines remains: fabrics, on the whole, are not priced as competitively as more ‘traditional’ substrates for the market to immediately embrace them in such difficult economic conditions. But this is changing.
If you visit exhibitions and shows in mainland Europe you will see a wealth of fabric-based print and soft signage adorning stands where it seems there is now a reluctance to use or be seen to promote lesser environmental products. For the UK market, where for many the mindset has been one of survival rather than creative experimentation, it appears that the time has not been ripe for large-format inkjet textile printing. Perhaps now is the time to reconsider? The use of environmentally friendly products, with creative and artistic character within promotional print is what the market is now geared up to deliver over the coming years.