Digital Textiles - Superwide soft signage arrives in the UK
Digital textile printing is not new to RA Smart, we have been doing it for over ten years! R A Smart is a company renowned for being at the forefront of digital textile printing technology within the UK. With a unique position within this specialized sector as not only a reseller and supplier, RA Smart are also a major user of digital technology and have one of the largest textile digital facilities in the UK.
Digital textile printing in the UK can be broadly split into four main sectors although, of course, there are several other niche markets which utilize this technology:
- Fashion/Apparel using reactive and acid dyes on cottons/silks/wool
- Household Textiles/Furnishings using reactive, disperse and pigment dyes on cottons/silks/polyesters
- Sportswear/swimwear using disperse dyes on polyesters
- Flags/Banners/Soft signage using disperse dyes on polyesters.
The use of acid and reactive dyes requires the fabric to be pre- treated with the chemicals which are normally incorporated within standard screen printing inks and allow for the fixation process. These chemicals are not in the digital dyestuff as they would cause run-ability issues through the digital print heads, so the easiest way to incorporate these chemicals is to pad or screen them onto the fabric beforehand.
It is a similar situation when printing with textile pigment dyes and printing direct disperse dyes on polyester although it is not technically necessary for the pre-treatment it is generally used because it can help prevent the spread of inks and also enhance the colours. Textile dyes require a secondary fixation process normally dry heat or steam, this is not unique to the digital process but is a requirement whether traditionally printed or digitally printed.
After several ‘false dawns’ the UK signage industry is finally seeing the great benefits of utilizing textile digital technology within the point of sale and signage market. We have already seen this across the rest of Europe but the UK signage market has been slow to react partly due to the industry perhaps not fully realizing the superior results which can be achieved using this process and partly due to the additional investment in capital equipment if they have already invested heavily in solvent or UV printing technology.
Since Sign UK in April, RA Smart has sold four 320cm Superwide Mimaki JV5 systems all utilizing disperse dyes for either direct to textile applications of via dye sublimation. The first system in the UK was supplied to specialist textile printing company Image Fabrication in Kent:
The printer will be used for the production of high quality printed textiles for a range of applications including theatrical backdrops. Peter Baker of Image Fabrication explains ‘ This investment will offer a new dimension to our production facility allowing us to create extremely high quality prints up to 320cm wide onto a wide variety of textile without the need for stitching panels together.’ Magnus Mighall from RA Smart continues ‘Having sold several JV5 160cm machines for both dye sublimation and direct to textile applications throughout the UK, it is really exciting to see the latest generation of Mimaki super wide machines capable of printing at remarkable quality up to 320cm wide.’
Since then, RA Smart have secured orders for three more 320cm Systems which will be installed by the time this article goes to press. Cheshire based Cestrian Imaging are a specialist large format digital printing company who have a large array of solvent and UV grand format systems. Paul Whitehurst, Managing Director comments; ‘We have been keeping our eye on water based textile digital printing for several years now and with Mimaki’s new 320cm machine we believe the time is right to invest in this technology as we can offer both the width and production speeds as well as exceptional colours and print quality.’
Whilst this technology maybe new to a lot of signage printers, it is not a daunting as it may first appear and with over 35 years experience in the textile printing industry, RA Smart are well placed to guide and support any potential customers who are looking to move into the soft signage market. There is no doubt that this is the start of a new era in the signage industry and with a more informed market place the obvious benefits of utlizing environmentally friendly water based textile dyes to produce a far superior end result for soft signage will continue to push this technology forward into the Signage sector.