kornit

[kornit]

A Model for Efficient Production, and Winning Collaboration

“Seeing the microfactory come to life with Gerber Technology and Kornit Digital, and the truly digital workflow, has been remarkable,” said fashion tech authority, journalist, blogger, and podcaster Amanda Cosco of Electric Runway, upon observing our exhibit at the recent Texprocess Americas 2018 event in Atlanta.

 For three days, visitors to gained firsthand knowledge of the tangible ways automation and digital textile printing can change the game for apparel and home goods decorators. Kornit Digital teamed with Gerber Technology to demonstrate the complete, end-to-end, eco-friendly multifactory, presenting a fully-realized model of streamlined production, enabling businesses to eliminate inventory risk, localize, automate, print to multiple fabrics, and deliver brilliant finished products on demand.

 “We’ve seen a complete change from ‘supply and demand’ to ‘demand and supply,’” said Sharon Donovich, Product Manager of the Kornit Allegro, regarding the value of this production model. “The complete supply chain is transforming to print on demand, printing only what is needed after the purchase is made.”

[kornit]

Looking to Texprocess Americas, with Gerber Technology CMO Bill Grindle

On May 22-24, Kornit Digital will join Gerber Technology at Texprocess Americas 2018 in Atlanta (booth #1033), where we are demonstrating the Kornit Allegro system for roll-to-roll digital textile printing, as a component of the comprehensive eco-friendly multi-factory production concept.

In this blog post, we’re sitting with Gerber’s Chief Marketing Officer, Bill Grindle, to discuss the value of our partnership, and why Texprocess attendees would be enlightened by a visit to our exhibit.

KORNIT: What expertise does Gerber Technology bring to the textiles industry?

GRINDLE: For 50 years the world’s leading brands in fashion, furniture, aerospace, automotive, sign and graphics, and other advanced industries have trusted Gerber for our knowledge, expertise, innovation, and unparalleled support in bringing them from design to production seamlessly. Sixteen of the 20 most profitable fashion and apparel brands in the world turn to Gerber to leverage our closed-loop, end-to-end digital solutions. We have a deep knowledge of the workflows associated with goods produced from textiles and provide solutions to integrate processes managing data, starting with product lifecycle management, to pattern design, grading, marker making, and production planning. Our software easily passes data to production, where smart machines can process the order with a simple barcode scan.

We help companies from start-up to large brands with a complete digital transformation, to make digitalization a reality. Converting data to speed, we energize people who create market-leading products, making our world a more beautiful, comfortable, enjoyable, and safer place.

KORNIT: At Texprocess Americas 2018, your exhibit aims to demonstrate the concept of a “micro-factory” for the textiles industry. What distinguishes a “micro-factory,” and why would this model be something attendees should consider for their own production strategy?

GRINDLE: To thrive and survive in today's "see now, buy now" on-demand world, brands, retailers, and manufacturers need to digitize their process and operate in a lean and agile fashion. At booth #1033, attendees will see more than a micro-factory. They will see a digitally integrated ecosystem that allows them to respond to real-time customer demand vs. producing inventory based on their forecasts. Gerber Technology will be collaborating with Kornit Digital and Henderson Sewing Machine, to show how digitalization makes a purchase-activated manufacturing cycle a reality. The digital workflow will include YuniquePLM, AccuMark pattern design and 3D software, an Allegro direct to textile digital printer, the GERBERcutter® Z1 with ContourVisionTM, a vision-aided automated cutting solution, and an autonomous robot that will transport the cut parts to a robotic sewing operation.

Everyone attending Texprocess is at some step on their digital journey, seeking solutions to decrease the time it takes to get their products to market, increasing their overall efficiency, and reducing their inventory without impacting customer satisfaction and quality. They are balancing the need for speed with the challenges of finding and retaining a skilled labor force and increasing demands to operate in a socially responsible manner.

The digitally integrated factory addresses these challenges by leveraging technology to empower mass customization in an efficient, cost effective, and socially-conscious manner.

KORNIT: Gerber’s theme for this show is “Embrace Your Digital Reality.” What does that mean to you?

GRINDLE: For Gerber it means we are ready to help our customers turn data into speed, empowering and encouraging our customers to be proactive and “embrace” the digital transformation taking place in the textile industry.

Industry 4.0, smart factories, digitization, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility – these terms are in the headlines of industry publications every day. Digitization is a reality, and that’s good news for companies in the textile and sewn goods industries. Gerber’s people are ready to be a trusted guide on their journey, helping them harness their data, transform their workflows, and shorten their cycle times. Data is the new currency and companies that learn to harness it, to connect their processes and supply chains, are the ones that will thrive in the future. Gerber has the expertise, knowledge, customer focus and suite of integrated industry leading products to help all companies progress on their journey and achieve optimum results along the way.

KORNIT: How has the fashion cycle changed in the digital age, and how does Gerber respond to those dynamics?

GRINDLE: Fashion trends move fast, and consumers expect you to move faster. The need for speed has become imperative to success. But it’s not just about getting fashion to market faster; you need to have the right products in the right place and at the right time if you want to meet the demands of today’s shoppers and ultimately make them a loyal customer. Technology has created consumer demand for continuous product development, making seasons a thing of the past, leading companies to produce more lines to consistently stay on trend. This demands a tremendous amount of additional work, in a very short amount of time.

Gerber saw the digital age coming, and in anticipation we made some key strategic decisions in both the feature/function of our products and the overall approach to delivery. We are committed to connectivity of systems as a key enabler of speed and efficiency, both through Gerber’s end-to-end software and production systems, and connectivity to the other tools and systems our customers use to run their business. For example, we enable teams to collaborate and validate ideas early in the design process by sampling designs virtually. This reduces cycle times, development cost, and the overall environmental impact by reducing the number of physical samples needed for approval.

We also looked closely to ensure we were making it easy for customers to adopt and deploy our enhancements. Here we decided to focus heavily on cloud technology as an enabler in our business and system infrastructure, helping customers adopt and stay up-to-date with the latest versions of our software applications without heavy technology infrastructure and support investments.

KORNIT: Sustainability has become a core value for many brands. How does Gerber address the question of environmental friendliness?

GRINDLE: Sustainability has multiple aspects, including both human and environmental impact. Overall, the fashion and apparel industry has been slower to adopt technologies; the creative and development processes have been dependent on physical approaches that generate a lot of wasted materials and labor, while also having a negative environmental impact. Gerber provides digital tools that allow design teams to collaborate in one place, creating and sharing digital assets that can be used in the technical design and sampling process. The apparel industry spends billions of dollars and on average iterates 5-6 times on sampling before finalizing a design. Tools like PLM, CAD, and 3D software allow for virtual sampling, so changes can be made digitally. Using true-to-life digital renderings, design teams can go from patterns, to 3D virtual sample, to production-ready garments in about half the time it takes for a traditional non-digital process.

Furthermore, replacing hand spreading and cutting with automation improves working conditions while minimizing the amount of skilled labor needed, and reduces the amount of waste caused by manual, inefficient workflows.  

The digitally integrated micro-factory we are showing at Texprocess is incredibly sustainable. It capitalizes on the human and environmental benefits, and incorporates the socially responsible practice of digital printing. The Kornit Allegro is a waterless system, dramatically reducing contamination associated with traditional textile color dying methods. Digital printing enables greater speed in getting a product to market, supporting purchase-activated or on-demand manufacturing. Allowing sellers to only produce what is ordered can eliminate dead inventory, which costs the retail industry billions of dollars each year. While these costs directly impact a retailer’s bottom line, the carbon footprint of packaging and shipping these large volumes of goods is also immense. Smaller-batch or customized orders based upon demand both enables, even demands, a move toward localization, whereby finished goods are manufactured closer to the point of sale. This supports economic growth and sustainability in local economies, and helps to minimize the carbon footprint from shipping and packaging, minimizing waste in the process. It also supports a design process that enhances creativity and collaboration because small-batch processes allow for more customization – a driving trend among consumers, especially millennials.

[kornit]

A world of applications..in one booth

Kornit is @ Fespa Berlin this week with a booth geared for visitors to look, learn and interact with our Direct to Garment and Direct to Fabric technology and applications. Our application team led by Tal Wolmark gave us insights what visitors can see in the booth.

Screen versus Digital is our main focus at Fespa Berlin this year. With our latest ground breaking HD technology, digital direct to garment printing can now compete directly with screen printed garments. Spot the difference on the screen vs digital comparison wall where screen printed tshirts are placed side by side with Kornit HD digitally printed tshirts.

In these street fashion type samples, we show how with Kornit HD technology, its very easy to achieve screen alike printing effects and we’ve got a range of 1-5 color fashion garments on display (despite the fact the with Kornit DTG printers there are no color limitations). You can actually see how HD  technology saves up 46% in ink, while giving excellent color and a refined hand-feel.

Creation in a capsule? Yes - that’s the Allegro micro-factory where file to finished item all happens in one room.  What can you see live? Complete production workflow (print,cut, sew) of these “eye catching” eye masks giveaways. See how the Kornit Allegro provides the flexibility and the exactness to print only inside pattern lines. Fabric and ink waste is a thing of the past.

Fespa is also an opportunity to inform and show visitors our collaboration with Colorate - the file preparation experts.  The Colorgate Textile Production Server RIP with a dedicated version for Kornit Digital industrial printers enables high performance color management and SPOT color matching.  Besides the live Colorgate software demos in the booth, we've prepared garments samples that highlight Colorgate features – such as black knockout, semi-transparency and color matching.

Custom Gateway is a web to print end to end solution for selling customized items.  The demo shows how easy it is to incoporate mass customization into th workflow. 

With the tote bag pallets demoing in the booth manufacturers can how easy it is to widen the range of products they offer by swapping pallets.

  Come by the booth to see live demos.  Fespa runs till the 18th of May -   Its not too late to set a meeting.

http://digital1.kornit.com/fespa2018

[kornit]

Expert corner - a talk with Theo van Brueggen on Direct to Fabric printing.

Just in time for Fespa, we talked to Theo van Brueggen, our Sales Manager for Direct to Fabric printng for the Kornit Allegro in the EMEA region.

As an expert in inkjet printing with a diverse background both in the signage industry and now in the textile industry, can you tell us about the complexities involved in digital printing on fabrics?  

"Textile is a far more challenging substrate to print on than on another other substrate. There are so many variables involved from the wide variety of fabric types and manufacturing processes that impact on how the fabric reacts. Most manufacturers purchase fabrics based on price and so it is difficult to know in advance what the exact composition and quality of the fabric is, which is significant because the chemical composition will impact on how the pre-treatment and ink react to the fabric. For example a t-shirt alone has about 25-35 chemicals in it for dying, bleaching, softening, smell, anti-perspiration?.

Digital printing was designed to speed the process up and make things more efficient. Can you elaborate on this?

Digital printing definitely speeds up the printing process and allows for more flexibility. However manufactures looking to enter the digital Direct to Fabric (roll to roll) arena should be aware that not all digital printing workflows are created equal. Most digital printers require fabric to be pre-treated prior to printing to ensure that the printing is exact. If not for example, after the curing stage you might discover unwanted ink residue and pre-treatments could leave stains on the fabric (the pretreatment could react with the ink used). This means that trial and error and set up time are inevitable for each new fabric used.

Pre-treatment is an essential step and perhaps the Achilles heel in the digital textile printing process. The entire fabric roll needs to be pre-treated regardless of the surface area to be covered because you can't know in advance which parts of the fabric will be printed on. It might just be a delicate print with a few flowers or stars. Regardless the whole roll would need to be pre-treated.

You mentioned that not all Digital roll to roll printing processes are created equal. How do they differ?.

When a step in the workflow can be eliminated – that's the essence of differentiation. The only way to ensure an efficient process in which pre-treatment is used only for the exact areas to be printed it to have a system whereby the pre-treatment is jetted onto the exact printing surface area during the printing process. Kornit has developed a FOF (Fixation on the Fly) a system that does exactly this – the pre-treatment is directed at the exact print area during the printing process. Fixation is sprayed by the print heads on the exact area to be printed, integrating the fixation process into the printing process.

So a cumbersome step in the workflow is eliminated and there is an obvious saving on fixation agent. Could you explain how this effects the quality of the final garment?

Firstly the fixation is jetted out only where it is needed, eliminating waste, and by using less fixation agent, the printed garment handfeel is improved.

It not secret that the Textile industry is 1 of the most water consuming industries worldwide, mostly from the washing process used to remove chemicals used during dying or the softening process after drying (that in labor intensive and also requires various equipment). How can things be done different to reduce pollution ?

The Kornit Allegro is the only true Single Step Solution, meaning no need for external pre- or post-treatment. This allows for true printing on demand and is a complete sustainable way to produce. After the curing process you have a finished product – with no need for washing or steaming afterwards.  

Visitors to the Kornit Booth at Fespa will see the Kornit Allegro as part of a micro-factory. Why is such production so pertinent at this time?

Technology has created consumer demand for constant product development, eliminating the fashion seasons and forcing companies to produce more lines to consistently stay on trend. 

With apparel retail in the midst of a revolution, retailers closing stores and being lumped with huge inventories, how can manufacturers rethink their production processes?

Traditional production methods just can't keep the pace. Traditional offshore production means at least 3 months to supply garments, and missed opportunities. With micro-factory production you can produce on demand and can ship it on the same day. With traditional production techniques a minimum of 500 or 1000 meters of fabric is purchased, treated before actually being produced. Mostly its either not enough or too much. With a micro factory there is no longer a guessing game and... stock no longer is an issue – you can reduce your stock significantly – because you are printing on demand – you only print what you sell.

There is a reversal of the supply chain like never seen before. But don't take my word for it, come and see us at our booth at Fespa, this Monday, 15th May. To set a meeting http://digital1.kornit.com/fespa2018

[kornit]

Considerations when selecting a DTG printer...Testimony from the field.

Kornit’s distributor in the UK, Adelco spoke to Snuggle, a UK customer on how they made their DTG printer decision...and gain insights on how the printers have impacted on their business so far.

Things move quickly at Snuggle. The staff don’t waste a second as they load blank T-shirts onto the printers, and before they even have a chance turn around after setting the previous garment on the conveyor dryer, the Kornit Storm Hexas are offering up more ready-to-go tees freshly emblazoned with fun slogans and cute designs, ready to be cured, packed and sent to their new owners.

However, when it comes to making key business decisions, Snuggle Directors Shabbir Maimoon and Akil Thathia take their time. After an initial encounter with the Kornit Printers; the prudent business owners carefully weighed the model up against competitors, considering the requirements of their adapting company and the pros and cons of each machine on the market. In total; it was five years before the company decided to purchase two Storm Hexas – and they’re very glad they did.

“We first met Adelco and looked into Kornit for the first time at FESPA in London in 2012,” says Shabbir. “One of the main reasons we were interested was the pre-coat solution, which no longer needed to be a separate process, it’s an all-in-one built-in unit with the printer.

“We used to have a lot of problems with pre-treating garments , so it was one of the main issues we wanted to tackle. We went from there and compared them to competitors. Another key factor in our decision to choose the Storm Hexa was its additional two colours, red and green, which gives a much wider colour gamut."

“We used to do a lot of weeding before, so when you had an intricate design it was very difficult to accomplish. With the Storm Hexas, we don’t have that worry anymore.”

The snuggle story began in March 2011, where they started out selling mobile phone accessories before making the decision to move out of the market and concentrate on selling personalised gifts, such as mobile phone and tablet cases, coasters, placemats, as well as a range of garments.

Shabbir explains: “We sell personalised gifts to retail customers as well as offering a drop shipping service to trade customers. Our trade website; snuggleprinting.co.uk, is where we take on print jobs for other companies, overflow printing for trade customers and local SMEs.” Snuggle also has a print on demand service exclusively for trade customer www.snuggle.partners

Illustrating Snuggle’s evolution, Shabbir continues: “We started off with a small Epson printer, and we’ve moved from there as we grew. Originally, we used to do everything on sublimation, before moving to vinyl printing and then to direct-to-garment printing with Kornit.”

So, what changes have been made to the way Snuggle produces its wares, in terms of the features of the Storm Hexa? For one, as Shabbir touched on, it’s the pre-treatment, a significant time and labour saving in a business like this.

“Now, we can pick a T-shirt, load it straight onto the printer, it will pre-treat and print the shirt and it’s all done,” Shabbir says. “The weeding meant spending time taking away all the excess material, taking the vinyl and putting it onto the shirt – we no longer have to do that, so creating artwork is much, much easier.”

Snuggle’s website -  https://www.snuggleprinting.co.uk/

Another major cutback in time is brought about by the printer’s ease of use. Far from being a steep learning curve, getting new people trained and using the machine has been ‘really easy’. Shabbir also extols the printer’s self-sufficiency, outlining the substantial reduction in maintenance; “Just a little bit of cleaning at the end of the day, then we can shut it down.”

The financial gains brought by the arrival of the Kornit machines are clear, but as Shabbir outlines the effects the new equipment has had on how his business operates, the benefits seem to be even more extensive.

“There’s a really big difference for us. We used to manage to print on average about 400 to 500 T-shirts per day, which required us to have a team of about 12 people – some people would be weeding all day, others pre-treating, and the others printing.

“Our older printers were much slower, and so was production. In order to finish 400 to 500 T-shirts it would take an entire day, using about eight DTG printers and a crew of around 12 to 14 people.  Since we’ve had the Storm Hexas, that’s been cut down dramatically – we now have four people who are able to accomplish easily around 1000 T-shirts a day.”

Despite spending a considerable amount of time researching the Storm Hexa before purchase, Shabbir admits that the magnitude of the transformation had not been anticipated. “Since we got the Storm Hexas, we were amazed at the increase in capacity. We’re currently almost at 1,500 T-shirts a day and we’re getting through them really easily, to an extent we genuinely weren’t expecting, to be completely honest!”

The tunnel dryer 

Snuggle purchased both printers & tunnel dryer via one of Kornit's UK Distributors Adelco. "After meeting with Mark from Adelco in 2012 we had umpteen conversations with him and Luke prior to our purchases and were confident that we would work well together." Shabbir goes on to say "The communication is always great from the Team at Adelco and during the installations they stayed from start to end to ensure everything was done on time as planned and everything was up and running with no problems whatsoever."

It just goes to show, no matter how much time you spend researching the benefits that it can offer, the Kornit Storm Hexa could still have a few pleasant surprises in store for your business.  To learn more about the Kornit Storm Hexa, go to https://www.kornit.com/k-solution/storm-hexa/

[kornit]

How to avoid Deep (Polluted) Water

In recent surveys by the World Bank the fashion industry was rated at the second largest polluter of water on the planet, responsible for between 17-20% of all water pollution.  It’s estimated that a single mill can use 200 tons of fresh water per ton of dyed fabric, not only consuming water, but polluting it.  

Today's consumers are aware at some level or other of the impact that fashion is having on the environment and are looking for garments produced in ways that do not harm people or the environment and have smaller environmental footprints. More and more fashion influencers  and celebrities are posting about their sustainable brands and calling on others to follow.

This is driving manufacturers and retailers to rethink how and what they produce.

Reducing the footprint of the clothes they produce means brands must reconsider current practices across entire supply chains, and find new methods and technologies in their fabric and finishing choices. Until a few years ago, there was no substitute for dyeing or printing fabrics but by using water. But now, waterless dyeing and printing is one of the methods that is being explored to help reduce the pollution of waterways.

Quancious is an example of a company producing sustainable clothing, using sustainable fabrics and a waterless digital printing solution with biodegradable ink.  They call their line “water-positive fashion”. Their print on demand system and e-commerce site keep their carbon footprint  in control, by printing and manufacturing exactly what is needed and no more. Quancious has replaced traditional dyeing methods with digital textile printing. The textile printer they selected supports a 100% waterless process, by eliminating the water-heavy pre-treatment process and in the printing itself. Dyes are replaced with pigment inks which are ink jetted directly onto the fabric in a seamless workflow. Within minutes a few metres of fabric can be produced in a single step process. 

This industry that has relied on its traditional methods for years if not centuries is now in a state of flux and is evolving rapidly to find more efficient, sustainable and flexible manufacturing processes. And these solutions are available..you need only scratch the surface to find them.

Kornit develops, manufactures industrial digital printing technologies for the garment, apparel and textile industries and leads the digital direct-to-garment printing market with its exclusive eco-friendly NeoPigment printing process, 

To learn more about Kornit's sustainable solutions, go to https://www.kornit.com/sustainability/

[kornit]

Let's get personal. E-commerce and digital manufacturing are facilitating the personalization revolution.

Only a few years ago, personalized products were hard to come by. Having a pen or mug with your name on it was about as good as it got. Now with advanced manufacturing technologies coupled with the rise of e-commerce, the selection of products that can be adapted to customers tastes or needs has grown significantly. 

Its an opportunity for those businesses that are ready to tap into the demand, as people are prepared to pay more for these items. On e-commerce platforms, product personalization software allows customers to quickly design their own creations using online graphics. Personalized t-shirt designs are an example of personalized products that have gained popularity and that, per item, customers are prepared to pay more for.

In developed countries people can afford more and are spoiled for choice, especially online and no longer have to settle with whatever is available. People are seeking to own products that clearly belong solely to them. 

In understanding the psychology of it all… With social media and the power of visual media, the focus has shifted to individual fame. People are marketing their lives on Facebook and Instagram and in a sense branding it too. With everyone wanting to be "unique", personalized fashion and other products are the perfect fit for this trend. 

With any trend, in order for it to take off, it must be available in abundance. E-commerce is enabling this on the front end – with e-commerce websites providing the platform for selection, design customization and payment options. Digital manufacturing technologies are enabling production and fulfillment of any quantity, starting at 1.

When looking at the evolution of the t-shirt industry and ecommerce, traditional screen printing jobs produce long runs (over 500 pieces)  profitably. However, sub 500 runs are problematic for screen printing, and where personalization is concerned, one-offs are not an option. The shift to digital textile printing directly onto garments, known as DTG (Direct to Garment) printing is enabling such e-commerce to provide personalized goods. When a t-shirt can be loaded onto a pallet and printed in a manner similar to inkjet printing on paper – one offs can be printed in no time and personalization of t-shirts is a profitable and fast process. 

Personalization is also assisting brands in differentiating their products with unique offerings. Big brands are also realizing both the potential and the demand for such goods and sports brands such as Nike are offering personalized goods which are being eagerly adopted by loyal Nike fans.

This is true not only for Nike, but also relevant in markets where there is a lot of competition and its difficult to differentiate between product offerings. Consumers buying online have a tendency to compare the rates of same products on different ecommerce stores. By providing a platform to personalize their products, ecommerce businesses are going a step further to win their customers in spite of the competition.

On the whole its difficult to predict fashions, trends and understand customer tastes. Online buying trends are dynamic and consumer preferences change daily. When customers get to personalize their products on a company’s site, the company gets information on what kinds of products consumers are interested in, and by keeping a check on consumer designed products, e-commerce stores can further introduce similar products and enhance their product list.  

To learn more specifically on Direct to Garment printing technology that supports personalizaton, go to www.kornit.com

#directtogarment

#dtg

#textileprinting

[kornit]

With Digital Textile Printing inventories can be a thing of the past.

Brands are reducing their inventories…not because they want to but because they have to. Old fashion is out of fashion in no time…and no retailer can take the risk of getting stuck with old stock. For consumers, the choice of apparel remains endless. When you scroll through online stores it seems that stocks are overflowing..but are they?  Brands are shuffling goods around as they are ordered and are keeping low inventories in actual shops…it’s a battle to find the fine balance between keep enough stocks but not overstocking, and being able to ship goods on time.

But there is an answer to these challenges.

With Digital Textile Printing inventories can be a thing of the past. You can sell what you have yet to produce…be it in an inventory less store or on an ecommerce platform.

You can keep a large catalog or even offer unique, customized goods.

Digital printing means that one-offs are not a big deal…they are the norm.

When textile printing can shift from mass production to lean, controlled production on demand..that  means good things for everyone

-          For the environment – no more mass production and the waste that comes with it – waste of resources, space, time and money. 

-          For manufacturers – reduced risk of inventory – produce on demand and never turn another short run down again

-          For the consumer – your imagination can be printed…every garment can be unique

And it doesn’t end there…all textiles can be printed on demand and that extends the market so much further. Home fabrics can be customized and printed per meter as they needed.

Seems too good to be true?

Meet the Kornit Allegro and Cut.

We invite you to come and learn about DTG printing. Come and meet us at Indo Intertex from 4-7 April, with our partner, Samafitro,  Hall A1, #112.

 To set a meeting and see a live demo, go to

https://www.kornit.com/event/texprocess-americas/

[kornit]

A fashion designers dream come true

When each fabric piece in your fashion collection can be designed as if it were to be printed by hand - that’s a designer’s dream come true.

The privilege, exclusivity and beauty reserved for Haute Couture is that every piece of fabric can be designed and produced by hand. There are no limitations of lead times and mininum quantities. But this all comes at a price. Only Haute Couture businesses can afford the luxury of producing small quantities by hand. In any other fashion business it's not practical nor feasible to manufacture patterned fabrics manually.

But now, with advanced printing technology, fabrics can be printed on demand, digitally.  That means from file to finished fabric – only a few simple steps are involved. This revolutionary technology replaces months of lead times and the large quantities of fabric that would have to produced for each single design using traditional methods.

Image files are produced with repeat patterns exactly according to the designer's specifications. Fabric is selected and with advanced, Direct to Fabric printing technologies no pre-treatments are required. The Fabric is fed on rolls into the printer and patterns are printed exactly to the measurement of what is required. Pattern pieces can be specified and printing can be done to the exact pattern shapes meaning that even the ink is used only for what is needed.  The fabric is dried, cut and sewn…

Happy Andarda, the couture fashion designer from Philippines had her design fantasies freed from the restrictions of minimal quantities and lead times… In a project done in collaboration with Norde International, Kornit's partner in the Phillipines., her beautiful Transcendence collection was created in an abundance of designs, patterns and colors.  The Kornit Allegro, made it possible to print on the wide variety of fabrics in time for sewing and production.  These patterns were digitally printed on different fabric materials ranging from chiffon, tulle, organza and more complicated ones like duchess, piña fabric, and spandex.

With digital textile printing, fantasy becomes reality and the designer's imagination is the only limitation to the fabric design. It's as simple as that.

Learn more about Direct to Fabric Printing

https://www.kornit.com/k-solution/allegro/

[kornit]

Direct to Fabric printing just got a whole lot brighter

Designing fabric for fashion and home decor is still an enormous challenge for designers.Until recently it has been almost impossible to do due to lead times and minimum quantities. Traditional textile printing methods are not feasible for small quantities, let alone customization.

Now, with the advancement of textile manufacturing technology, customized fabrics are no longer an irrational ambition – it’s a reality that is happening.  

If you want to order a specific unique print for a small fashion collection or a few unique pieces of furniture or home decor, there’s only one solution – Digital Direct-to-Fabric printing. Digital was made to be fast, flexible and creative. 

Until recently Neon colors were not supported by digital printers. The Kornit Allegro, Kornit’s Digital Direct-to-Fabric printer, prints Neon spot colors and the neon inks enhance the vivacity and vibrancy of colors to give more application possibilities. 

So let your imagination run wild.

Kornit and Samafitro will be at Indo Intertex, Jakarta. To meet us and learn more About Allegro and Neon inks, please click below

https://www.kornit.com/event/indointertex-2018/

[kornit]

HD technology revealed... The secrets of DTG printing.

Manufacturing today is not what it was 5 years ago. Consumer habits are not today what they were 5 years ago either.

You may be wondering how you can adopt DTG to make money,

or how you can scale the DTG printer you have to make more money.

The market has changed and it’s important to know why it’s happening, but more important to know how your business can benefit from these changes.

January of this year marked the unveiling of Kornit Digital’s new flagship system, the Avalanche HD6. It launched major advancements for the direct-to-garment industry: increasing productivity, decreasing ink consumption, and the most refined hand-feel in the industry, without sacrificing color vibrancy or a higher price tag.

No matter on what scale you are printing, HD technology is equipped to tackle any run length head-on while streamlining your process and growing your business. Avalanche HD, based on enhanced NeoPigment™, is designed for cost efficiency and quality to match retail standards.

How did this quantum leap across all textile printing occur? A panel of presenters from Hirsch Solutions, SanMar, and ColorGATE and representatives from Kornit Digital presented a webinar on the 13/3 to discuss the new HD technology, including its implications for apparel, system preference, color-matching, and production and quality.

To hear the whole webinar, go to:

https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/805/305713?autoclick=true&utm_source=brighttalk-recommend&utm_campaign=network_weekly_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=company&utm_term=122018

[kornit]

Come and learn all you need to know about Direct to Garment printing...from the Digital Textile Printing Experts

Direct-to-Garment printing is a digital process whereby an image is printed directly onto a t-shirt using specialized or modified ink jet technology, as opposed the screen-printing method where screens are set up for each color to be printed on the shirt.

A primary advantage of Direct-to-Garment printing is the lack of set-up costs, the ability to produce short to medium runs with instant turnaround time and low cost per print.  Direct-to-Garment printers have a relatively small footprint which is a big plus in a modern world with the growing awareness and regulation for sustainable solutions. This is especially true in the textile industry.

But let’s talk about cost.

Bottom line, when considering opening a new textile printing business or upgrading an existing business, this is the no.1 aspect you want and should check.

Calculating the profitability of a Direct-to-Garment business involves calculating the sales price of the finished garment, cost of the garment itself and cost of the ink. But what about the operating costs that include factory space, operating costs, labor, pre-treatments and post-treatments (including space and machines required) that must be taken into account? Most manufacturers using analogue methods are used to processes that are labor intensive, involve several processes and large amount of factory space, not to mention the mess involved.

Digital direct-to-garment process offers a new way of thinking and basically removes the barriers.

Direct-to-Garment Printing is the no-fuss, no barrier method to print directly onto garments.

And, there is an advanced digital textile printing model that includes an integrated pre-treatment process – giving you a true single step process!

We invite you to come and learn about DTG printing. Come and meet us at Indo Intertex from 4-7 April, with our partner, Samafitro,  Hall A1, #112.

We are showcasing the Storm Hexa - advanced DTG Printer as well as the Allegro Direct to Fabric printer at the show.

To set a meeting and see a live demo, go to

https://www.kornit.com/event/indointertex-2018/

[kornit]

The 4th industrial revolution is here and its changing the way we do textile. Enter the micro-factory, micro-production that’s having a major impact

Over the past century, industry in general has gone through a massive evolution from the 1st industrial revolution with the advent of mechanization and invention of steam power followed by the implementation of mass production and assembly lines. Not that long ago, in Industry 3.0, people started using automated workflows and computers. Now we are in the midst of Industry 4.0 -  where digitization, the world wide web, mass customization and pace are shaping the processes. It is a new phase and integration of cyber and physical systems where even humans are starting to be replaced by robots. 

The textile industry has until recent years relied mostly on traditional textile production process that are labor intensive, involving many long, complex steps. These processes have 2 major negative effects: Pollution and poor working conditions for most textile industry workers. Traditional dyeing processes require large quantities of water, and in order to be profitable, large quantities of fabric are dyed and large quantities of the final product need to be sewn off-shore and shipped to developed countries to be marketed and sold.

The traditional textile production workflow involves manual, labor intensive steps from creating a design to sewing the final garment...

as long and complex as these steps shown below.

However, change is happening and there are 4 major Industry 4.0’s growth drivers that are positioned to shape and speed up the textile industry.

Mass Production – Production processes are becoming more streamlined. Machinery and workflow processes are becoming connected. The result – saving of  costs and time.

Mass Personalization - Consumers are demanding personalization of products. Fashion companies with automated manufacturing can now easily.The result – These companies can  meet specific customer demands.

Agile Production- Visibility of full design-to-product process. Manufacturers can manage multiple production lines and handle smaller-volume series in addition to permanent collections: The result a wider style variety!

Made to Measure - Supply chain mechanisms can meet individual needs. Communication happens in real time, orders and measurements are processed quickly. The result - Delivery times are short while costs are low.

But it doesn’t end there. The textile industry is undergoing a revolution of its own – with a new driving force - Micro-influencers

Social media and the speed and availability of the internet has given rise to a significant new driver of the fashion industry  micro-influencers. The shift sees a decentralization of fashion trends – no longer only defined by fashion houses and sports companies. Micro-influencers can be anyone who would have their own fashion brand as a result of their social media influence through a significant Instagram account – from trendy surfers, Youtubers and sports people – anyone that could have their own fashion brand as well as “sew-a-holics”.  

The only way to produce economically and efficiently for micro-influencers is with a micro-factory.

With the advancement to Industry 4.0, the textile industry also needs solutions that will both address environmental effects and human labor conditions on the one hand, while providing agile, cost-effective production that supports short runs and customization of garments and textiles in general.

Old manufacturing methods cannot support new consumer trends which are

-          Individualization

People want individualized garments and textiles with the ability to to print their own designs by loading them up via webshops and ordering online.

-          Small production quantities

Screen printing can’t handle these small production quantities - With screen printing, you need to produce screens for every color. In digital, print heads release the ink according to the image pixels. Digital printing solutions enable small production quantities.

-       Fast delivery times

Consumers are demanding fast delivery times. Fast production workflows with reduced production steps in eco-friendly factories in the customer‘s neighborhood will make fast delivery times possible.

-          Backshoring

Bringing production back home is on the rise; production is moving to Europe and the US. Not outsourcing production to areas where labor costs are low like in China or Eastern Europe, is a growing trend and manufacturers are proud to be able to say that their garments were produced locally “Made in the USA.”

-          Sustainability/eco-friendliness - less water pollution, water-based inks

People care where their clothing is produced and they want to know that the working conditions were acceptable in producing their garments. Having a reasonable environmental footprint by using eco-friendly equipment is becoming more and more important.

The micro-factory reduces the long complicated production steps to a smooth print and dry workflow.

The micro-factory removes manual pre-treatment, drying and cutting steps, and delivers a simplified, automated workflow.  The workflow includes the design phase of uploading image files. The Direct-to-Fabric printer removes pre-wash and fixing steps and combines printing and drying into one step. Fabric is printed to exact pattern pieces. The automated fabric cutter cuts printed fabric pieces and the only manual step is the final phase in which a seamstress sews the cut pieces to a final garment.

To read more about the Kornit Allegro, go to https://www.kornit.com/k-solution/allegro/

The Kornit - Zund micro-factory in action.

[kornit]

Fashion inventories are getting skinnier...and this is how its being done.

Brands are reducing their inventories…not because they want to but because they have to. Old fashion is out of fashion in no time...and no retailer can take the risk of getting stuck with old stock. Take Nordstrom’s inventory less store - a flagship store that keeps almost no inventory. It’s a new concept and might be reality that will stay. This flagship store offers boutique type services with in house stylists and catalogs to browse through.  A place to get fashion advice, make choices and purchases… that you'll pick up or receive in a few days.

For consumers, the choice of apparel remains endless. When you scroll through online stores it seems that stocks are overflowing..but are they?  Brands are shuffling goods around as they are ordered and are keeping low inventories in actual shops…it’s a battle to find the fine balance between keep enough stocks but not overstocking, and being able to ship goods on time.

But there is an answer to these challenges.

With Digital Textile Printing inventories can be a thing of the past. You can sell what you have yet to produce…be it in an inventory less store or on an ecommerce platform.

You can keep a large catalog or even offer unique, customized goods.

Digital printing means that one-offs are not a big deal…they are the norm.

When textile printing can shift from mass production to lean, controlled production on demand..that  means good things for everyone

-          For the environment – no more mass production and the waste that comes with it – waste of resources, space, time and money. 

-          For manufacturers – reduced risk of inventory – produce on demand and never turn another short run down again

-          For the consumer – your imagination can be printed…every garment can be unique

And it doesn’t end there…all textiles can be printed on demand and that extends the market so much further. Home fabrics can be customized and printed per meter as they needed.

Seems too good to be true?

Listen to how FMO, India are producing apparel and home décor products on demand using clean production methods that are sustainable, practical and fast.

[kornit]

INVENTORY IS DISAPPEARING IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE – and this is what is making it possible.

Brands are shrinking their inventories…not because they want to but because they have to. Take Nordstrom's inventory less store - a flagship store that offers boutique type services with in house stylists and catalogs to browse through. For consumers, the choice of apparel remains endless. When you scroll through online stores it seems that stocks are overflowing..but are they?  Brands are shuffling goods around as they are ordered and are keeping low inventories in actual shops…but

With Digital Textile Printing inventories can be a thing of the past. You can sell what you have yet to produce…be in an inventory less store or on an ecommerce platform.

Digital printing means that one-offs are not a big deal…they are the norm.

And that means good things for everyone

-          For the environment – no more mass production and the waste that comes with it – waste of resources, space, time and money. 

-          For manufacturers – reduced risk of inventory – produce on demand and never turn another short run down again

-          For the consumer – your imagination can be printed…every garment can be unique

And it doesn't end there…all textiles can be printed on demand and that extends the market so much further. Home fabrics can be customized and printed per meter as they needed.

Seems too good to be true?

Listen to how FMO, India are producing apparel and home décor products on demand using clean production methods that are sustainable, practical and fast.

To learn more, https://www.kornit.com/k-solution/allegro/

[kornit]

The Evolution of Textile Production - The Micro Factory, Micro production on a macro scale.

Over the past century, industry in general has gone through a massive evolution. The first industrial revolution was the advent of mechanization and invention of steam power followed by the implementation of mass production and assembly lines. Not that long ago, in Industry 3.0, people started using automated workflows and computers. Now we are in the midst of Industry 4.0 -  where digitization, the world wide web, mass customization and pace are shaping the processes. It is a new phase and integration of cyber and physical systems where even humans are starting to be replaced by robots.

The textile industry has until recent years relied mostly on traditional textile production process that are labor intensive, involving many long, complex steps. These processes have 2 major negative effects: Pollution and poor working conditions for most textile industry workers. Traditional dyeing processes require large quantities of water, and in order to be profitable, large quantities of fabric are dyed and large quantities of the final product need to be sewn off-shore and shipped to developed countries to be marketed and sold.

The traditional textile production workflow involves manual, labor intensive steps from creating a design to sewing the final garment.

However, change is happening and there are 4 major Industry 4.0's growth drivers that are positioned to shape and speed up the textile industry

Mass Production – Production processes are becoming more streamlined. Machinery and workflow processes are becoming connected. The result – saving of  costs and time.

Mass Personalization - Consumers are demanding personalization of products. Fashion companies with automated manufacturing can now easily.The result – These companies can  meet specific customer demands.

Agile Production- Visibility of full design-to-product process. Manufacturers can manage multiple production lines and handle smaller-volume series in addition to permanent collections: The result a wider style variety!

Made to Measure - Supply chain mechanisms can meet individual needs. Communication happens in real time, orders and measurements are processed quickly. The result - Delivery times are short while costs are low.

But it doesn't end there. The textile industry is undergoing a revolution of its own – with a new driving force - Micro-influencers

Social media and the speed and availability of the internet has given rise to a significant new driver of the fashion industry  micro-influencers. The shift sees a decentralization of fashion trends – no longer only defined by fashion houses and sports companies. Micro-influencers can be anyone who would have their own fashion brand as a result of their social media influence through a significant Instagram account – from trendy surfers, Youtubers and sports people – anyone that could have their own fashion brand as well as "sew-a-holics".  

The only way to produce economically and efficiently for micro-influencers is with a micro-factory.

With the advancement to Industry 4.0, the textile industry also needs solutions that will both address environmental effects and human labor conditions on the one hand, while providing agile, cost-effective production that supports short runs and customization of garments and textiles in general.

Old manufacturing methods cannot support new consumer trends which are

-          Individualization

People want individualized garments and textiles with the ability to to print their own designs by loading them up via webshops and ordering online.

-          Small production quantities 

Screen printing can’t handle these small production quantities - With screen printing, you need to produce screens for every color. In digital, print heads release the ink according to the image pixels. Digital printing solutions enable small production quantities. 

 -       Fast delivery times 

Consumers are demanding fast delivery times. Fast production workflows with reduced production steps in eco-friendly factories in the customer‘s neighborhood will make fast delivery times possible.

 -          Backshoring 

Bringing production back home is on the rise; production is moving to Europe and the US. Not outsourcing production to areas where labor costs are low like in China or Eastern Europe, is a growing trend and manufacturers are proud to be able to say that their garments were produced locally "Made in the USA."

 -          Sustainability/eco-friendliness - less water pollution, water-based inks 

People care where their clothing is produced and they want to know that the working conditions were acceptable in producing their garments. Having a reasonable environmental footprint by using eco-friendly equipment is becoming more and more important.

The micro-factory reduces the long complicated production steps to a smooth print and dry workflow.

The micro-factory removes manual pre-treatment, drying and cutting steps, and delivers a simplified, automated workflow.  The workflow includes the design phase of uploading image files. The Direct-to-Fabric printer removes pre-wash and fixing steps and combines printing and drying into one step. Fabric is printed to exact pattern pieces. The automated fabric cutter cuts printed fabric pieces and the only manual step is the final phase in which a seamstress sews the cut pieces to a final garment.

To read more about the Kornit Allegro, go to https://www.kornit.com/k-solution/allegro/

The Kornit - Zund micro-factory in action. 

[kornit]

Off the Rack Is Off the Table

Per McKinsey & Company, personalization is the #1 trend in fashion for 2018. For apparel decorators, this leaves traditional means of production increasingly misaligned with consumer expectations in the digital age.

Consider this scenario: A print shop, which uses screen printing exclusively, acknowledges the demand for customized textile printing and thus allows customers to upload a digital image to its website, which the brand will print to a t-shirt for a specified cost. The customer submits an order for a dozen such shirts to share among friends. The shop must produce the screens to handle this design, which is simple enough (or simplified) for those screens to handle. These shirts can be printed in mere days, thus fulfilling the order—but the business must ultimately consider:

Given the considerable time and labor involved in preparing such a short run, it becomes more difficult to maintain a healthy profit margin.

If the shop repeatedly turns away such orders because of a poor cost-benefit ratio, they will cumulatively represent a considerable loss of profit, and a profit stream ignored.

Print runs are getting shorter by the year. Average run lengths have fallen well below 500, with industry experts reporting typical runs in the 48-144-piece range. In light of that, a screen-only business model would seem unsustainable.

Shops that use digital direct-to-garment (DTG) technology can print a far more complex image precisely as rendered digitally, have it printed and shipped within 24 hours, and charge considerably less for the order. Most customers will choose that business to satisfy their needs instead, thus giving said business a profit stream with which to grow.

Printful is one such business. By supplementing screen printing and broader textile printing with digital DTG systems, Printful enables customers to create their own digital designs, which can be printed directly to shirts, hats, wall art, leggings, bags, pillows, towels, and other items, in any quantity. They claim to be “the most popular print-on-demand app on Shopify,” printing and shipping every order on-demand “in 3 days on average.”

Printful integrated with Shopify in 2013, has printed millions of shirts (in addition to a plethora of other garments and accessories) in the time since, and is expected to go public soon.

According to Sourcing Journal President Edward Hertzman, “we have to look at people’s business models—like Amazon, Walmart, (and) Zara. Their business models are about responding to a style or trend. It’s not about creating the next new product but responding to a particular style and bringing that to market with efficiency and speed. We are going to see an acceleration of last year’s successes and failures. The amplified cost of complacency has increased, so those that are being complacent are going to become obsolete quicker than ever before. We are going to see consolidation from a retailer’s perspective. Retailers are going to close down, (and) typical brick-and-mortar is going to see continued contraction.”

Fanatics.com, which uses digital direct-to-garment print technology to distribute graphic apparel the moment it’s relevant, embodies this mindset. Within hours of the Philadelphia Eagles winning the latest Super Bowl, fans could place their orders online and show off their “Super Bowl Champions” hats and tees at the victory parade four days later. The business could answer demand immediately and precisely (i.e. without overstock), a perfect storm of profitability. Fittingly, Fanatics.com was named “Yahoo Finance sports business of the year 2017.”

The “new normal” is digital

While screen printing remains a terrific model for producing incredibly large orders efficiently, its efficiency diminishes as orders become shorter and more customized.

As a supplement to screen printing, digital DTG printing offers printers the capability to meet these demands of mass customization, agile production, and rapid order-to-ship, with the benefits of low and stable cost per print, in addition to eliminating surplus inventory.

Furthermore, digital textile printing, which can now be combined with advanced graphic raster image processor (RIP) software, offers a nearly unlimited color gamut, to produce imprinted apparel far more detailed than possible via screen printing; nearly any design that can be rendered digitally, can be printed via digital DTG. Hand-feel has achieved parity with screen-printed garments, and all of this can be produced in mere minutes, eschewing the considerable setup labor associated with screens. Digital DTG is versatile enough to provide value and opportunity for Fortune 500 manufacturers and mom-and-pop (or garage-based) print shops alike.

Today’s consumers are digital consumers; they expect to find a supplier to satisfy their desires in the moment, and ship as quickly as possible. Off the rack is off the table, and digital DTG printing is a perfect fit for an industry where businesses are today sinking or swimming by their ability to serve those accustomed to gratification at the push of a button.

On March 13, Kornit Digital will lead a panel including industry experts from Hirsch Solutions, SanMar, and ColorGATE to discuss Kornit’s HD technology for digital DTG, including the opportunities it presents for screen printers, what it means for printing to various textiles (including polyester and poly blends), its implications for color-matching and quality control, and more. Register today to attend “HD Technology Revealed: Inside Secrets of DTG Printing,” presented by Printwear.