Digital Printing On FabricIn the context of constantly evolving technology, the process of improving textile equipment is quite fast. New machines and devices appear more and more often, all designed to improve and simplify the work of textile specialists.

So, after the usual printers for paper printing, there appeared machines for digital print on fabrics. In this article, we are going to figure out what is digital printing and the main advantages of this method.

What is digital printing?

Digital printing is the process of printing images by mapping away little droplets of ink onto the surface area. It does not use printing plates and photo chemicals as the offset printer. In addition, it is a faster and more convenient method of printing.

It is easy to work with a digital printer so that everyone can cope with it without any difficulties. To make things clearer one should understand there is no prepress stage before the file you should print and the final printing. You can print images directly on a media material and get the finest quality. You may print various kinds of media such as folding cartons, synthetics, polyester, thick cardstock, and even fabric.

Digital printing on fabrics

Digital printing on fabric is a well-known method of making prints in the textile industry. There is a great number of vivid advantages of printing with the help of modern technologies. Among them, one can define the faster and more productive rate of printing, quality patterns, and the opportunity to print any kind of complex design. But keep in mind that it is important to get acquainted with its benefits regarding the fabrics that can be digitally printed on and the details concerning the procedure.

How to digitally print on fabric?

Textile printing is an innovation of recent years. So, if it is necessary to make patterns with a textile printer, the product is laid on a special surface that has a certain structure that allows the fabric to lie flat.

It should also be taken into account that before printing any fabric, except for white, it must be preprocessed. Only after that a suitable drawing is selected on the computer and sent to print.

A textile printer for direct printing has a high speed of drawing an image. It produces A4 size prints in one minute and A2 in 4 minutes. Files can be of any format, as the printer has enough memory to accept incoming information.

After successful printing, the product is processed in order to protect it from the negative effects of washing. It is done using a heat press or using infrared processing. As a rule, the digital fabric print process takes 5-10 minutes. Then the product is placed in a special dryer, where the temperature reaches 170 degrees Celsius and dried for three minutes.

Textile printers for direct printing on fabrics are quite a profitable purchase, since they are relatively inexpensive, but they allow you to apply a printing of any complexity to the product.

To print the image on small in width, but long fabric surfaces, a printer for printing on textile tape is used. Most often, such tapes are used to create labels on clothes and shoes.

For the actual printing, you will need a thermal transfer printer and nylon or satin fabric ribbon. Printing on the product is carried out in one tone. Since the tape is highly magnetized during the digital print on fabrics, a special device is used to rewind it.

Types of printing on fabric

The custom digital print fabric is used for different purposes. Besides, it is actively used in such industries as:

  • furniture industry;
  • shoe industry;
  • textile industry;
  • for making clothes.

Regarding the last point, we can say that a textile printer is most often used for making prints on T-shirts.

Since recently, beautiful and bright, like a photograph, drawings have come into fashion, applying them to T-shirts allow you to increase sales. And since textile printing on T-shirts is not expensive, it has become widespread among sewing companies.

Textile printing in the advertising industry

Textile printing was originally used in the fashion industry. It has become widespread in European countries, where many fashion houses are located. Later, the textile printing practice reached the advertising business as well.

The use of advanced technology and fresh scientific achievements had undeniable advantages:

1. Excellent aesthetic characteristics of advertising on fabrics;
2. The large selection of products;
3. The excellent durability of prints on fabric surfaces.

Textile appliquéing printing is actively used in outdoor advertising. Fabric coverings fit perfectly to any interior. Products of this kind have a more harmonious and natural look than their counterparts made of other materials.

It is worth noting the special brightness and liveliness of the applied pictures. Naturally, the fabric base allows you to hide image imperfections visible on paper.

Printing on textile tape is used in the manufacture of banners, billboards, etc. The fabric is suitable for flags that decorate the street on city holidays or during any promotions.

Advertising branded clothing is created with the use of digital printing technology too. And a large sector is occupied by the manufacture of souvenirs, such as calendars, rugs, towels, etc.

Printing on fabric is widely used because the inks to print on the textile are of high quality and durability, images printed on fabric have excellent shades, and pictures are immune to dry machining. In addition, their durability is higher than those that are applied to paper or films.

Textile labels are printed in accordance with established standards. Products can be made in various colors. Digital printing is carried out in six or more shades. Economy class equipment is capable of displaying only four colors. But keep in mind, you should be attentive with blue color. The thing is, it is difficult to reproduce on a fabric surface. In return, you can get gray, blue, or purple shades. But modern developers do not bother with this problem because nowadays devices, involved in textile printing have a wide range of colors.

To sum it up, one should understand that printing on textile is a perfect opportunity to create fascinating and unique patterns without lots of difficulties. All you need is to find an image, choose the quality fabric and enjoy the result.