Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Overview of Digital Printing on Fabric

By Oliver David


Digital fabric printing is really a fairly new technologies with lots of applications. Most professional fabrics are rotary screen printed; every print run is usually a number of thousand yards. These fabrics are fairly high in cost because of the price and time needed to prepare a distinctive set of screens. Digital printing's large benefit will be the capability to complete little runs of every style -- you will find no screens to prepare.

The inks utilized in digital printing are formulated particularly for every kind of fiber (cotton, silk, polyester, and so on.). Throughout the printing procedure, the fabric is fed via the printer utilizing rollers and ink is applied towards the surface within the type of a large number of tiny droplets. The fabric is then completed utilizing heat and/or steam to remedy the ink (some inks also need washing and drying). Digitally printed fabric will wash and put on exactly the same as any other fabric.

Designs can be created digitally with almost any graphic design software (Photoshop and Illustrator are the most popular). As well, artwork or photographs can be scanned and then digitally manipulated to make a pattern.

Determine what color model the digital printer (most often CYMK or Lab) and select colors accordingly. Colors will appear differently on the fabric than on the computer screen. Personalization is a great way to make the fabric unique. Every yard printed can be completely customized and personalized. With digital printing, Lean and Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing is a key attributes -- small runs of fabric can easily be printed for sampling purposes. No more hunting high and low for the perfect print, only to find that it?s no longer available. The major downside to digital printing is the cost. As with any new technology, the costs are always high when it first becomes available. As time goes on and the technology continues to develop it will undoubtedly become more affordable.

When coping with printing solutions, anticipate to spend about $20 to $50 per yard of completed fabric. Most solutions have no minimums and permit purchases as low as 1 yard at a time. Some have minimums and set-up charges however the price per yard might be lower. The common turn-around time is 2-3 weeks, but might be much more when the base fabric is out of stock. Other unique digital resources are new papers like synthetic paper, waterproof paper and vinyl paper.




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