For a process that’s ancient printing on fabric has gone through a very rapid period of development and change in the last ten decades.
Screen-printing fabric using flat screens has been the well-established method of applying colour and design to cloth till recently. This technique was suitable for moderate to large runs. For very high quantity, inkjet screen-printing has been the conventional process. The setup costs to interrogate and make the screens were quite high but because of the size of runs they were the very best economic.
Small runs weren’t economical with fabric printing both of those methods for fabric printing. This left that the compact runs very costly because of the high set up costs and also in the flag and banner small conducts were usually hand printed, either appliquéd or embroidered.
Then along came the new means of fabric printing. Digital fabric printing introduced a completely new concept whereby small runs can be done in a lower cost. Printing digitally onto fabrics made from polyester has now reached new heights thanks to continuous evolution work by cloth producers who are dedicated to this form of printing on fabric.
Dramatic results are currently achieved on fabrics and this is sometimes seen in a broad selection of applications out of flags, bannersand artist’s canvas, display graphics, mobile displays, stretch display approaches, theatrical back drops, point of sale displays, home furnishings, window treatments, roller blinds etc.. Printing on fabric for this particular ever-increasing array of software requires careful and continuous research and development. This guarantees that the cloths perform well when used on a wide range of digital printing machines with the huge mixture of inks from dye-sub water-based inks to UV, latex and lube inks.
Printing cloths utilizing dye-sub water-based lead to polyester textiles requires complex chemistry alongside the fabric to be sure the printer receives the optimum performance out of the inkmachine and rip used. This will then give hi-def, vibrant strong colours when demanded for flags excellent print through, for all types of printing on fabric.
Although Dye Sub printing polyester cloth probably generates the most useful results progress in UV inks means results have improved dramatically in the past few decades. The inks have are more flexible making suited to textile printing. In addition to this particular Engineered ink technology also suggests that these inks are suitable for fabrics. That is further evidence of the value of fabrics for digital printing where cloth is replacing conventional media like PVC. Machine and ink manufacturers have responded well for the question by adapting machines and the inks.
Printing on cloths which can be compostable and biodegradable is becoming increasingly more crucial as landfill taxation continue to climb rather than forgetting that polyesters fabrics can of course be recycled. That is particularly important for many companies who know of the rising demand for more green services and products.