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Increasing demand for sustainable printing solutions, efficient and fast printing with the use of digital printing technology and growing demand for trendy designs on apparel and home decor products are driving the digital textile printing market growth.
Digital textile printing or inkjet printing is a technology where designs of fabric print immediately from a computer, without extra effort just like printing and designing a paper. This flexible tool offers mass customization along with the chance for quick changes to color or design elements before printing.
As providing noteworthy benefits digital printing profits over conventional printing like quick turn-around, efficient set-up and speed, economical and great flexibility, taking less time, alteration possible, etc. And in today’s customer-oriented market printing technology is not limited to wearing wears; it bounds to its limits and reaches the requirements of trade show graphics, pictures of huge fabric posters of television and movie stars, advertising purposes, flags and banners and many more.
Advantages of digital printing
- Offers faster production technology, and cost-effective print runs. Also, this process consumes less water, and dyes, thereby proving to be environmentally friendly.
- The latest innovative and creative designs like concepts of shadow, shimmering, vibration, reflection, moire, optical, translucent, netting, blurring, layering, superimposing, etc. are done by digital printing instead of making special efforts with traditional methods of printing.
- Process color applications with its latest printers and software applications are the main benefit of digital fabric printing. Wider color scope and finer printing quality are available with the latest development of inks, and color management software.
- Photographic and tonal graphics are shaped with millions of colors with Photoshop and can be printed on fabric according to the color combination requirement.
- The design is achieved with greater flexibility, without the limitation of repeat size, colors, or engineered designs and gets outstanding depiction of continuous tone (photographic) images.
- Digital printing equipment not requires much infrastructure.
- Drastically trim down time to market the products.
- It decreases industrial waste and print loss and provides a centralized manufacturing facility.
- Mass customization requirements are easily available in a short time.
- Availability of fast greater speed of operation, high resolution/drop size & configuration with spot colors combination or color control without lack of standards
Comparison between conventional screen printing and digital printing
| Comparable Factors | Screen Printing | Digital Printing |
| Characteristics | Won’t get those features at a time. | suitable for quick delivery, short-run production and photographic print with multi-level tone reproduction |
| Tools | The process involves making a stencil using a drawn/digitized image or a photograph, attaching to a screen, placing it over the desired canvas and spreading the ink over the image. | Only need a computer and a printer with ink cartridges of every color. |
| Efforts | screens need to be made and the process is lengthy | Operating system is key based & relatively quicker |
| Tight Schedule | Not good for a tight schedule | Fast – could be the best option if you’re running to a tight schedule. |
| Color Precision | Colors can bleed into one another | Sharp, crisp finish |
| Cost | Costs escalate with the number of screens. Also, the addition of each new color will cost you. It also required trained labor which adds to the cost. It is most apt if a person wants a large quantity. | Fast – could be the best option if you’re running to a tight schedule. Greater flexibility – Allows frequent changes if needed. Perfect for personalized mail. The computer and printers are one-time investments and digital printing is cheaper compared to screen printing as the charge is offered per imprinted image. |
Digital printing short history
The Digital Textile Printing history in Bangladesh is not too old. Digital printing was first patented in 1968 and gained popularity in 1990. Beximco Group first introduced digital textile printing in Bangladesh in 2015. Now like Square Group, Liz Group, Knit Concern, Padma Textiles, Fortis Group, Mondol Group, etc. are almost 20-22 factories in Bangladesh that have digital textile printing machines. About 60% of total digital prints are made in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan & Vietnam.
Today, Bangladesh has gained the skill and ability to compete with any country in the world with All Over Printing (Screen printing) and has created a strong position, but we are still so much behind in All Over Digital Printing.
Global digital textile printing market size & growth
According to the article of the Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA), despite the global COVID-19 crisis and the economic downturn, the digital textile printing market worldwide will still grow to 7.7 billion square meters by 2027 at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2021 to 2027.
The global digital textile printing market size was valued at USD 2.46 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1% from 2022 to 2030.
Digital textile printing in Bangladesh
Over the last few years, more and more high-fashion brands such as H&M and Zara are joining unique and more outbound designs in their pools. Whereas conventional printing can limit designers to create unique high-quality designs. Digital textile printing helps designers expand their creativity and gives them the right tools to create futuristic designs.
Some forward-looking Bangladeshi companies have started making digital makeovers anyway. Square Group, Liz Group, Masco Group, Knit Concern Ltd, Metro Group, Padma Textiles Ltd, and Mondol Group are among the big-name producers and exporters involved in large-scale digital printing.
As the printing industry focuses on quality and accuracy firstly, a fall in quality will cause a high loss in the business.
Digital printing helps Bangladeshi manufacturers to harvest higher margins. Suppose a manufacturer gets $1-$1.5 for a T-shirt. But digital print will help him fetch $4-$5. Even if he spends $1 on print, he’ll get $2-$3 margins.
Conclusion
The rapidly shifting trend toward automation in the textile industry is the main driver of the global digital textile printing market. Furthermore, to diversify their product portfolio in the worldwide market, digital textile printing companies are attempting to advance on technological fronts and are investing extensively in research and development operations. Newly developed digital textile printing systems can print with eco-solvent, UV, solvent, and aqueous inks, reducing the impact of printing processes on the environment. Factories must have chosen this sector as early as possible as it’s very near to see the dominating phase of digital textile printing over traditional printing all over the world including Bangladesh.
