The Big Picture - May 2013 - (Page 12)

Textile Printing’s Transformation Image courtesy of Spoonﬂower (spoonﬂower.com). Nine things you must know about the textile market and its opportunities. Many stakeholders across the textile supply chain are evaluating the use of digital textile-printing systems as a way to mitigate risk, increase production and fulﬁ llment cycle times, lower costs, and become more environmentally considerate. These changes are transforming the textile-printing industry and driving demand for new digital textile-printing systems. Although the digital textile-printing market is very small in comparison to the entire textile industry, it’s growing at a rapid rate. Some of the key trends that are driving this growth include: • The increasing demand for faster cycle times and fashion seasons from major brands and retailers; • A growing demand for textile-based products that meet regulatory and corporate preferences for environmental properties; • Emergence of higher-quality, higher-speed inkjet printheads; • Availability of moderately priced solutions that enable new market entrants; and • Open-system inkjet printheads that allow for multiple ink suppliers, resulting in lower ink prices. The information that follows is adapted from InfoTrends’ new report, “Transforming Textile Printing,” a comprehensive look at the textile-printing market, how digital is becoming a part of the industry, and how print providers can integrate their speciﬁc skills and technologies into this market. For more details on the report, contact InfoTrends directly (infotrends.com). 12 THE BIG PICTURE MAY 2013 Spoonﬂower’s digitally printed fabric swatches help provide a sense of color, image detail, and quality. Swatches shown here include: Green Ware (designed by Susan Scott); Jungle Passion (Joan McLemore); Footnote Flower Stripes (Amy Peppler Adams); Vintage Floral in Mustard (Emma and Elsie); and New Blue Fox (Rae Hoekstra). THE SIZE OF THE MARKET The printed textile market is estimated to be valued at $165 billion on a worldwide basis. The vast majority of that printed textile market is based on screen printing and gravure printing. Digital print technology is growing because it oﬀers many advantages for textile production, clearly matching the new and increasing demands of textile buyers, but it still represents less than 1.5 percent of printed textile volume. Digital printing of textiles worldwide is expected to drive a market for related digital hardware and ink from $484 million in 2011 to more than $2 billion in 2016, reﬂecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for that interval of 33.3 percent. http://www.spoonflower.com http://www.infotrends.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - May 2013

The Big Picture - May 2013
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
UpFront
Graphics on the Go
Textile Printing’s Transformation
Advances in Rollfeds
Taking the Fine-Art Plunge
Ink Quest 2013
R+D
Explorer

The Big Picture - May 2013