Digital Textile Print in the ‘See Now, Buy Now’ E-Commerce Age
We’ve observed increasing demand for “see now, buy now” in custom-designed apparel, accessories and home goods, driven by e-commerce and the widespread perception that consumers can have instant gratification with regard for any conceivable type of product. On-demand is the new normal.
When a business is mass producing a commodity, it can manufacture that item, build an inventory and sell it readily. However, in the world of Etsy and other online creative communities, where designers, decorators and entrepreneurs demand products of their own design, inventory will kill print businesses that rely on the old retail models. “Supply and demand” is increasingly obsolete, while “demand and supply” has become the only sure path to growth for textile designers.
The key to addressing this market accordingly is speed to print, and that is where Kornit Digital’s (Booth 1815) roll-to-roll system for pigment-based digital textile print, Allegro, serves print businesses best.
Traditional dye-based roll-to-roll systems require six steps, and multiple machines, before the fabric can be cut: They demand pretreatment, printing, drying, steaming, washing and yet another round of drying. With its “Fixation on the Fly” treatment, Allegro combines the entire print-and-dry process into a single step, delivering imprinted fabric that is ready to cut in a fraction of the time, the lone machine requiring far less floor space.
Furthermore, the system produces no water waste, which simplifies the process both ecologically and logistically. Users will find it easier to react to and comply with new regulations, being ahead of the curve as demand for sustainable production practices increases from both legal and consumer awareness fronts.
Allegro’s versatility also lends itself to faster production. Unlike competitive systems, it can print to a multitude of natural and synthetic fabrics, using a single ink set, meaning each machine can handle a broad array of jobs, using the fewest number of operators. There is no compromise for hand-feel or image quality; the color gamut is nearly unlimited, empowering printers to offer their customers complex, brilliant designs, and Allegro is now the only digital textile print system to offer neon colors.
As a component of an optimized workflow, Allegro enables businesses to receive an order, print the fabric, cut it and sew the completed item for shipment the same day. Spoonflower, which has a web-based business model of bringing custom goods to life for designers, has grown exponentially by delivering both samples and finished products in mere days using this template.
Kornit Allegro enables printers to transform their customers’ creativity into a live product and with the speed they’ve come to expect.
Create anything, print what you’ve already sold and deliver in one day: This technology provides on-demand efficiency and versatility, for an on-demand age.
