Digital Inkjet Printing

Digital printing, from a technical standpoint, is identical to the inkjet printer used with nearly every desktop computer. To accommodate textile fabrics, these machines range from 60-84 inches or 152-213 millimeters in width. Digital printing offers tremendous design capabilities such as photographic image quality and the opportunity to change from one design to another without any printed fabric waste. Three-dimensional body scan data has been used in conjunction with digital printing to produce printed fabrics that are custom fitted for the individual. 

Digital printing is used to rapidly produce trial prints for sale or evaluation. Many industry leaders believe digital printing has the potential to become the textile printing technique of the future. The current top digital printing speeds are substantially lower than those of a rotary screen machine. However, this comparison does not take into account the production downtime required for screen change and clean-up necessary in rotary screen printing. The limiting factor of digital printing speed is related to print head technology. Reports indicate that these production speeds will not increase until there is a breakthrough in the mechanics of the printing heads. Current research in this area is focusing on increasing the current color depth and color fastness of the dye systems now available. Generally, the fabric to be printed must be pretreated with a material such as sodium alginate and alkali so the printed dye will not bleed or smear before fixation. Regardless of the technical limitations, digital inkjet printing is a viable commercial alternative technique for small runs, 50 yards and under, of highly styled, premium fabrics as are used in scarves and ties.