The first Screen Print Sri Lanka expo, a big success

13 Dec '16

5 min read

The first Screen Print Sri Lanka (SPSL) exhibition and technical seminars were successfully concluded on 1-3 December 2016 at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, Colombo, with co-located events - Sublimating Ideas Expo, Label Show and Dyes & Chem.

With over 40 exhibitors, the event received over 2500 visitors from Garment industry, screen printing, digital printing, offset and label printing, not only from Sri Lanka but also other Asian countries. With this success, Aditya Exposition Pvt Ltd, the organiser of many successful exhibitions for over two decades, including the regular Screen Print India, has added one more feather on its cap.

On day-1, leaders from Indian and Sri Lankan printing industry jointly lighted up the lamp and cut ribbon to mark the inauguration of the first Screen Print Sri Lanka exhibition in the presence of invited guests, exhibitors and visitors. Devang Sheth, director of Aditya Expositions, warmly welcomed the exhibitors and visitors.

"I admire the keen interest of scores of visitors who took time out to visit Screen Print Sri Lanka expo despite the fact that currently it is the busy production season in Sri Lankan garment industry. Some of the companies made it a point to send their production staff to give them exposure to new technologies and techniques in garment decoration as a whole. Most of the visitors thanked me personally for organising the expo. They said, this was the first exhibition ever held in Sri Lanka exclusively focussing on screen printing. They expressed their satisfaction especially because there were so many leading global suppliers who showcased their range of products, directly or through their Sri Lanka representatives," said Devang Sheth, director of Aditya Expositions. "I am also delighted to note that most of the exhibitors expressed their satisfaction with the footfall and the quality of visitors and also about our overall arrangements. Many of the exhibitors said they could generate many leads and also establish contact with new customers."

Some of the leading companies who took part in the exhibition include: Grafica Flextronica, Skyscreen, Ninehearts, NBC, JK Garments, Indian Dyes Sales Corp, Antler General Industries, Colorcroma, CöLöRs, Devraj Rangwala, Domex, Impress Apparels Machines, Ingrin Printing & Graphic Academy (INGRIN), JK Garments, Knowell Corporation, Kumar Textile Industries, Multi Colour Premium Ink & Chemicals, Panorama Screen, tandard Holdings, Unifold, Weera Industries, Winson Inks, Zibo Paper Tech and many others. Some of these companies represent global brands of repute.

The range of products showcased by these companies included: Screen printing (textile and graphics)/digital/sublimation printing machinery, pad printing machinery, finishing equipment, screen/digital/sublimation/pad printing inks and consumables, screen making equipment and tools, paper and non paper substrates, UV special effects, heat transfer printing inks and chemicals, heat press, transfer papers, etc, which covered the entire gamut of garment decoration in particular and screen printing in general.

"During a random interview, most of the exhibitors expressed that although they already have few customers in this island country, by participating in this expo, they could get wider exposure to Sri Lankan garment/printing industry to expand their business further since the local market is growing. They were glad to participate in Screen Print Lanka expo since in the past there was no such opportunity existed," said Devang Sheth.

The organiser had also hosted an Exhibitors' get-together on the evening of 1st December at Hotel Renuka, Colombo. The delightful Evening was attended by over 100 guests who were welcomed by Devang Sheth. On this occasion, the Lead sponsors of the exhibition and Speakers of various Technical Seminars, and association supporters were honoured with memento.

Naveen Gupta, the new general secretary of IPAMA, organisers of forthcoming PrintPack 2017 at Noida, was a special guest at this evening. While complementing Devang Sheth for organising screen print exhibition overseas, he said: "Exhibitions like this benefits the printers at large. I invite all Sri Lankan printers to visit Print Pack 2017 at Noida in large numbers to see new technologies in action."

While delivering vote of thanks Devang Sheth whole heartedly thanked all the exhibitors and Sri Lankan printing industry for supporting the exhibition. "Without the local support our exhibitions would not have been successful," he said.

The interest of the Sri Lankan garment printers to gain knowledge is such that all the technical seminars by three eminent speakers were received good attendance. Charlie Taulieb of Taublieb Consulting who is also a member of ASDPT, USA, conducted three seminars on "Multi-color Printing on Dark Garments," "Four Color Process" and "Creative T-Shirt Printing & Enhancing Techniques." At frequent intervals of three days' exhibition, he had also performed live demo of direct to garment printing at his 'Charlie Corner' which was well watched by garment printers. Bhargav Mistry Director of DMI, conducted a houseful seminar on "Secret of Producing Digital-Like Quality Prints in Textile Screen Printing" wherein he had also touched upon the entire screen making process theoretically and showed on screen some of the important aspects of pre press and color management, and spot color process file separation. The seminar on "Migration of Fabric Dyes to Prints is a Common Phenomenon where Polyester or its Blends Employing" by Suneth Jayasumana, Antler General Industries (P) Ltd, Sri Lanka, was also well attended.

"In line with the Make in India concept, as an Indian exhibition organiser we could prove our capability by organising the expo for the first time in Sri Lanka. By any standards, for an Indian event company, this exhibition was a great success," concludes Devang Sheth.

Screen Print India