Interview with Giovanni Pizzamiglio, Paolo Crespi, Riccardo Robustelli

Giovanni Pizzamiglio, Paolo Crespi, Riccardo Robustelli
Direct To Fabric Sales & Mktg Director,EMEAR & Americas;Commercial Director;Director respectively
Epson Italy, For.Tex, Fratelli Robustelli

Epson Italy, For.Tex, Fratelli Robustelli

Time for digital to replace analogue is now

Epson, a leader in digital textile printing, For-Tex, a leader in dye, thickeners and textile pre and post-treatment product manufacturing, and Fratelli Robustelli, a company known for its textile printing engineering and production, have been partners for 15 years bringing together their expertise and competencies to provide a digital textile printing total solution. The three companies came together in 2003 with the first Monna Lisa, a production-line digital printer equipped with Epson piezo-electric inkjet technology. Ever since, they have together launched many cutting-edge solutions with their Monna Lisa series. Giovanni Pizzamiglio, direct to fabric sales & marketing director, EMEAR & Americas, Epson Italy, Paolo Crespi, commercial director, For.Tex, and Riccardo Robustelli, director, Fratelli Robustelli discuss the length and breadth of the digital textile printing space.

What is the size of the digital textile printing (DTP) sector? At what rate are these sectors growing? Which are your key markets for DTP?

Giovanni Pizzamiglio (GP): The textile printing industry is one of the biggest and most dynamic in the world. The DTP market alone is expected to grow worldwide at an annual rate of 25 per cent and the Future of DTP to 2021 report values this global market at €1.17 billion in 2016 with an annual growth forecast of 12.3 per cent for 2016-2021. Originally created to speed up production times and reduce pattern book production costs, in 20 years DTP has taken a leading role in the design and production of printed fabrics. There is a consensus that inkjet printing is the future of textile printing so that in the fashion industry-particularly sensitive to versatility, speed and customisation-an ever-increasing amount of printed fabrics is realised using inkjet technology. The advantages are not only economical and practical, but also ecological. The sustainability aspects have found a powerful ally in DTP. Besides the apparel segment, with its wide spectrum of applications (fashion, fast fashion, sportswear, T-shirt), home textile and interior decoration are rapidly expanding segments. In addition, another interesting area of development is one of accessories, often coordinated with garments.

Markets like India are sensitive to the cost of printing. What is your strategy to cater to such markets and what are the specific technologies developed for these markets?

GP: Many printers are confused about the meaning of the cost of printing. In our history, we have proven to market that the cost of printing is not simply the investment for a digital printer or cost of one litre of ink. The cost of printing is instead the combination of efficiency, productivity, reduction of waste, prompt service and reliability.

Epson is one of the few companies that controls all elemental parts of an industrial textile printing solution. Our solution combines Robustelli's high-end manufacturing, with Epson proprietary print head technology and For.Tex's knowledge for dyes, inks and chemicals for fabric pre/post treatment. This is available "ready to use" to our customers, without the need for them to spend money and time to identify a solution suitable for their needs. Moreover, the quality of the printed result is key in calculating the cost of printing: higher quality gives the possibility to offer something beyond the average, which is normally priced higher. This is an excellent way to help our customers position themselves not only in the most aggressive price markets but in all different segments.

What product categories do For.Tex and Fratelli Robustelli specialise in?

Paolo Crespi (PC): Founded in 1986, For.Tex specialises in the sales of textile printing inks and in the manufacture and sale of essential treatment agents used in the textile printing processes. Thanks to For.Tex's expertise in the ink sector, the acquisition in 2015 strengthened Epson's DTP business, widening a strong know-how across the entire textile printing process, from strategy and design through manufacturing and sales.

Riccardo Robustelli (RR): Fratelli Robustelli is located in Como, the heart of the Italian and European high-quality textile industry, and specialises in the development, manufacturing and sale of digital inkjet textile printers-Monna Lisa series. The series is a result of our expertise in the textiles market together with Epson's high-quality printing technology.

The Monna Lisa brand includes a series of digital printers for all types of textile printing and inkjet printing. Easy to set up and compatible with all the most used graphic systems (Cad, Rip, etc), Monna Lisa is available in different models and configurations: format, number of print heads and different types of dyes (Genesta brand) allow to use Monna Lisa for all textile fibres, paper fibres, leather and other materials that can be printed using inkjet technology.

Also, the possibility to configure the printer with different sets of print heads, allows using Monna Lisa in all phases of the production process, from sampling to mass production.

What are For.Tex's and Fratelli Robustelli's main contributions to Epson business?

PC: For.Tex made over the years an outstanding contribution to Epson's efforts to replace analogue textile printing with digital. By combining Epson's digital inkjet textile technology with the technical and marketing expertise of For.Tex, we are now able to generate genuine value for the growing number of customers who are convinced that digital is the way forward. For.Tex is recognised in the Italian market as a trusted provider for dyes, thickeners and products for pre/post-treatment in digital printing processes for the textiles industry. It established and consolidated its expertise in the sector by constantly providing support to customers and widening its product range.

RR: Since the 1950s, Fratelli Robustelli has designed and produced textile printing machinery and systems. In 20 years, digital printing has taken a leading role in the design and production of printed fabrics, and inkjet printing is now the future of the textile printing in both fashion, which is particularly sensitive to versatility, speed and customisation, and other production sectors, such as interior design. The economic, organisational and ecological benefits of this cutting-edge printing technology include waste reduction, fewer wash cycles and the related reduction in environmental pollution.

This is why, over the last few years, Fratelli Robustelli has focused on the development of a series of periodic maintenance processes on its Monna Lisa that allow printers' upgrade with the latest technological innovations by changing no more than the 20 per cent of the original parts of each machine, resulting in the non-replacement of the 80 per cent of the original components and a minimum environmental impact. As we explained in our latest book Beyond the Silk Road: Digital Printing and Sustainability, and as we recently underlined during our last R-Evolution conference, this means that Monna Lisa became the "champion" of the circular economy, being the only industrial digital textile printer that never reaches the "end-of-life".

What new trends and innovations in inks can be seen, and what are their sustainability quotients?

PC: Since the initial design and launch of the Monna Lisa digital fabric printer, For.Tex has worked with the goal of providing the greatest number of colours for each class in order to offer users the larger gamut of effective quality digital inks. This intense research work led to the development of the Genesta ink range, designed to meet the highest quality standards for production reliability and colour fastness. Developed in cooperation with Epson, Genesta inks ensure a reliable, precise, resistant and high-quality print on all types of fibres. In addition, considered the evolution of requirements for chemical product sustainability, the Genesta ink range was developed and produced to minimise environmental impact. These include the elimination of hazardous chemicals by replacing them with safe chemicals whenever technology makes it possible, minimising quantities where alternative solutions are unavailable, and quickly researching alternative solutions. Thanks to all these innovative characteristics, Genesta also obtained the important Oeko-Tex Eco Passport certification, assuring that all the certified products could be used in the sustainable production of eco-friendly textile products.

How many Monna Lisa machines have been installed so far? And in which countries?

GP: Till date, around 350 Monna Lisa machines have been installed in different countries: Italy where we have more than 200, Turkey, Europe (Austria, France, Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Germany, the UK), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil and of course, India. Now the company has elevated its ambitions as it projects huge growth in DTP in the years ahead. Epson places the current global production at 1.7 billion sq m. Its own prediction is for this to expand to 5.8 billion sq m by 2025.

How have For.Tex. and Fratelli Robustelli added to strengths of Epson as company?

GP: Epson began its collaboration with Fratelli Robustelli and For.Tex in 1998, leading the launch in 2003 of the first Monna Lisa, the industrial digital textile printer that is today a market benchmark for high-quality textile printing. Both companies are now wholly part of the Epson Group. On the one hand, in 2014 Epson opened in collaboration with For.tex its Como-based textile solution centre, for research, training, promotion and development, and then two additional centres, the innovation research lab, dedicated to digital fabric printing ink technology research and development, and the printing research centre, created to support future Epson fabric printing developments. On the other hand, Fratelli Robustelli brings its expertise in the development of digital inkjet textile printers that further enhance the company's abilities to meet customer needs with a wider line-up of products.

As part of the enhanced acceleration, the two companies plan to focus on joint R&D efforts to achieve this goal. In the beginning, Epson chose to start collaborating with these two historic brands of Como because they are synonyms of excellence in their respective fields, and also because Como itself is the capital of the industrial district, centre of excellence for high-quality fabric printing, and of late at the forefront in the development of the digital textiles industry. In addition, after the acquisition, and especially in recent months, Epson has installed a number of Japanese technical personnel at Robustelli, both to increase capacity and to gain experience in textile applications. Como will remain its centre for textile R&D and training, but also overseas market is crucial for our business.

How does Epson manage to stay ahead of competition?

GP: Epson's aim is to become digital textile's number-one solution provider. As president Minoru Usui underlined on the occasion of the digital textiles industry conference Epson R-Evolution organised in Como last November, we want to continue to boost the competitive advantage of our products and achieve growth in new domains by becoming a valued and indispensable partner. Textile printing is one such new domain as we believe the time for digital to replace analogue is now. To this, Epson brings unique technological expertise including our original and proprietary micro piezo inkjet technology, which we have perfected for DTP and includes our state-of-the-art PrecisionCore print heads.

The most modern and sophisticated technology was the design and development of our crown jewel: the Monna Lisa printer series that, introduced in 2003, launched a new era in fabric printing. Monna Lisa allowed the textiles market to overcome constraints of the traditional printing such as production time and impact on the environment, while offering significant advantages such as speed of response to production demands, even for small batches and higher environmental sustainability. (HO)

Published on: 17/05/2018

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.