Dye sublimation print market to reach €3 bn by 2021

19 Feb '16

5 min read

Also, the maturing of the dye sublimation market witnessed a number of moves by mainstream print companies into this segment.

For instance, in October 2015 Konica Minolta opened a 5 million euro ($5.54 million) textile innovation centre at Bregnano, near Milan, in the heart of Europe's textile printing operations; Electronics for Imaging (EFI) bought Italian technology provider Reggiani in July 2015, adding its expertise and extensive line up of water-based industrial inkjet printers to EFI's existing Vutek line.

In June 2015, Epson completed the acquisition of Italian ink supplier Fortex and was in talks for partnership with dye sublimation equipment builder Robustelli. Elsewhere in the consumables area, Sensient bought UK firm Xennia in May 2015.

A major presence in dye sublimation remains the Dover Group of companies – J-Teck3, Kiian Digital, Sawgrass Industrial and MS Italy.

The increase in demand for dye sublimation print is driving the development of larger presses, expected to transform the value proposition of dye sublimation prints from samples and short runs to let it challenge analogue processes, like screen and gravure, in longer bulk production runs of multiple thousands of linear metres.

Seven such presses were launched at ITMA 2015 last November. There is also much focus on innovation that minimised downtime on presses; for example, Kyocera and Ricoh have developed a recirculating head that reduces nozzle clogging, following Xaar's innovation of some years ago.

For visual communications, the number of requested applications of dye sublimation products is growing, but the technology is not today developing fast enough to accommodate all client requirements, the report mentioned.

Despite the overall positive outlook for dye sublimation, as a process it is limited to use with synthetic or synthetic-coated materials – overwhelmingly polyester – by the need to bind the dyes into the internal fibres.

Thus, in future dye sublimation systems may face competition from pigment inks if their suppliers can resolve quality, reliability and other issues. Pigments have greater substrate flexibility, significantly this includes natural substrates, like cotton.

This combined with their simplicity of processing and the tactility of the printed textile will enable pigment inks to grow, if the print process can become reliable enough at production scale. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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