Direct-to Garment Printers blur the lines between commercial and industrial

• Brother’s GTX600industrial direct to garment printer was launched at the beginning of the year.
• Brother is a frontrunner in promoting the “pod” concept, which combines multiple DTG printers, automatic pretreatment, and a
• Aeoon Technologies has classified its MAIKURO as an industrial DTG-printer, but this classification is a bit misleading considering the hourly production rate. The MAIKURO prints 65 dark garments an hour and is more of a commercial printer than an industrial printer.
• While improvements are ongoing across all DTG segments however, recent developments point toward more advanced/robust industrial DTG printers as well as smaller but still powerful commercial DTG printers.

Johnny Shell

Introduction

Many apparel decorators have seen the direct to-garment (DTG), portion of their business grow over recent years. Some of these same companies now have to purchase additional printers to keep up with demand. While commercial printer owners might be frustrated by their slower print speeds, industrial printer owners may be more concerned about production delays or redundancy issues. Historically, DTG devices were divided according to their maximum print speeds.

Table 1. Table 1.

If you’ve been paying attention to some of this year’s new DTG printer launches, you may have noticed that the traditional gap between commercial and industrial printers appears to be closing. Today’s DTG devices are delivering faster printing speeds, better print accuracy, and more advanced technologies—all with a smaller footprint and a lower price tag. These new devices blur the lines between industrial and commercial printers.

New Introductions are Closing the Gap

Brother

In January 2022, Brother International launched its GTX600 industrial direct-to-garment printer. The new features include a projector system that projects the design to print onto the garment in its intended position. This allows the user to see the design on the garment before printing to avoid misprints. Brother’s Digital Line all-in-one pretreatment system can be paired with one or more GTX600 printers and conveyor dryers to maximize workflow efficiency. The system is available as two options:

• A Synergy pretreatment unit, which consists of a FireFly conveyor drying unit manufactured by Brown Digital and heat press.
• The Schulze Pretreat Machine LINE machine can pretreat up 300 garments an hour.

Both options combine the pretreatment, drying, pre-pressing and pre-pressing processes in one machine. The system can produce 182 garments an hour using three GTX600 printers, a digital pretreatment system, and a conveyor dryer. Brother is a frontrunner in promoting the “pod” concept, which combines multiple DTG printers, automatic pretreatment, and a dryer.

Brother’s GTX600 Industrial DTG Printer

Aeoon Technologies

Aeoon Technologies’ MAIKURO device was launched in April 2022. It is a smaller, two-platen DTG machine capable of printing up to 65 garments an hour. The printer is powered by eight Ricoh Gen5 printheads, which can produce images at 600 dpi and a maximum size of 40cmx45cm (16-in. x 18-in. MAIKURO is a single-gantry printer. As this video shows, each platen begins with the white underbase and then the color pass. Although the device prints at slower speeds than other products, Aeoon describes the MAIKURO industrial DTG printer. This classification is somewhat misleading given the hourly production rate—at 65 dark garments per hour, the MAIKURO is really more of a high-end commercial or entry-level industrial printer.

DTG Digital

DTG Digital, a subsidiary Pigment, Inc., spent two years developing its Q2 DTG Printer. This device can print directly onto finished garments as well as direct-to film transfers on one platform. The Q2 can produce 100 dark and 150 light garments per an hour at industrial-level speeds. It has a footprint measuring 1,006mm x 1,400mmx 1,931mm (42 in. x 55 in. x 76-in. The printer includes robust features such as a linear motion platen carriage with auto height adjustment, two stage ink mist extraction and a staggered 4-printhead array. Unique feature of the Q2 is simultaneous printing of both plates.

Ser. Tec. SRL

Ser. Tec. SRL offers the Eagle TX S, which can print up to 120 garments per hour. This device can be configured with two, three, or four printheads and features printhead position control that automatically adjusts the printhead’s height based on garment thickness to avoid head strikes. The Eagle TX S is capable of printing materials up to 15 cm thick. The unique feature of this printer’s multiple dual-platen configuration is its uniqueness. This video shows how the circular workflow allows continuous loading and simultaneous printing.

The Bottom Line

There are improvements in all segments of DTG market. However, recent developments point towards more powerful and advanced commercial DTG printers as well as smaller but equally powerful industrial DTG printing machines. The lines between these segments are certainly blurring, so today’s businesses have a broader range of options than ever before. The requirement for “high productivity” no longer means investing $250,000 or more for an industrial-grade DTG printer. Using the “pod” concept that companies like Brother are championing, multiple printers can be grouped together to produce volumes that have historically been associated with higher-priced industrial DTG printers. In the past, companies might not have been able to afford to invest so much money in a single printer that could shut down for any reason. This is exactly why the pod concept is so attractive.

Johnny Shell is the Director of Keypoint Intelligence’s Functional & Industrial Printing Consulting Service. He is a recognized leader and printing expert with more than 35 years of experience in the print industry. Johnny is an Inductee of Academy of Screen and Digital Printing Technologies. This international body of experts honors individuals who have made outstanding, long-term contributions in screen and digital printing and associated imaging technology for graphic, textile and industrial printing applications.