Colorjet, a manufacturer of digital textile printers based in Noida, displayed two direct-to-fabric digital textile printers at Gartex 2019 – the Vastrajet 16 head printer non-reactive ink and the Vastrajet 8-head printer with acid-based inks. Colorjet had launched the Vastrajet 16 head printer at ITMA Barcelona but this machine was launched and shown for the first time in North India at the Gartex exhibition in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
Jitendar Pal Singh, business head of Textile, Colorjet, said, “The inks used in digital printing depend on the kind of fabric you want to print on. Say for example, you want to print on natural fabrics like cotton, viscose and silk. In that case, reactive ink is used. Dispersion inks are used for polyester and pigment inks can be used on any type of fabric but the process is slightly different. Acid-based inks are used for nylon. Printing on nylon is very difficult but the Vastrajet 8-head printer with acid-based inks can print on anything that is made of nylon as well as on woolens.”
Speaking about Colorjet, Singh said, “We are getting a good response from India and overseas. We are maintaining our leadership both in terms of machines in this segment and also in terms of new machines sold on a year to year basis. Our team is working on new applications and models in the direct-to-fabric and dye sublimation segment.”
Sharing his view on the digital textile printing industry, he added, “The digital textile printing industry is growing as expected. However, there are certain pockets such as Surat, which are not growing at the same pace. Although digital printing has gone up, it is still less than 5% globally as far as textiles. However, being a large industry even if it grows by 1%, the number of machines installed globally will be in the thousands.
“There is huge potential in digital textile printing as customers are shifting their production to digital because of the increased demand of digitally printed materials, and because of the environmental concerns raised by conventional textile processing and printing. They are also looking for ease of operation, lower cost of printing and higher productivity in digital. Colorjet’s solutions are in line with these demands. Additionally, you will see that new players are entering the market and I say that it is a good sign. It is not a competition but growth in the right direction. I personally anticipate that digital textile printing should grow much faster.”
