producing digital textile printing

1.18 Other key elements

Many disciplines and competencies contribute to producing digital textile

printing. In addition to print head design and manufacture, material handling

engineering, and ink chemistry, are textile manufacture and pre-treatment, post-

print finishing, design, raster image processing (RIP), and color management

software.

Monti Antonio S.p.A. of Thiene, Italy, has developed vacuum heat presses

that can produce print-through with digital printed images for flags, banners, and

scarves. Other manufacturers of post-processing equipment are also expanding

the capabilities and applications for digital textile printing.

Color matching and management software and equipment are helping digital

textile designers and printers distribute and print at multiple locations around the

world with colors that match exactly. Printer±ink±media profiling and climate-

controlled environments are enabling digital textile printers to reproduce print

images repeatedly. Digital textile printing is entering an era of greatly improved

reliability that replaces personal skill with scientific and numeric precision.