In the past three to five years, the growth of digital textile printing on anything from soft signage to T-shirts has exploded—both because the technology has become mainstream and the end customer likes the look and feel of fabric over vinyl.“The technology is more mainstream, and it’s higher quality. It’s more reliable, easier to work with and easier to enter,” says Mike Wozny, senior product manager of EFI VUTEk in Londonderry, New Hampshire, a developer of ink jet printing technology with a focus in water-based textile printing.
在过去的三到五年里，无论是软标识还是t恤，数码纺织印刷的发展都有了爆炸性的增长——既是因为这种技术已经成为主流，也是因为最终用户喜欢纺织品的外观而不是乙烯基的触感。EFI VUTEk的高级产品经理Mike Wozny说：“数码纺织印刷更主流，成品质量也更高。”
Printing on fabric became more viable in the last 15 years, tripling in growth in the past three to five years, Wozny says.The growth is in both traditional textiles and soft signage in sign and banner applications. Those applications vary from back-lit, front-lit and point-of-purchase displays to wind sails, rollup banner stands, double-sided banners and step-and-repeat backdrops, among other uses. The various applications appear at conferences, trade shows, retail outlets, restaurants, outdoor festivals, and sporting and other events.
Mike Wozny说：“在过去的15年里，数码纺织印刷飞速发展，单就过去五年里就呈三倍速度的增长。”数码纺织印刷的增长幅度特别体现在标识和横幅中的应用，产品类型各式各样，从灯箱到展具，横幅到幕布。尤其在会议室、贸易展览、零售店、餐厅、体育运动场等场所，经常出现数码纺织印刷的产品。
“The name is attributable to fabric’s soft hand verses rough substrates such as paper, vinyl or rigid boards,” says Sharon Roland, advertising and public relations manager for Fisher Textiles in Indian Trail, North Carolina, which supplies more than 150 printable fabric media options to the digital printing industry. “An advantage of fabric over rigid substrates is that it introduces the sense of touch, which in a world where consumers crave experiences, adding the sense of touch and making the finished product more than just visually stimulating is very appealing.”
Fisher Textiles公司为客户提供150多种可印刷的纺织材料选择， 该公司位于北卡罗来纳州印第安特雷尔。广告经理Sharon Roland说：“纺织品与乙烯基等粗糙材质相比，它的触感完胜硬质基材，它不仅带给消费者视觉上的享受，在触觉上也远远优于其他材料，让产品更有卖点，更有吸引力。”
Uses of Fabric Signs
纺织标识的使用
Fabric printing includes both direct printing—the printer places the ink directly onto the fabric or textile—and transfer printing, heat pressing the print onto the fabric.Direct printing, or direct-to-garment or direct-to-fabric printing, came about in 1996 with the introduction of the first commercially available DTG printer named Revolution, based on an invention of Matthew Rhome, now head of DTG business development at Epson America, Inc., a Long Beach, California-based manufacturer of digital printers and other devices.
纺织印刷分为直接印刷和转移印刷。直接印刷是打印机将油墨直接印在纺织品上。转移印刷是将印花热压到纺织品上。直接印刷于1996年推出，当时推出了第一款名为Revolution的商用DTG印刷机，基于Matthew Rhome的发明，现发展为数字打印机与其他设备的制造商，名为美国爱普生公司，总部位于加利福尼亚州长滩。
Rhome brought together the screen printing and digital technologies to create the Revolution. At the time, the garment decorating and sign industries were moving from old analog production to digital production, he says.
Rhome说：“当时，服装装饰产业和标识行业正从陈旧的模拟生产过渡到现代数字生产。他将纺织品技术和数字技术结合起来，创造了这场革命。”
Sign makers hand painted their signs before advancing to vinyl cutters and then wide-format ink jet printers to print the content direct onto various substrates, an evolving technology over the past 20 years, Rhome says. For making a large number of shirts or signs, they no longer needed to engage in the laborious process of screen printing, requiring film and individual screens for each color, but could use a digital format, printing from the computer onto the material in a multitude of colors, he says.
Rhome说:“标识制作商在发展到乙烯基切割机和宽幅喷墨打印机之前，都是手工制作标识，然后将内容直接打印到不同的承印物上，这是过去20年来一直采用的一项技术。但现在只需要用电脑编辑出图案输出到打印机里，打印机会自动匹配颜料，就不再采用以往繁琐又费力的印刷方式了。”
“We already had ink jet printers. It was about how to marry the two,” Rhome says. “Everybody saw this as revolutionary.”
Rhome说：“我们现在也有了喷墨打印机，大家都认为这是革命性的一步。”
Rhome developed a way to flatten the material and employ special textile inks that are pigmented, washable and durable and able to print on fabric, which the Revolution achieved. The printing became cleaner, easier and faster than the older technologies, he says.
之后Rhome还发现了一种特殊的染色纺织品油墨，这种油墨更易清洗和耐用，且能更好的实现印花效果。新型印刷比旧技术更清洁，更容易，更快捷。
“You can’t run a T-shirt through an ink jet printer,” Rhome says, adding that with the Revolution, “It’s basically printing a computer file. Once it’s designed, you can print instantaneously. There are no screens. You have a design. You print. There’s no setup.”
Rhome说：“这次革命让印刷变得简单，纺织品印刷就像是打印一份电脑文件，一旦设计好，直接打印，无需设置。”
Transfer Printing’s Longevity
永恒的转移印刷
Digital transfer printing, alternatively, is an older technology that has been around since the early 1990s, Rhome says.
Rhome说；“数码热转印技术是一种较老的技术，从上世纪90年代初就已经出现了。”
It requires a two-step process that involves printing to transfer paper, and then running the paper and fabric together through a heat transfer press, Roland says,“The print is transferred by contact heat, which causes the dye to sublime. Having no affinity for paper, the dyes are taken up by the fabric,” Roland says. “Sublimated prints are extremely washable and scratch resistant because the print is protected within the yarn.”
Roland说:“热转印分为两个部分，一是将图案预先印在转印纸表面。二是通过热转印机将纸张和纺织品一起印刷。将转印纸上精美的图案转印在产品表面，成型后颜料层与产品表面溶为一体，逼真漂亮，大大提高产品的档次。升级后的印花还具有耐洗和抗划痕的特点。”
Advancements in direct printing have made the print quality a close rival to transfer printing, Roland says. “Direct dye sub printing is the preferred print method for outdoor longevity because this process drives the ink further into the fiber, offering improved colorfastness verses paper transfer print, promoting longer use and better color vibrancy when exposed to weather elements,” Roland says.
Roland说：“直接印刷的革命导致转移印刷把成品质量作为首要目标。直接印刷是首选印刷方法，因为直接印刷的图案层次丰富、色彩鲜艳，色差小，再现性好，能达到设计图案者的要求效果，比转移印花有更好的色牢度和持久性。”
However, transfer printing is less expensive and more flexible than direct-to-fabric printing, which still remains the more widely used option for the signage industry, says Randy Anderson, product manager for textiles at Mutoh America in Phoenix, Ariz., a manufacturer of wide-format and flatbed printers.“If you have a problem with the printing, the fabric is done,” Anderson says. “If you print on paper, you can see the problem. You’re not out of the cost of the material. Printing direct takes more skill, knowledge and leading-edge technology.”
不过，Mutoh America公司的纺织品产品经理Randy Anderson表示：“与直接印刷相比，转移印刷成本更低，操作也更灵活。在标识行业，转移印刷仍是大部分产业的首选。但印刷行业对工艺技术要求较高，经常在打印完才发现产品存在问题，如果你没有升级产品材料的成本，那就要多了解印花的知识和更新印刷技术了。”
Advantages of Direct-to-Fabric
直接印刷的优点
Direct-to-fabric printing has its own set of advantages over transfer printing, Rhome says. It’s more durable from the way the ink, made out of chemicals with pigments and binders, binds to the fabric, he says.Because transfer printing doesn’t give as strong a bind, it will not work on some materials, like polyester and materials that are shiny or slippery, and doesn’t lend well to printing on darker
Rhome说：“直接印刷比转移印刷有很多优势。用颜料和粘合剂制成的化学油墨容易与纺织品结合。因为转移印刷在一些材料着色度不高，附着力远远小于直接印刷，不适合在涤纶、深颜色或光滑的纺织品上印花。”
For those darker materials, direct-to-fabric printing requires a pre-treating device, a special fluid that seals off the material and allows the ink to adhere in the desired area, Rhome says. Without it, the ink will soak into the material and affect the whiting, he says.
Rhome说：“直接印刷需要对深颜色的材料进行前期处理，把吸水拒墨的薄膜贴在不需要印花的地方，这样可以有效的保护材料不被油墨浸染。”
“Dye sublimation allows for that better color saturation because the inks in the dye are denser than they were in the past and have improved in jetting out of the printer.Now, it’s a very stable product.”Anderson says，“Polyesters, which are more acceptable and fashionable in the clothing and signage industries, have become higher quality, making them the best material for dye sublimation.”Anderson says.
Anderson说：“升级之后的油墨密度变高，色彩也更加鲜艳，现在是一款非常炙手的商品。油墨升级后纺织品材料也有了新进展，聚酯纤维不仅时尚感强，质量也越来越好，在标识行业非常受欢迎，是油墨升级之后的最佳纺织品。”
“The print quality from direct printing is a close rival to dye sublimation transfer as a result of many technological advances.” Roland says，“Direct-to-fabric printing has greatly improved over the past couple of years and continues to be a rapidly growing segment of our industry. … The production process is also improved since there is not a need to print the paper. Everything is done all at once with direct,” Roland says. “It saves time and provides a cost savings in labor and material.”
Roland说：“油墨的不断升级与直接印刷对质量的严格要求密切相关。在过去的几年里，直接印刷已经有了很大的改进，并且以后还会一直处于快速发展阶段。现在的直接印刷生产工序简单，生产速度也大大加快。 一切都是一气呵成，省时、省力、省钱。”
Common Uses of Direct-to-Fabric
直接印刷的常见用途
Direct-to-fabric printing is commonly seen for flags and back-lit signs, Wozny says. Flag signs need good penetration of ink to allow viewers to see both sides, and back-lit signs need that color penetration on the front in a high resolution and high density of ink, Wozny says.
Wozny说：“直接印刷常见于旗帜和背光标识。打印背光标识的条件是必须用高分辨率，高密度的油墨。同样旗帜也需要用优质油墨打印才能让观众看到正反两面。”
“With transfer printing, it’s difficult to get the back side to be as dense and bright as the front side, depending on the thickness of the material,” Anderson says.
Anderson说：“转移印刷很难使反面像正面一样色彩鲜艳，当然这与材料的密度密不可分。”
Fabric provides a different look to signage than vinyl, Wozny says.“It provides that higher quality look and feel,” Wozny says. “Vinyl you see everywhere every day. Fabric is different and new. … Whatever you can do with vinyl, you can do with fabric.”
Wozny说：“面料不同，外观也有所差异，乙烯基能让衣服有更高级的外观和更舒服的触感，走在街上，哪里都可以看到乙烯基面料的衣服，每一件都有它本身的特色。乙烯基就是可以用来作任何东西的面料。
Fabric signs can be reused and are easier to fold and ship when employed at exhibitions and traveling events, plus they are more environmentally friendly than vinyl, Wozny says. The material weighs less and fits into smaller packages than vinyl, which has to be placed in a tube, he says.“You can’t do that with vinyl. It’s a one-and-done type of scenario,” Wozny says.
Wozny说：“在展览和旅游活动中，纺织品标识更容易折叠和运输，而且比乙烯基更环保。这种材料与乙烯基相比，重量更轻，包装也更小。”
Fabric signs also are durable and easy to change out for sales promotions and rollouts, Roland says.
Roland说：“纺织品标识非常耐用，逢商场促销时更换频率也快”。
Challenges of Fabric Signs
纺织品标识将要面对的挑战
“However, fabric signs, unlike the harder substrates, have a shorter lifespan. A lot of our graphics are not long-term signage. It’s not years and years. It’s typically months,” Wozny says, adding that fabric signs have short-term outdoor durability and will last longer indoors without the sun and weather conditions. “Banner vinyl is structurally sound, whereas fabric tends to have a lot less structure in it.”
Wozny说：“但是，纺织品标识的缺点是寿命短。大部分的纺织品标识都不是永久的，一般就用几个月左右，纺织品标识在室内不易损坏，除去天气的影响，在室外也有较短的耐用性。”
Fabric is a challenge to move through the printer in a fast, reliable way because of the give in the material, and fabric is prone to wrinkle, Wozny says. EFI uses unique technology to compensate for the give, including sticky rollers and drive motors, along with a system to manage color across many substrates, he says,“Those systems combined enable us to repeatedly move the material,” Wozny says. “Our fabric systems are specifically developed to handle fabric.”
纺织品印刷对打印机来说是一种挑战，这促使打印机在不断更新。有时候可能因为油墨等问题导致纺织品起皱，所以新出的 EFI结合粘尘滚筒、驱动电机以及管理多种基材颜色的系统。Wozny说：“我们的系统是专门为处理纺织品而开发的，这些系统能帮助我们反复调整纺织品材料。”
Direct-to-fabric printing requires a special handling, or feed and take-up, system to keep the fabric flat and wrinkle free when printing, adding to the cost of the printer, Anderson says,“All of that now has been standardized and simplified to make it easier for our customers to use。” Anderson says.
Anderson说：“为了保持纺织品在打印时平整和无皱，直接纺织品印刷需要对进料和卷取系统进行特殊的处理，这就导致了成本的增加。现在所有这些程序都已经简化和标准化，以便我们的客户更容易使用.”
For fabric printing, several factors need to be considered, such as weight, stretch and intended use, Roland says. “Each fabric is different, and it is recommended to profile and test print first because there is not a one-size-fits-all print setting,” Roland says. “Heat, pressure and tension conditions can greatly vary from one fabric to the next.”
Roland说:“纺织品印花需要考虑几个因素，比如重量、弹性和预期用途。面料的不同决定了每种面料受热、压力和张力的条件都存在很大的区别。首先要进行测试打印，因为不是每一种尺寸适合所有的打印设置。”
Direct printing is a continuously growing market and is constantly changing, Wozny says.“There’s still a lot of innovation going on,” Wozny says. “The benefits are really something you can quantify. It’s exciting as a result.”
Wozny说：“直接印刷是一个不断发展、不断变化的市场，未来还有很多标杆性的革新，说不定就有一个集印刷优点于一体的打印机出现，未来值得期待！”
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