Kufstein: ZIMMER AUSTRIA, in collaboration with UK textile printer Turnbull Prints, has developed a digital production printer for heavyweight furnishing and decorative fabric applications, the first machine aimed specifically at the furnishing-fabrics market.
The COLARIS-XT digital printer is based on the COLARIS high-speed inkjet technology first introduced at FESPA in 2010. The printing line has been developed to offer increased ink application on demand, as well as extending the color fastness of furnishing fabrics by enhancing the penetration of digital inks.
ZIMMER AUSTRIA says several of the original COLARIS machines, equipped with the Seiko Infotech (SII) SPT-508 print head, have been installed in Europe, mainly to print fashion and apparel fabrics, but with some also being used for home furnishings.
Colaris-XT
Turnbull Prints is to install the COLARIS-XT digital printer at its Turnbull Designs Ltd manufacturing subsidiary in UK, where it is expected to be perational by July. The company prints mainly on 100% linen and will use reactive-dye inks for the application.
Serving high-end customers and with a large customer base in the United States, Turnbull already runs a digital printing operation in Thailand, alongside screen and hand-block printing.
Paul Turnbull, managing director of Turnbull Prints, said: "We are a leading manufacturer of specialist furnishing fabrics and believe that the COLARIS-XT will be an important addition to our machine profile. We have a unique manufacturing capability, which includes block-printing, computerised‚ wet on dry‘ screen-prints, and a specialist digital unit for the production of silk warp-prints.
The new unit will help us further differentiate our specialist activities, and we look forward to maximising the design potential with our commission-print clients. It will also enable us to offer additional flexibility of stock-holding for smaller volumes where required, in keeping with current market needs.
We believe that the technical innovation shown by ZIMMER AUSTRIA marks an important landmark in the development of high-speed digital printing for furnishing-weight fabrics."
Josef Osl, Zimmer's sales and product manager for COLARIS, said: "With the development of our COLARIS-XT, a further milestone of innovation in the digital printing has been set."