ImagesMagUK_October_2021

www.images-magazine.com 50 images OCTOBER 2021 DTF is causing a stir in garment printing, the like of which hasn’t been seen since the introduction of DTG Film stars Direct-to-film printing has been a hot topic for months. Images talks to industry experts about what the DTF process involves and how the market is developing, as well as two decorators that are already offering this new printing technique I f 2021 is remembered in the industry for something other than a year spent dealing with shipping issues, lockdowns and the ‘pingdemic’, then it’ll be for the mainstream arrival of direct-to-film (DTF) printing in the UK. This technique involves printing a design with a white underlayer onto a sheet of film. An adhesive powder is added to the white layer and cured, then the design is heat pressed onto the garment. It can be applied to most fabrics and doesn’t need pretreatment. (Turn to the Digital Helpdesk on page 24 of the July 2021 issue of Images for a more detailed introduction to the process.) Depending on who you talk to, DTF is either going to take over from DTG, or is simply a useful new printing technique to add to the decorator’s arsenal. One thing that is certain is that DTF is causing a stir in the garment printing market, the like of which hasn’t been seen since the introduction of DTG. The main reason for this is sheer ease of use, believes Zahid Ali, production manager at Identity Printing in Manchester [see boxout on page 54]. “With DTG, if you don’t pretreat the garment right, if you don’t dry it right, if you don’t set the machine right, if you don’t load it right, you don’t get a good- quality print. With this, it’s a transfer, you get 10 seconds press on, job done.” Identity was the first company in the UK to buy the Resolute R-Jet Pro DTF 600, a fully automated system available from Resolute Ink and TheMagicTouch (TMT). Capable of printing up to 15sqm of transfer an hour, this hefty roll-to-roll system – it has a 4m by 2m footprint – priced at £17,000 is aimed squarely at the industrial end of the market. But the hype generated online initially came from smaller printers who adapted inkjet printers so they could offer DTF. While this is a more laborious process because of the need to add the adhesive powder by hand, and the care needed to not to shrink the PET film when curing the powder, it has still been greeted with enthusiasm thanks to inks that are potentially cheaper than those used for DTG, the lack of need for pretreatment, and the ability to work on most fabrics, from polyester to cotton. “The larger commercial solutions are work horses and are proving to save companies huge amounts of money whilst reducing production times. The smaller Epson desktop printers seem to be problematic and very slow, when looking on the forums; I think this is to be expected Brother introduced a driver for its GTXpro in June so customers can use the printer for both DTF and DTG