Koton Kraft installs the Epson ML-8000 printer

Koton Kraft, from NSW, recently installed the Epson Monna Lisa ML-8000 direct-to-fabric printer. The company specialises in providing printed homewares for Australian small businesses and artists. Their team collaborates with designers, helping them transform artwork into textile and paper giftware ranges. The new Epson printer allows them to take their offering to a new level. 

Koton Kraft’s Karan Singh Mehroke explains, “We value the craftsmanship, dedication, and time invested by our creative customers, and we reciprocate this by applying the same level of care and attention to their projects. Our previous fabric printers were particularly slow and inefficient compared to the ML-8000, which is a reference standard for the textile industry. The flexibility and productivity this printer provides made it the right choice for us in an increasingly dynamic market, which demands swift responses to shifting needs.”
Mehroke continues, “The ML-8000 makes it possible to cost efficiently print directly onto fabric and do short run customised fabric printing in Australia. This opens many doors for artists and creatives to market their designs and garments as 100% Australian-sourced, designed and printed. [ There is ] no need for costly offshore printing any longer. It’s also an incredibly efficient machine taking only two hours to print what two of our older machines would take over ten hours to print. This means major cost savings within the production process.”

Koton Kraft’s purchase of the Epson ML-8000 printer resulted from commercial requirements and the desire to grow their business. As Mehroke explains, “Artists needed a faster turnaround on their orders. They demanded higher quality products printed on a wider variety of materials and a machine that could make colours pop. The finished products also needed to do justice to their art. In addition, we were looking to grow our business into new areas whilst reducing our costs and making the production process easier for our machine operators. After doing a full assessment and review of all available options, we concluded there was only one printer that meets all of these requirements, and that is the Epson ML-8000.”

Koton Kraft also had strict production requirements regarding colour vibrancy, speed of output, the ability to handle diverse materials and roll-to-roll fabric, print quality, ease of use, and agreeable ergonomics.
“The Epson ML-8000 printer is an 8-colour machine that is easy to use and requires very little maintenance. There is reduced wastage of media compared to existing printing machines and the colours are great on finished products. We print our designs onto fabric and cut out our products as per order specs. The ML-8000 enables us to test and prototype new ranges of products for clients, and when we do, the artwork looks amazing due to its superior print quality,” says Mehroke.

Typical projects Koton Kraft use the ML-8000 printer for include napery, yardage, home textiles and fashionwear. For each of these artists brief the company on their concept and colour choices leaving Koton Kraft to select the appropriate colour profiling.
 Mehroke continues, “The ML-8000 complements our process and workflow perfectly. The high speed of the machine, the way you load material, the quality of print, the flexibility in colour and the variety of materials it allows us to offer are all great. It also comes with Epson’s excellent after-sales service, which made it easy for us to integrate the printer into our business, giving us more time to focus on our operations and our customers.
Koton Kraft is a big fan of the Epson ML-8000 and the new business opportunities it has brought to the company.
“The Epson ML-8000 printer has exceeded our customers’ and our expectations in terms of quality, vibrancy in print, superior image sharpness, and speed and efficiency of production. It has allowed us to promote Australian artists and designers and enabled us to grow and take our business to the next level by expanding into different areas,” concludes Mehroke.