Andy Yarrow CEO Kornit Digital on the future of Textile Printing

With partnerships with global brands such as Amazon, Spoonflower and Adidas driving 25% quarter on quarter growth the future is certainly bright for Kornit. Andy Yarrow, President of Kornit Digital Asia Pacific shares his thoughts on what is happening in textile printing globally and what opportunities he saw specifically for Australian textile printers.

TI: What trends do you see happening in textile printing globally?
AY: The first thing we are seeing is an increase in self expression, with people wanting to tell other people more about themselves through what they choose to wear whether it’s a brand or band or a sports team that they follow. The second trend is the impact that social media is having on people choices. Global celebrities such as Selena Gomez and Cristiano Ronaldo using platforms such as instagram to influence what we wear and capitalizing on it by launching new ranges exclusively for major retail chains. The other major trend is a meltdown in the traditional retail model. From a fulfilment perspective people are moving to online shopping. People want to go online and choose what they want to wear and then have it produced versus choosing from a predetermined range sitting in a store which is the historical retail model. The final major trend we see is in the area of sustainability. The next generation of consumers are more environmentally aware and interested in where and how their clothing is made.

TI: What was the concept around your recent partnership with Adidas?
AY: We work with a lot of major brands and their print fulfilment companies to create on demand product ranges. For example digitizing old T-shirt designs from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s that are no longer available in store but can be ordered online and printed on demand. Adidas is really focused on linking their brand with sustainability so the fact that our process is waterless is an important part of their branding message.

TI: What opportunities do you see in the Australian market specifically?
AY: The fact that the Avalanche Poly Pro can print on dark polyester and polyester blends now means that sportswear and athleisure wear is a massive opportunity. With small batch manufacturing coming back onshore this creates opportunities for businesses to be agile and work with their customers to meet market demand more quickly.

We also see an opportunity for on demand décor and home furnishings and launched the Presto direct to fabric printer at ITMA in June this year. The interesting thing about the Presto is that once its printed there is no need to wash and steam afterwards so there is no need to invest in the traditional equipment that yardage fabric used to require. The other key feature is that it prints on a wide variety of fabrics including synthetics and blends with a single inkset which means better machine productivity and a better return on investment. When you look at what’s happening with Spoonflower overseas and the size and geographic isolation of the Australian market we see short customized runs with a quick turn around as an opportunity.

The other interesting opportunity is for trade printers. It's been interesting for me being here at Printex, to see new faces but also some of the same faces coming over and looking at what we offer. Traditional commercial printers who moved to digital 20 years ago, then to sign & display ten years ago, and now they're looking for the next big thing.It's an in depth process but it's fairly straightforward in terms of operator skill sets. So I certainly think that there's a huge opportunity for trade suppliers in Australia. People want to find new opportunities for making money, and it's a less competitive space because there aren't as many people doing it.

The final opportunity is for screen printers. We recently launched a new high definition (HD) platform with recirculated printheads, excellent handfeel, smaller drop size which means a 40% reduction on ink spend and therefore lower cost per copy. In addition to reduced costs customers are reporting that thay are increasing their production capacity.

TI: Finally, where do you see the textile printing industry in two years?
AY: I think it's going to move, really quickly towards digital. If you look at what's happened in the ceramics market, and I know it's a different space, but the ceramics market digitized very, very quickly. I think given the social responsibility of some of the brands and the people who are demanding this, they will move very quickly towards more sustainable production methods. High street brands are demanding shorter runs, more styles, quicker turn around time and this is the thing that I think is going to really drive the digitization of the
textile industry.