Digital Textile Printing Industry and its future
Since the year of 2005, the digital textile printing industry's output has been growing exponentially! What was a mere 85 million square meters of digitally printed textiles that were produced by some 2,300 digital textile printers (units) in 2005 will now be Global production of approximately 36.8 billion square meters by 2024. (Source)The digital textile industry is mainly divided into 3 categories namely, apparel, furnishings and interiors. Because of its high demand in custom t-shirt printing and its possibility of providing unlimited design alternatives with the help of Textile Design Software, digital textile printing had picked up the pace and now, apart from the apparel industry, it is also being highly adopted in the commercial and home décor markets.
To help you understand how digital textile printing technologies are revolutionizing the décor industry, we have gathered some integral trends of the Home and Commercial Décor industry and explained how it is connected with Digital textile printing and textile design software.
But, before we dive into the trends, first let’s understand digital textile printing competencies and how it is different from the traditional screen and flat printing:
Digital textile printing:
With the help of Inkjet Printers, textile printers can now implement any design made from product design software and print it directly on various types of fabrics with the help of a digital inkjet printer. Not only the numbers of fabrics that can be printed with inkjet printers are more, but the technology also supports quick printing capabilities with order execution quantity as low as 2-3 pieces per design (which is not economically feasible in screen and flat printing)!
Apart from that, the inkjet printers can be established in small spaces and thus, there is not much need for space for production and storage if you have a print-on-demand business model. Although the cost of production is high compared to that of conventional printing techniques, with capabilities such as Print-on-demand, low preliminary set up cost, no need for inventory stock, and extensive design capabilities, Digital Textile Printing is revolutionizing the printing industry.
Home and Commercial Décor trends that are disrupting the Textile Printing Industry:
1. Demand For custom curtains and bedding textiles:
Gone were the days when customers were happy with the slow fashion which lasted for years. People nowadays prefer fast fashion and exclusive products that are customized and personalized based on their interior designs. Because of this, customers are willing to spend premium pricing and are looking for platforms and brands that cater to their custom home décor requirements. One of the fastest-growing custom textile markets is that of custom curtains and bedding textile.Especially with the rising purchasing power of Generation Z which is more inclined towards online shopping, the demand for custom bedding and curtain designs is increasing. People are looking for bedding and curtain designs that align with their favorite band, web series, characters or modern-art designs that are exclusive. Moreover, these people are willing to spend a premium to get their hands on products that are limited edition or custom made.
2. Demand for printed furniture materials:
Apart from bedding and curtains, there is also a high demand for printed furniture materials. Currently, 2 contradicting trends are going on in the furniture materials market. On one end where people are paying a premium for hand-stitched furniture materials from high-end brands, there is also a big market for printed furniture materials for sofas, chairs, bed headrests, and others.The idea is to align the vision of the house maker with that of their passion and create a space that showcases their vision in every element of the house. Thus, people are either going for a vintage or they are looking for platforms that are providing exclusive and custom designs.
3. Embroidery Printing for Décor Products:
This trend is more prevalent in commercial décor products. With the capability of creating custom stitched décor products for their commercial spaces, brands are using this technology to create brand-centric décor for their corporate offices. Apart from that, brands are also utilizing custom printing services to create elegant décor and apparel that are brand-centric to communicate their brand with their customers even with their décor.Now that you know how Digital Textile Printing and the demand for custom home and commercial décor are shaping the printing industry, it is now time to understand how one can leverage this opportunity and create a profitable business model out of it. To ensure your success, you mainly need 3 following things:
Three things to ensure success in the Digital Textile Printing market:
1. Personalized print shop platform:
With the rising number of Generation Z and Millennial buyers, you must have a strong virtual presence. Create your own digital platforms such as an application or an e-commerce platform and ensure that it aligns with your customer expectations and market requirements.2. Fabric Design Software:
To empower your customers with custom textile designs, you will have to integrate a web-to-fabric solution using which your customers and designers would be able to create digital designs that you can feed into your digital printing machine. When you integrate an ideal fabric design software, it enables you to define the design areas, provides a 3D preview of the design, and extensive customization capabilities such as images, logo, clip art, emojis, icons, colors, fonts, and others.Apart from that, the software also helps you deliver delightful and satisfactory user experiences with order and design automation. You can centralize the whole process on one platform and get a ready-to-print output file that you or your vendor printer can print and deliver.
3. Aggressive Digital and social media marketing:
What good is a platform if your potential customers don’t even know it exists? With a robust e-commerce solution and integrated fabric design software, you can cater to all the latest décor trends but, to make the most out of it, you need to market your products and your platform to your customers. Create a healthy mix of organic and paid digital promotions and reach your potential customers with the best and personalized product offerings.Conclusion:
It is not just a trend but an insight into the future. With the growing popularity of digital textile printing and the increasing demand for fast fashion, businesses that do not evolve with the evolving market will not be able to make optimum profits from the market. Thus, fabric printers must hop on the bandwagon of digital textile printing and create a wide range of product offerings with ideal fabric design software.