Printful and Printify announce merge
The two print and production businesses are uniting in order to combine technologies and increase geographic coverage
Through Touchpoint Textile, drupa promises to showcase pioneering applications in digital textile printing
Including a Digital Textile Micro Factory, drupa’s Touchpoint Textile forum promises to showcase pioneering applications in digital textile printing.
According to drupa, the Touchpoint Textile forum marks the event’s expansion into new markets such as packaging production, large-format, and industrial printing all of which are experiencing the same transformations and growth potential.
This forum will focus on the opportunities and challenges of digital textile printing and will see exhibitors, industry partners, and brand owners collaborate on product and manufacturing ideas.
The German Institutes for Textile and Fibre Research Denkendorf (DITF), Europe’s largest textile research centre, and ESMA, the European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association are both operational content partners of the forum.
Expected to be a highlight of the area, the DITF along with 12 partners from industry and research will demonstrate a Digital Textile Micro Factory live. This will feature a fully connected, integrated process chain from design to finished product.
The idea behind this is to present new possibilities for digitalisation and direct customer involvement such as 3D apparel simulations complete with links to design networks for creative input.
Technology partners of the Digital Textile Micro Factory will demonstrate on-demand production with textile printing, cutting, and sorting without any manual interaction. Various products will be produced with a focus on shirts and singlets for cycling.
In addition to demonstrating how this form of production can enable the industry to respond to customer requests and trends in a more targeted manner in future, drupa will also present the carbon footprint of the complete process.
The brands involved in the Micro Factory include Assyst with 3D simulations for digital apparel twins; Mitwill Textiles Europe with its creative design network; D.G.I. Digital Graphics Incorporation and Multi-Plot Europe for large-format textile printing.
LEONHARD KURZ Stiftung and Zünd supported with digital cutting. Robotfactory and Asco presented an innovative buffer solution between digital printing and cutting with the automated sorting of cut parts from the cutter by robotfactory.
Brother supported with textile printing and bonding technology and Vaude and berger textiles both sponsored the forum. Another key partner mentioned is Albstadt-Sigmaringen University which is supporting the project as a conceptual sponsor and has pledged to incorporate these new topics into its curriculum.
A lecture programme will also run hosted by the European Specialist Printing Manufacturers Association (ESMA). This schedule will cover trends and applications that “unlock new potential through the interplay of digital printing and textile printing substrates”.
The lectures are divided into: research, finishing, print systems and hardware, substrates, inks and chemistry, and software and electronics.
Drupa is taking place from May 28th to June 7th at the Messe Düsseldorf, Germany.
If you have any news, please email carys@linkpublishing.co.uk or join in with the conversation on Twitter and LinkedIn.
![[L to R] Anastasija Oleinika, chief executive officer at Printify, and Alex Saltonstall, chief executive officer at Printful](https://www.printmonthly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/PrintifyMain.jpg)
