Well, one printer is suggesting something just as extraordinary may be possible in the large-format print domain. Using a HP Designjet L26500 normally used to run off banners, exhibition graphics and vehicle graphics, Scottish printer OPG Graphics says it can now print on certain fabrics to a level that a consumer would accept as equivalent to traditional screen or dye-sublimation printed material. This makes a sideline in interior design products suddenly a viable extra revenue stream for wide-format printers. But while HP is willing to back OPG’s findings, some other manufacturers are doubtful that digital printers made for vinyl and HP can produce high-quality consumer-standard fabric print. There is also some scepticism as to whether a market for these goods exists, even if they are up to the task.

Printers have used digital printers to print onto fabrics for retail and exhibition displays for some time, but any thought of going over to the consumer product side of things would prompt raised eyebrows. The quality was simply never good enough. That has changed, says OPG Graphics. The company’s recent installation of an L26500 Designjet was principally aimed at more efficient and effective delivery of the firm’s bread and butter work of vehicle graphics, advertising banners and exhibition stands. But through a bit of experimentation, OPG has discovered that the Designjet’s brighter colour gamut produces quality results on a range of fabrics, too.

"A textile print expert could probably tell the difference between our fabric prints and a dye-sublimation or screen printed product," says OPG general manager Alan Watson, "but end-users will just look at them and think they are beautiful, vibrant images."

Improved technology
HP is happy to agree. It says both the Designjet L28500 and L26500s, launched last year, boast improved ink technology for high-quality, vibrant results on a very wide range of textiles.

"Retail point-of-sale is still the biggest fabric application for the Designjet, as this is a real growth area and so a profitable end of the market," says Designjet country manager Phil Oakley. "But we are seeing more and more instances where printers are using their Designjet for interior products, and we’re getting more enquiries about printing these kinds of textiles."

Machines like the Designjet, explains Oakley, enable printers to use a machine they would have purchased anyway for their core work, to generate much-needed extra revenue by branching into other markets.

"In this current economic climate, you don’t want to limit your options," says Oakley. "You don’t want to buy a printer that can only do one thing; you want to be future-proofed."

OPG’s Watson would argue that future may already be upon us. He is in discussions with one company interested in producing tablecloths with OPG, and another looking at getting awnings printed. It is the Designjet’s recently developed ability to print double-sided pieces that could potentially enable these applications, reports Watson. He adds that OPG is also considering printing fine art canvases, blackout roller blinds, hanging drapes, decorative tapestries, light shades and fabric wall art and even wall ‘tattoos’.

While HP is sure of the capabilities of its latex machines in the in the consumer arena, EFI strategic product manager Mike Wozny is less convinced that general purpose machines are suited to specialist textile applications. Citing the Vutek GS3250r and GS5000r printers as examples, he says that while they are ideal for producing a wide range of products, including soft signage, their UV inkset is unsuitable for producing consumer goods.

And so he would recommend sticking with a specialist machine for consumer interior design products.

"Our roll-to-roll UV printers have advanced media handling capabilities and so print on textiles with very good results from an image quality perspective," says Wozny. "But you can see and feel where the ink is and where it isn’t."

This ultimately interferes with the final texture of the piece. Wozny explains that this is fine for exhibition display pieces only viewed from a distance, but problematic for soft furnishings. For this sort of product, Wozny recommends one of EFI’s digital dye-sublimation printers.

Some would argue that the output of the Designjets and other latex printers would suffer a similar fate in terms of uneven surfaces to the UV machines, and so are no more suited to consumer interior design products than the UV presses. OPG’s Watson, however, reports that this has not been his experience thus far.

HP argues that latex technology has a further advantage over UV in the health and safety arena. Solvent-free latex inks are safe for use not just in commercial settings, says HP, but also in the relatively confined spaces of a home, hospital or school.  Latex technology is ideal for these latter two locales, says HP, because of its ability to offer the best of both worlds: solvent-free print that is also rather more affordable than dye-sublimation or fabric screen-printing processes.

However, even some other latex printer manufacturers share EFI’s doubts over the technology’s suitability for the consumer home market. Joining the Designjet in the latex multimedia digital printing market is Mimaki’s recently launched JV400-LX. Duncan Jefferies, marketing manager at Mimaki supplier Hybrid Services, is less convinced than HP of latex printers’ suitability for interior textiles work.

"The JV400 does open up the possibility of printing for consumer markets, because the quality of the printed image – as with other latex printers – is very good," says Jefferies. "But the key issue here is how rub-fast and washable the results will be. While that’s not a consideration for POS and display graphics, it is with something like a cushion."

Durability and longevity
OPG’s Alan Watson agrees that key to his company’s testing process will be careful attention paid to the durability and longevity of his Designjet’s fabric output.

"What we’ve got to watch is that we don’t oversell the technology at this stage," he says. "The prints look good and I wouldn’t imagine they’re going to fade overnight. But I don’t know whether they would be as colour-fast or durable as pieces printed with a dye-sub or screen machine, when put though a washing machine twice a week."

Peter Onyskiw, technical director at large-format printers Service Graphics, agrees that latex printing might not be ideal for products washed on a regular basis. Hence, printers wishing to pursue the home interiors market might be best advised, he says, to focus on items which will hang on the homeowner’s wall, with minimal interference from children, dogs, spillages and general wear-and-tear.

"I turned up at my niece’s house recently and she showed me her two sons’ picture printed on a canvas as a pop art type piece," says Onyskiw. "She was really pleased with that, and certainly paid good money for it."

Affordable and attractive
If HP and OPG are proved right and latex technology is fit for home interiors, be that of the hanging out-of-the-way variety or a more hands-on product, this willingness to pay for a product is encouraging. If you take a wall hanging product, while a consumer’s budget may not stretch to a dye-sub or screen-printed canvas, a latex printed piece will be much more affordable and so attractive to the customer.

But while Designjet and JV400 owners can produce wall hangings more cheaply than those using a dedicated fabric printer, will this attract enough business to make some decent money for printers? Printers need to assess whether their technology is up to the job of catering for consumers, but must also have a viable business strategy for this.

Barney Cox, senior consultant at document technology strategy and consulting firm InfoTrends – an organisation about to embark on research into what textile opportunities exist for digital fabric printers –  says that just because a printer can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should.

He says that, although targeting the fine art canvas market might seem a good idea, it is in fact already saturated by the likes of wall art and card suppliers The Art Group.

Cox reveals that printers keen to cash in on the quality of their prints being good enough for consumer products would be better advised to confine their efforts to the UK’s burgeoning personalised photo printing market. Cox warns, though, that even this market requires a completely different mindset to traditional print selling.

"There are a huge number of issues around your order processing and web-to-print setup," he explains. "You have to think: are actually you set up to deal with lots of small value orders? Are you set up to deal with the fact that consumers may send less than optimum files, where you may have to fix problems with colours?"

Marketing straight to consumers can also be costly, he says. For this reason, it is key to consider whether you can afford online marketing and website optimisation. The best solution to the how-to-market-to-consumers conundrum, says Cox, is partnering with companies who already sell to them.

"I think working with local art shops or picture framers who want to offer photo canvases might be the best opportunity for digital printers," says Cox. "Maybe the local high street company has a machine that’s printing onto board at the moment – if you offer a wider range of materials, there could be an opportunity there."

Printers like OPG, though, obviously feel that narrowing their efforts solely to the photo canvas market is a tad premature. And HP certainly thinks the machine is capable of more. Other latex machine manufacturers, along with manufacturers of different digital technologies, may believe both HP and OPG are a tad optimistic regarding the Designjet’s abilities. Likewise, the business case for moving into consumer might not be without problems.

But clearly there is unquestionable potential for digital machines to move in the consumer textiles direction, be it now as some believe or in the future as technology evolves.

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CASE STUDY: THE PERSONALISED CANVAS MARKET

One of the potential markets for digital textile printing for the consumer is personalised canvas print. To give an idea of how this market operates, below is how  one of its current players does business.

Established in 2008, Personalised Canvas’ main business is selling photo canvases, but the company also produces the occasional piece featuring a child’s drawing or fine art photo sourced from iStock.

Most sales are made at the company’s two shopping centre stands in Norwich and Warrington. But rather than pay the overheads that opening more branches would entail, the company is now looking to expand by boosting online sales.

This could pose a significant opportunity for third-party print suppliers to get involved, says Personalised Canvas director Claire Fuller. While all jobs are currently printed on the stands’ Canon IPF6300 and IPF8300 inkjet machines, the firm could soon need help fulfilling orders if Personalised Canvas’ aim of online growth goes to plan.

"With rents so high it’s just not affordable for us to open more branches, so we’re concentrating our energies online. We’ve recently invested a lot in our SEO," says Fuller. "That, of course, does mean that demand might soon exceed what we are able to produce on our shopping centre printers, so it might be that we need to start outsourcing work."

Another window of opportunity for printers capable of producing high quality fabric prints, says Fuller, is supplying Personalised Canvas with canvases larger than 44-inches.

"We do get a few requests for canvases bigger than 44-inches, but that’s not something we’re able to do with our Canon machines," says Fuller. "I looked into outsourcing a 45 by 55-inch order I got once, but it just wasn’t viable, as it would have cost me £75 just to get it printed third-party. If someone could offer that to me at a more affordable price I’d definitely look at offering larger sizes."

"We don’t get that many requests for canvases bigger than 44-inches at the moment," adds Fuller, "but I don’t promote that as a service. If I did, I’m sure people would be keen."

However, there are certain requirements that any printer partnering with Personalised Canvas would have to fulfil, says Fuller. The most important of these, she says, is the ability to print high quality pieces.

Personalised Canvas ensures it can lay claim to quality as one of its USPs through the use of proper gallery frames and Canon-approved inks and canvases.

"We do pay a premium for our inks and canvases. We don’t use cheap inks from China," Fuller says. "So we would have to be sure that any printer we worked with used inks and materials of equivalent quality. They wouldn’t have to use the thickest canvas in the world, but the pieces would have to be fade–resistant."

Personalised Canvas ensures a quality end result by liaising with the customer, says Fuller. "If people send images that aren’t good enough, I wouldn’t just print them, which is what most firms do," she says.

Once a good enough image is sent, the company also does some in-house retouching of the photo, says Fuller.  This is a service which she would require any prospective printing partner to also carry out.

"Having a printer pay attention to the detail and offer retouching and quality control services would be an incentive for me" says Fuller. "Otherwise, I’d have to edit everything and then send it over, which would be very time-consuming."

Fuller’s final criteria would be that a printing partner be capable of fast turnaround times. With store orders, canvases are usually printed within the hour, so Personalised Canvas would be looking to maintain its reputation for efficient delivery of jobs. Three working days would be the maximum turnaround time the company would consider for online or large format canvases, says Fuller.

"There are definitely opportunities for printers to work with businesses like ours," she concludes. "But printers need to be certain they can deliver on quality and timing."