The 1,118mm-wide SC-F6000 and the 1,626mm-wide SC-F7000 were unveiled in China this week with a provisional commercial launch date set for March 2013.

Both printers offer high quality output at up to 720x1,440dpi, at speeds from 16 to 57sqm/hr, depending on application, and feature an integral 1.5 litre ink system.

According to Epson, the devices are the first two on the market to feature all components, from ink and printhead to chassis and optional extras, from a single manufacturer.

Epson director of C&I/Prographics Duncan Ferguson said the manufacturer had been learning about the market for the past 10 years through its partnership with Robustelli on the Monna Lisa inkjet textile printer.

"We saw that a lot of customers were buying our printers designed for aqueous graphic printing and using sublimation ink," he said. "So we looked at the issues in the market and decided to develop our own ink and tailor the printheads [for dye sub printing]."

He added: "We have developed our own Ultrachrome DS aqueous ink and tailored our MicroPiezo head to work with it. We can deliver significantly improved reliability because the machines use all our technology."

The mid-high volume SC-F7000 and low-medium volume SC-F6000 are aimed at the quality soft signage, sportswear, apparel, accessories, customised promotional items and decorated gadgets markets.

Features include single-operator media loading, automatic media tensioning and an LCD control panel. An auto take-up roll, which comes as standard on the SC-F7000 and as an option on the SC-F6000, allows maximum uninterrupted production runs.

Price is yet to be confirmed, but Ferguson said the SC-F7000 would cost less than £15,000.

Guy Martin, product manager, Epson Europe said: "Digitisation of textile printing is still less than 2% of the market, but this application is growing rapidly.

"The new SC-F6000 and SC-F7000 provide the dye-sublimation market with a choice of printers to suit a range of creative applications, backed up by Epson expertise and support.

"This is only a start for us and we will launch more products in the future."