Application of our printing system rising in footwear
Comec Italia Srl is a world leader in the production of printing machines. Having developed a new technology for the print of washing tags, its pad printing machines cover a wide range of needs: from small samples and craft businesses to large multinationals numbers, all with precision and reliability. Manuele Baggini, sales head, is in conversation with Fibre2Fashion about the new printing technology which allows printing directly on fabrics avoiding the application of the tags with seams while reducing labour costs.
What is the market size of textile printing machines? At what rate is it growing?
We have been applying pad printing technology to textiles for about 20 years and our sector is going steady, especially in the Asian market.
What is the development trend of pad printing machines by types and applications?
We are developing machines suitable for the printing of artworks on shoes and washing tags directly on garments.
What is the USP of your textile and pad printers?
Pad printing allows printing on all surfaces, including flat, curved, round and uneven as well. Our technology allows indirect transfer of the image. On the fabric, printing is faster and cheaper than labels that damage the garments. Direct printing on fabrics avoids tearing of clothes.
What's the newest method of putting colorful designs on textiles?
Today, a large number of companies, especially in the shoe market, are developing new models that require pad printing systems.
How big is your distribution network?
We have agents all over the world, particularly in the United States, Russia, Mexico, Egypt, the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Hungary, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belarus, Turkey, Norway, France, Portugal, New Zealand, Colombia, Tunisia, Denmark, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Bangladesh.
What is the latest trend in the domestic and international pad printing machines?
The demands of our customers, leading multinational companies in their reference markets, essentially go in two different directions:
- Expanding the possibilities of customising objects, with more colours, maybe different graphics in different points of the same object.
- Speed and simplicity of printing, for example having only one machine that carries out the whole process of decorating a group of objects.
Which devices manufactured by you are useful for the pad printing process?
In addition to the pad printing machines, we produce all the devices that can be useful for pad printing: photoexposures, ovens, washing machines for all tools that come in contact with ink, feeding systems, hot hair devices, control systems.
Where is the application of your printing system increasing?
The application of our printing system is increasing in footwear nowadays.
How many washes can the washing labels on the garments withstand?
We have a certification that says the print and the legibility of tags can stand more than 50 washing cycles.
Which new technology have you introduced for the printing of washing tags?
We were the first company to introduce the pad printing of tags directly on garments 20 years ago. During these years, we developed many new technologies to be faster and make the process simpler. Today, we are trying to find an ink suitable for our systems that allow a good white opacity of the white colour on dark garments.
What are your thoughts on Industry 4.0? Any plans to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into future printing machines?
We already have machines that are integrated with 4.0. For pad printing on textile, we do not need a great technology; we do that with the simplest pad printing machines. For this reason, we do not suggest big and complicated machines for the textile industry. But it is possible to connect remotely to our systems to fulfil the '4.0 industry' requests.
How eco-friendly are the colours dedicated to pad printing?
The inks we supply are eco-passport certificated.
How sustainable are the machines made at Comec Italia?
Comec Italia Srl is a market leader in pad printing machines. We have been producing machines since 1970 and have produced more than 20,000 machines. All machines are assembled with the best parts available in the market. Our company is ISO 9001 certified, which assures our customer of the process we follow to produce our equipment.
What has been your growth story?
We grow 5 per cent every year.
What are the future plans at Comec Italia?
We are introducing some digital printing machines in the market but these are not related to textile/garments printing. We are also involved in other markets, like automotive, toys, household parts, medical, electrical components and packaging. (RR)
