Pre-treatment, a time-consuming step in textile printing with reactive dyes, is no longer a separate stage in the printing process. Konica Minolta launches O'Robe, an ink applied inline on its Nassenger inkjet printers.
On natural fibers like cotton and silk, this O'Robe pretreatment is applied at the time of printing, at the same time as the reactive inks. Only the areas to be printed are coated. This principle of operation eliminates the need for a post-coating drying step, which must be carried out during conventional pre-treatment.
For Konica Minolta, O'Robe enables textile printers to save on energy consumption associated with drying. The use of chemical agents is also reduced, since pre-treatment is no longer applied to the entire web.
What's more, according to the Japanese manufacturer, O'Robe also simplifies the management of pre-treated fabrics. Konica Minolta points out that these fabrics can discolor during storage under the effect of temperature and humidity. Printers then have to choose between investing in a dedicated coating line or outsourcing, with possible impacts on lead times. By integrating pretreatment into the printing process, O'Robe reduces handling, storage and dependence on an external service provider.
In terms of rendering, Konica Minolta reports that O'Robe facilitates ink penetration into the fabric and reduces the grainy texture observed on some bath towel prints.
Yutaka, an online retailer of personalized towels and t-shirts, which previously outsourced pre-treatment before printing to Nassenger, now uses O'Robe. The Japanese company reports that, with this pretreatment in the print workflow, transport and storage of coated fabrics have been eliminated, and it has also reduced quality variations and administrative tasks.
For Konica Minolta, O'Robe is particularly interesting for the market of high-quality printed bath towels. "Demand is on the rise at arts and sports events, concerts and in the promotional products markets." notes the Group. "In this context, inkjet textile printing enables the production of small runs of limited-edition, themed items (regions, seasons, etc.), and demand is set to grow."
