John Mark expands into textile printing with Epson Monna Lisa

The Lancashire print specialist is extending its print-on-demand model from wall coverings into textiles with the Epson Monna Lisa ML-13000. 

The challenge 

For 14 years, John Mark has built its reputation as a commissioned printer, producing wallcoverings for leading international names and hundreds of boutique brands. Its customers repeatedly asked the business to manufacture their coordinating fabrics too, rather than relying on a separate third-party supplier. 

The opportunity was considerable. Many of John Mark’s customers sell more fabric than wallpaper, and the company already had the relationships, colour expertise and quality-control processes needed to support them. However, moving into textiles had previously meant adopting a much more complex production model. 

John Mark, the company’s founder, explains: “Whenever I looked into fabric printers, I saw all the separate equipment and processes needed for pre-treatment, printing, post-treatment and finishing. The investment and complexity were far greater than we could take on. There was no machine that gave us the straightforward workflow we were looking for.” 

The Epson solution 

That changed when John Mark visited Epson’s UK Innovation Centre and learned about the Monna Lisa ML-13000. The direct-to-fabric printer integrates pre-treatment, pigment printing, and post-treatment within the machine, removing the need for separate processes.  

The approach closely reflected John Mark’s established wallcovering workflow: load the substrate, complete the necessary calibration, print, and produce a finished result with less additional handling. After seeing the ML-13000 demonstrated in Paris, the team selected it as the foundation for the company’s move into fabric printing, making John Mark the first business in the UK to install the model. 

“It did everything in one, which was exactly what we wanted,” says John Mark. “The print quality, depth and strength of colour were impressive. We had looked at the market over many years, but this was the first solution that made entering textiles work for our business.” 

Hardware and setup 

The ML-13000 was installed at John Mark’s Leyland factory alongside an electric curing oven. Epson’s engineers connected the two systems and completed the installation. John Mark describes the process as smooth: “There were no hitches. Once the oven was installed, Epson’s team got it communicating with the printer, and everything worked very well. It did exactly what it said it was going to do.” 

Rather than rush into full production, John Mark spent the first three to four months testing materials, refining its processes and building a specialist team. This measured approach allowed its operators to develop their knowledge of the machine and apply the same disciplined standards that underpin the company’s wallcovering operation. 

Colour management is central to the process. John Mark uses its AVA workflow and an X-Rite i1Pro 3 spectrophotometer to calibrate and profile each fabric. Once a profile is scanned and approved, it becomes the standard for that material. Existing wallpaper artwork can then pass through the relevant fabric profile, helping the studio closely align colours across coordinating wallpaper and textile collections. 

Performance to date 

Early customer trials reinforced John Mark’s decision to invest in the Monna Lisa. The company has been able to support customers who were working with a mill that recently went out of business. There was considerable work involved in sampling, colour matching and converting customer collections containing up to 200 colourways. But the team has now moved beyond this controlled introduction and begun fulfilling approved production orders. 

Customers have responded particularly positively to the colour reproduction and handle of printed linen. Because the treatment solutions are applied only to printed areas, the finished fabric retains the soft feel customers expect rather than becoming uniformly stiff. 

For John Mark, the installation creates a natural extension to a proven business model. Customers can now work with one trusted partner across wallcoverings and fabrics, using consistent colour-management processes under one roof. The company is already considering a second ML-13000 as demand grows. 

John Mark concludes: “We don’t regret our decision to choose Epson. The machine has lived up to our expectations and certainly does the job. We now feel confident that the team, materials and processes are ready, and we can really take this offer to the market.”