Epson Enters Direct-To-Garment T-Shirt Printing Market

Epson has added to its textile printer line up with its first direct-to-garment t-shirt printer, the SureColor SC-F2000. With the garment printing market expected to be worth over €200 million by 2014, small to medium businesses can benefit from the SureColor SC-F2000’s revenue-generating features. Combined with high performance, low maintenance and running costs, it enables businesses to offer a new t-shirt design and print service.

Online t-shirt shops, production t-shirt printers and even corporate users will benefit from the SC-F2000, as its ink is crack resistant and is soft against skin. Users can configure the system to suit their needs by choosing from two sets of CMYK ink for white garments or CMYK with up to four white inks for coloured garments.

Garment Creator software by Epson is bundled with the package, which includes a cost calculation function, allowing you to estimate the print cost by calculating the amount and cost of the ink used for each print job. This can be beneficial if you want to set a tax rate or discount. This design software enables designers to unleash their creativity and easily produce customised, eye-catching designs on t-shirts, caps and bags up to 25mm thick.

Martin Johns, market development manager, Epson UK, says: “Unique to this industry, this is the first system where a printhead, ink and chassis have been designed and manufactured by a single brand. The hardware and ink are designed to work together and users benefit from the reliability and high-quality output that Epson is renowned for.”

“As well as enjoying the new revenue stream, they can be assured that Epson has applied its years of print knowledge and know-how to deliver an eco-friendly device that excels in performance and delivers low running costs.”

Featuring Epson’s durable TFP printhead, the SC-F2000 is capable of printing a single white t-shirt in 27 seconds when using dual colour mode and a dark coloured t-shirt in 111 seconds, using white and colour ink, so production is quick without sacrificing print quality.

When used in conjunction with Epson’s UltraChrome DG Ink (available in 250 or 600ml cartridges), the SureColor SC-F2000 excels on dark fabric, because its white ink is tough. The white ink is circulated within the system and has been designed to reduce clogging, which increases productivity, allowing deadlines to be met consistently.

The SC-F2000 offers a resolution of up to 1440x1440dpi for accurate dot shape and placement, while its wide colour gamut produces vibrant colours, sharp contours and smooth gradations.

Despite its ability to create a lasting visual impact, Epson's UltraChrome DG ink is kind to those it comes into contact with. The eco-friendly ink has been awarded a part certification from Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 , which means it doesn’t contain any harmful substrates.

Key features:

Prints a t-shirt in 27 seconds in its fastest print mode1
White ink mode, colour ink mode or dual colour depending on set-up
Platen 14 x16 inches (355x406mm) with frame included
Full front operation with a colour LCD panel
Low maintenance
Can print on thick media up to 25mm
TFP printhead
CMYKW 5-colour UltraChrome DG inks supplied in 250 or 600ml cartridges
Wide colour gamut
Low ink consumption
White ink mode, colour ink mode or dual colour depending on set-up
Certified part Oeko-Tex® Standard2
Pre-treatment kit is available, which includes rollers and 20L of pre-treatment liquid for roughly 3,000 t-shirts
Different size platen enabling correct fit depending on t-shirt size and print area (small: 10x12 inches (254x305mm), medium: 14 x16 inches (355x406mm), large: 16x20 inches (406x508mm)

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About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to co-creating sustainability and enriching communities by leveraging its efficient, compact, and precision technologies and digital technologies to connect people, things, and information. The company is focused on solving societal issues through innovations in home and office printing, commercial and industrial printing, manufacturing, visual and lifestyle. Epson will become carbon negative and eliminate use of exhaustible underground resources such as oil and metal by 2050.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the worldwide Epson Group generates annual sales of around JPY 1 trillion.

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