Feld Textil chooses SureColor for its fabric printing

Feld Textil GmbH is a traditional German family business that has been manufacturing fine ties and handkerchiefs since as far back as 1950. Tradition and modernity complement each other perfectly: a SureColor SC-F7000 has been producing eye-catching transfer sublimation prints since late February 2014 in Krefeld, Germany.

"The print quality of our new SureColor SC-F7000 is really absolutely excellent," enthuses Carsten Feld. The trained industrial manager and his father Wolfgang have been joint managing partners of Feld Textil GmbH since 2009. In doing so he is continuing in a family tradition, because the company was founded by his grandparents Heinz and Mathilde Frangen as a tie manufacturer in 1950. The Frangen company grew rapidly in the city of Krefeld, famous at that time for its velvet and silk ties and only 20 kilometres from Dusseldorf, home of the Drupa trade fair, and quickly became a key player in the regional textiles industry. In 1987, the mass production of ties was separated from the rest of the company and sold. Instead, the company specialised in a segment that had previously been insignificant in the range: the manufacture of ties, handkerchiefs and scarves on a bespoke basis in small production runs, especially for government agencies, associations and business. "Ties and handkerchiefs are essential for well-groomed business clothing and official occasions," explains Carsten Feld. "Organisations and companies can use them to demonstrate team spirit and gravitas. That's why it's so important that the designs can be adjusted on a truly individual basis."

Feld recognised the potential of digital technologies as early as 1992, and undertook training in desktop publishing. Initially, the company, which had been renamed Feld Textil GmbH in the meantime, produced designs from USB sticks or the web that were mostly manufactured in small runs by partners and finished in-house. Soon afterwards, however, manufacture of work and sports clothing was added. By the year 2000, Feld had already turned to digital textile printing. The start was not easy as he now remembers: "The process reliability and repeatability of the results often didn't match the low tolerance thresholds that were customary in the industry," he says. "In addition, the colour space was often too small to reliably reproduce company colours."

Fortunately, Feld found an ideal partner in the digital print specialist Multi-Plot Europe GmbH from the town of Bad Emstal, around 200 kilometres away. "We like to try things out and are prepared to choose unconventional routes if they are promising," says Feld. One of his most spectacular projects has absolutely nothing to do with ties and scarves: when the handball team SC DHFK Leipzig, which plays in Germany's second league, had to move from its tradition-steeped previous home, the Ernst Grube Halle, to the Arena Leipzig for reasons of capacity, a solution was sought for the problem that 2,000-3,000 spectators per game would look overwhelmed in the 8,000-seater hall. The remedy was finally found by means of a trick as simple as it was impressive: a 600 m² partition wall was printed with a photo of full rows of seats in the Ernst Grube Hall – on flame-retardant B1 material. The club was so pleased by this that, not long afterwards, a semi-transparent walking-on tent was also ordered.

Since 2013, Feld Textil GmbH has also been regularly delivering mesh flags and banners, and even PVC prints, in reaction to increasing demand, especially in the field of sports advertising. "Yes, we've already done a bit of work together," comments Feld, "and Multi-Plot Europe has always stood by us with a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and even more expertise."

When Epson named Multi-Plot Europe GmbH as its distribution partner for the SureColor SC-F series in mid-2013, Carsten Feld soon realised that the SureColor SC-F7000, with its maximum material width of 162.6 cm, would be the next printer for his company. "Previously we'd always resorted to textile-direct printing," he explains. "For ties and scarves, however, only the best print quality is good enough; after all, you often see the designs at a distance of only a few centimetres. The SureColor SC-F7000 is equipped with the latest generation of Micro Piezo print heads that allow variable droplets down to a minimum size of 5.3 picolitres. The resolution of up to 720 x 1,440 dpi and the colourfast, four-colour Ultrachrome DS inks offer the ideal prerequisites for razor sharp, brilliant, durable scarves and handkerchiefs."

The prints are now no longer made directly onto the material, but onto 75 g/m² premium Jetcol transfer paper from Coldenhove, for which Multi-Plot Europe is the exclusive distributor in Germany. Up to 57 m²/h can be printed; most work at Feld Textil GmbH is done at a production speed of 30 m²/h. The transfer from paper to textiles is then carried out in a HeatJet heat press, also a Multi-Plot speciality. During this process the sublimation, which gives this printing technique its name, occurs when the inks transition straight to a gaseous state without any intermediate liquid stage and are absorbed deep in the fabric of the polyester. The prints made in this way are not only sharply-defined and extremely bright, but also very durable, wear- and sweat-resistant.

This durability is important because Feld Textil GmbH's ties and scarves have to put up with quite a lot. In addition to clubs, choirs and bands, the police and security services in some federal German states wear ties from Feld. Senior manager Wolfgang Feld has therefore developed a design with a "pre-determined breaking point" especially for the security sector. This prevents the garment from becoming a risk to safety in close combat. "Curiosity and a love of innovation are essential if you want to survive as a textiles company in a high-wage economy like Germany," explains Carsten Feld. "When it comes to our printer, however, we can happily do without excitement. That's why we are very pleased to have decided on a model, the SureColor SC-F7000, where all the components come from a single successful and experienced manufacturer. In addition, Multi-Plot offers us a complete solution, with quality consumables, high-performance heat press and excellent service that is really well-adapted for the needs of the industry. The reliable roll-to-roll feed and the large ink tanks (one litre capacity) enable unsupervised printing. Optimised power and ink consumption also helps to keep production costs under control. Epson's SureColor SC-F7000 has opened up new possibilities for the textiles industry in Germany."