The Newcastle upon Tyne-based firm’s new M&R Sportsman EX and Diamondback automatic screen printing presses, which were installed at the end of May, have replaced an old M&R press, which was part exchanged.

“We were planning to make this investment next year, but we’ve been so busy with work coming in from our website recently that we decided to do it now,” said managing director Andy Dark.

“We also looked at a few alternatives, but M&R was able to get the new equipment to us from Poland only a week after we ordered it, which helped us to cope with our huge demand.”

The M&R Sportsman EX allows for multiple colour options while the M&R Diamondback allows the use of eight simultaneous printheads and 8-10 station configurations.

“A lot of customers that were taking bigger orders to China and Pakistan seem to be wanting to place those orders in the UK a lot more now. We’ve got contacts out in those countries, but the idea is to bring everything in-house at some point,” said Dark.

“We will now be able to handle large t-shirt orders in-house as we will be able to print 650 per hour with the new presses. With some of the promotional products it will still be cheaper to send the work abroad.”

Custom Planet provides customised garments including workwear, custom t-shirts and printed jumpers for individuals, groups, organisations and corporate customers.

The company has also recently expanded its premises and taken on new production and sales staff. It currently employs 11 staff and has a turnover approaching £1m.