The show, the international trade fair for textile and garment manufacturing, will take place from 9-12 January at Messe Frankfurt. It is expected to attract printers from across the globe looking to move into or expand their presence in the textile printing and interior decor markets.
The 2017 event attracted 69,000 visitors and 2,965 exhibitors and similar numbers are expected for the 2018 outing.
JK Group is set to showcase Kiian Digital’s products developed for the interior textile industry, with a particular focus on the new Digistar Bravo range of disperse dye inks for direct printing.
The firm said these inks, which are compatible with Kyocera printheads, provide high quality and runnability in industrial applications, environmental friendliness and “outstanding general fastness”.
JK Group marketing specialist Marco Girola said: “The ability to transition from volume production to customised manufacturing is a key challenge even for the interior textiles market.
“Digital textile printing with Digistar Bravo support this. The dyestuffs selected for each colour, in particular the extremely deep intensity and shades of blacks and spot colours, allow printers to freely reproduce leading-edge colour palettes and achieve superior fastness. An endless variation of prints can be produced in a cost-effective way.”
Xeikon will bring its Wall Decoration Suite for the digital manufacturing of wall decoration applications to the show. This end-to-end workflow comprises of a digital press, "eco-friendly" toner, finishing and support for a wide range of substrates.
“There are a number of use cases that require shorter runs of wall decoration that cannot be profitably produced using conventional printing technologies,” said Dimitri Van Gaever, Xeikon business development manager for the Graphic Arts Segment.
“This includes short-run printing for end-of-life collections, start-up collections, sample books and customised or ultra-short-run wall coverings such as photo murals for homes or businesses. Our Wall Decoration Suite addresses all of these, and most importantly it does so with no compromise in quality and a focus on profitability.”
All Xeikon Wall Decoration configurations include a jumbo roll unwinder and a specially developed wallpaper rewinder with slitting and waste removal to deliver perfectly finished wallpaper rolls, in one go. An optional varnishing module is also available.
Mimaki will showcase a range of its direct-to-textile and sublimation transfer printers at the show, as well as displaying a wide range of printed textiles.
One of the major focuses on the stand will be its Tx300P series of textile printers, which use two different types of textile inks at the same time. This dual ink capacity allows simultaneous printing on cotton with textile pigment ink and printing on polyester with sublimation ink.
Mimaki Europe general manager of sales Ronald van den Broek said: “Heimtextil is an important show for Mimaki. We are especially excited this year to be speaking with attendees about not only entry-level and mid-market textile printers, but also our Mimaki Textile Pro Series for higher volume applications.
“We aim to inspire visitors to our stand. But in all honesty, we are more inspired by the visitors than they are by us. This is a very creative group, and we are looking forward to sharing ideas with them that will inspire both of us as we move into the future of digital textile printing.”
Other print industry names set to exhibit at Heimtextil 2018 include Epson, HP, Mutoh, Sun Chemical, Veika and MS Printing Solutions.
