The London-based company, which produces work for retail and department stores, opted for the newly launched Arizona printer after surveying the direct-to-media market for the past 12 months.

Managing director Tony Dennington said: "We did some tests of our own and the quality was as good as, or better, than anything else out there.

"There are more expensive machines, but this is better. It was by far the best machine we looked at."

The 31-staff company, which counts Thierry Mugler, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein as past clients, said the buy was based on three factors: quality, speed and cost.

"It [the investment] has huge potential for us. The new Arizona offers the quality of more expensive machines while standing head and shoulders above them," he said.

The £3m-turnover company's latest purchase will allow it to print directly onto a range of substrates that include metals, woods, and acrylics.

Océ's Arizona 550 GT can print at a resolution of 1,440dpi, at speeds of up to 40.2sqm an hour, when in rigid mode.

It also features an express print mode that can output up to 67sqm an hour, which is nearly treble the productivity of the highest speed on the Océ's existing Arizona 350 GT.

"This is going to open the door to so many new ideas, things that we hadn’t even talked about in the past. Our creative team are falling over themselves coming up with new applications," Dennington added.

Colouration also runs two Ryobi presses, plus Konica Minolta digital and HP roll-to-roll wide-format equipment.