First unveiled in India a few weeks ago by prime minister Nararendra Modi at the Bharat Tex show in New Dheli, the printer is now commercially available with units shipping within eight to 12 weeks.

An upgraded version of Colorjet’s Earth 32 printer, launched at ITMA 2023, the 32i has been fitted with “turbocharged” Konica Minolta printheads capable of variable drop sizes.

“We feel that Konica Minolta heads have a very good lifespan; they last two to three years, despite the fact pigment inks are very tough to handle,” said Smarth Bansal, general manager of product management at Colorjet Group.

The Earth 32i can print onto a wide range of fabric types, across both organic and inorganic materials, and is being marketed as a highly sustainable alternative to conventional fabric-printing processes, which require large quantities of water 

“A large section of the market is moving towards zero-water discharge. They want to be able to print the fabric and have it ready to use without steaming or washing,” explained Bansal.

For applications that will be rarely washed, such as soft furnishings, fabrics printed with the inks do not require pre- or post-treatment. Colorjet said the introduction of variable drop sizes offered printers further flexibility, enabling them to tune the machine towards production speed or resolution as needed. Several safety features have also been updated.

Colorjet now has around 130 presses installed in Europe, with more than 50 of its pigment machines running worldwide. 

Also featured on Colorjet’s booth (1-D20) are its Verve Mini 1x1.6m flatbed and Vulcan Hybrid X 2m press, both equipped with UV LED curing.