InfoTrends has just completed a new study examining the digital textile printing segment.  The study, called Transforming Textile Printing, explores the textile market supply chain, sizes and forecasts the digital textile printing market, and focuses on the demand drivers for digital textile production.

The potential for digital printing to influence the printed textile market has long been promised, yet only now, with the new dynamics on the demand generation side and the introduction of super high-speed digital printing systems with open ink configurations are fabrics printing companies able to meet new customer demands.

The global textile industry is worth approximately US$1 trillion. Of that, InfoTrends estimates that the value of digitally printed textile garments, décor items, and industrial products is valued at US$10.3 billion in 2012, or less than 1.5% of the total market. Although the digital textile printing market is small in comparison to the entire textile industry, it is growing rapidly. InfoTrends estimates that revenues from digital textile equipment and ink sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.7%. According to InfoTrends, some key trends that are driving this growth include risk mitigation from the retailer and brand community, and on the technology side the emergence of high quality, high spend inkjet print heads, the availability of moderately priced solutions that enable new market entrants, and open system inkjet print heads that allow for multiple ink suppliers resulting in lower ink prices.

Transforming Textile Printing covers digital printing of garments, décor, and industrial products. It covers:

• Digital textile printing hardware systems providers and inkjet print head manufacturers
• Digital textile printing ink suppliers and ink types
• Fibres and fabrics used in textile printing
• Sustainability in digital textile printing

This study is based on in-depth interviews with buyers and specifiers of digital textiles, digital textile print service providers, and suppliers to the digital textile printing industry (hardware suppliers, inkjet print head manufacturers, and systems integrators). InfoTrends conducted 67 interviews in all. The reach was global, with interviews primarily in China, India, the United States, and Italy, with a mix from some other European countries.

For more information on this study, please visit InfoTrends' online store: