Due to the small size and clean process of digital printing systems, retail establishments and kiosks can expand their product portfolios without the expensive equipment, large space requirements and messy clean-up associated with other printing processes.

Due to rapid advances in inkjet print quality and dramatically falling prices for inkjet printers, digital imaging with inkjet technology has become the hottest new trend in the decorated garment and promotional products industry.

For garment decorators, the short-run capability of the digital process is perhaps the most desirable and profitable benefit. Images can be printed, heat set and completed, often in less than three minutes. Each garment can be customised with a name, number or other unique characteristic, so each click of the print button creates a personal or custom image. As with any digital file, digital designs can be saved and quickly reprinted for repeat orders, without additional setup time and cost.

Digital imaging systems provide many other advantages when compared to traditional 'analog' imaging technologies. Unlike screen-printing or embroidery, digital decorating systems have the capability to produce photo-quality and extremely high-resolution images on a wide variety of substrates and products. They also have the ability to reproduce vivid colour images with vastly superior colour accuracy. The digital imaging process utilises up to 16 million colours to create image quality and colour far beyond the practical capability of analog processes.

Combining high resolution images, accurate and vivid colour, individual customisation and order flexibility in a clean, low cost process has allowed digital printing technology to expand the product portfolio of garment decorators, promotional product suppliers and a wide range of retail operations.

Ink jet transfer technology is the easiest and least expensive way to enter the world of digital printing and product decorating. It's almost as simple as printing a photo or document on your home printer. Design artwork is created in familiar graphic software. The design is then printed to a speciallytreated transfer paper or media and is applied with a heat press to the garment, promotional product or other substrate. In only minutes, you have created and completed a customised, digitally decorated garment with vivid colour and high resolution graphics.

The biggest advantage of inkjet transfer technology is the low start-up cost and a familiar, easy to use printing process and application. For those of you who may have tried transfer images in the past and were disappointed with the feel and appearance, you will be pleasantly surprised with the dramatic improvements in product quality. Recently developed premium inkjet transfer solutions such as ChromaBlast from Sawgrass Technologies, Inc. no longer have the heavy feel and washed-out appearance of earlier products. ChromaBlast media and ink technology provide images with noticeably less hand and vibrant long lasting colour, which stand up to repeated washings with no peeling, cracking or significant fading.

ChromaBlast is a unique patented ink and media combination, driven by powerful print software, which produces a customised cotton shirt or garment with exceptionally soft hand, vibrant colour and superior resistance to fading.

The superior results achieved with the ChromaBlast Digital Colour Imaging System are attributable to a unique and proprietary synergy which occurs between the ChromaBlast Ink and ChromaBlast Media. Under heat and pressure, a cross-link reaction occurs within the printed ChromaBlast media that chemically bonds the image to the cotton. The cross-link creates a very strong and nearly permanent bond. The area around the image has a very light feel after pressing that becomes nearly imperceptible after one wash. The result is a vivid, colourful image on cotton.

Sawgrass has developed three Epson printerbased platforms to provide a ChromaBlast solution for a wide-range of applications and needs: the entry level Epson D88 and D88+, the Epson R1800 for larger images and the professional Epson 4800 series for outstanding image quality and dependability.

Sawgrass Technologies, Inc. provides a full line of digital imaging solutions for sublimation, and cotton products.

For more information go to:
Web: www.sawgrassink.com, or www.chromablast.com, or www.sawgrasseurope.com

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