Kornit Digital introduces the Atlas MAX Poly

The Atlas MAX Poly is an industry-first direct to garment solution delivering superior-quality digital decoration for vibrant, colourful design on polyester and poly-blended apparel, says Kornit Digital.

The printer capitalises on the demand for fashionable, unique sportswear and apparel. As the industry emerges from a post-pandemic environment in which athletic and leisurewear became mainstream, there is increasing demand for apparel combining polyester and poly-blends with vivid designs across a range of colours. Atlas MAX Poly can transform the multi-billion-dollar professional and recreational sports apparel and teamwear markets, limited today by limitations in mass customisation of polyester.

Omer Kulka, chief marketing officer at Kornit Digital, said: “Kornit Atlas MAX Poly is a game-changer. As fashion and sports apparel merge, there’s new opportunity for innovative fashion on polyester, one of the fastest-growing textile verticals. For the first time, recreational sportswear, promotional, and sports brands can embrace vibrant and colourful design with Kornit’s proven MAX technology – setting superior quality standards for on-demand production previously not possible.”

The Atlas MAX Poly incorporates Kornit’s field-proven MAX technology for high-quality premium decoration, process automation, and smart autonomous quality control. With Kornit’s XDi decorative applications, Atlas MAX Poly enables endless designs and creativity on polyester, and empowers new styles for multiple effects and unlimited combinations such as emulating threadless embroidery, high-density vinyl, screen transfer emulations, and 3D effects.

The solution is compatible with mesh and plain fabrics, including brushed polyester, while maintaining durability and breathability. It brings the highest throughput for on-demand polyester decoration, reducing total cost of ownership to drive profitability. Customers gain competitive advantage via Pantone colour-matching and a wide colour gamut including neon colours for bright and vibrant impressions, using single-step mechanisms minimising production footprints while maximising versatility.

Beyond superior quality, graphics, colour, and application variety, Kornit Atlas MAX Poly offers efficient, reliable, profitable end-to-end polyester production via:

• Kornit’s ActiveLoad automated garment-loading and pallet adjustment for repeatable, high-quality output with minimal errors reducing time and waste, eliminating operator ramp-up and boosting throughput up to 20%.
• Seamless integration with KornitX Global Fulfillment Network, enabling a pixel-to-parcel-to-doorstep experience. This unleashes untapped demand for polyester short-run production, personalization, and disruptive direct-to-fan and direct-to-recreational business models.
• Integration with KornitX’s workflow ecosystem and Kornit Konnect dashboard, optimising process visibility and control, adding data-driven insights for production floor efficiencies.

Kornit Atlas MAX Poly is successfully deployed across four global beta customer sites with expected availability in the second quarter of 2022.

Kornit is also in the early stages with another new system called Apollo, which features the company’s proven MAX technology. The Apollo offers the highest retail quality combined with full automation control and integrated smart curing processes, utilising functionality from Tesoma, Kornit’s recently announced acquisition. The solution is the most comprehensive digital, single-step end-to-end system for nearshore short-and-medium-runs mass production and offers optimal TCO and highest output per operator. The result far surpasses performance of screen printing and analogue techniques.

According to a pre-COVID survey published by McKinsey & Co., a majority of US apparel executives projected that over 20% of their sourcing volumes would come from nearshore production by 2025, indicating a major shift to demand-focused apparel value chains. Based on post-COVID supply chain disruptions, dynamics of digitisation, automation, lean inventory management, and sustainability, Kornit sees an acceleration of this trend and projects the shift will be much more significant in volume and speed, especially in the apparel categories that are relevant for the company’s DTG solutions.

Ronen Samuel, chief executive officer at Kornit Digital, said: “These accelerating shifts to nearshore and short- and medium-run production, in addition to the breakthrough digital advancements we are introducing with Apollo, should allow Kornit to address significantly more of the annual global decorated apparel jobs, generating a multi-billion-dollar opportunity for our customers and partners.

“The fashion and textile industry is at a critical inflection point. As the design, technology, and fashion worlds converge, there’s a tremendous opportunity now created. Kornit is writing the operating system for fashion – and today, we are introducing game-changing technology for mass production that will offer a powerful alternative to screen printing.”

Mr Kulka added: “Producers and creators are increasingly shifting to nearshore and onshore production. Our upcoming Kornit Apollo solution comes at the right time for the industry and our customers. This allows both current and future customers to take advantage of these market trends, opens new markets for Kornit, and will drive new customer adoption. The Kornit Apollo technology directly addresses the industry needs, and we believe it will increase our market reach.”

With early customer engagements in the second half of 2022, the system will be available mid-2023.