Aleph’s innovation & environmental sustainability in digital printing

Innovation and environmental sustainability in digital textile printing was central to Aleph’s showcase at ITMA 2019. A leading Italian manufacturer of sublimation and direct-to-fabric inkjet printers for the textile and visual communication industries, headquartered in the textile district of Como, Aleph unveiled a range of brand-new scanning printing systems aimed at enhancing and integrating its flagship series, LaForte. Designed as a fashion boutique, the company’s booth hosted the latest cutting-edge technologies developed by Aleph and a wealth of textile applications, including textiles printed with modern and trendy patterns and designs, demonstrating how advanced digital printing technologies are transforming the high-end fashion, fast fashion, sportswear and athleisure, home textile industries.

Three pioneering models from LaForte series was on display at ITMA 2019: brand-new, top-of-the-line LaForte 600 Fabric, LaForte 200 Fabric and recently launched, dye-sublimation entry-level printer, LaForte 100. “We are excited to be at ITMA 2019 and used the show to highlight the company’s evolution over the last four years. Not only have we boosted our range of high-performing digital print solutions – which also reflects in the theme and size of our booth – but we have also experienced a continuous corporate growth, up to 50 per cent, following the joint venture with Italian private equity firm, Wise sgr”, comments Alessandro Manes, CEO at Aleph. “Since the official launch of LaForte project, back in 2015, our R&D team has been working hard to improve and consolidate the series. We decided to keep our focus on developing the digital print scanning technology, which can now deliver high volumes, top printed quality and lower production costs, while we consider single pass print technology still at an early stage of its evolution. Furthermore, we have also focused on boosting our workflow software, enhancing our pigment inks and creating complete lines for printing on fabrics, through both the development of proprietary pre- and post-press systems and strategic partnerships.”

LaForte series, ranging from entry-level to flagship models

Debuting worldwide at ITMA, LaForte 600 Fabric is an industrial inkjet direct-to-textile printer designed to deliver high-volume manufacturing of extremely high-quality printed textiles. Enabling a print speed from 600 up to 1000 sqm/hour at a print resolution up to 1200 dpi, LaForte 600 Fabric almost reaches the same productivity as single-pass inkjet presses but featuring scanning technology. Aleph’s printer features a compact design, which facilitates its integration into various production environments, and a waterless process that reduces the consumption of water and energy, resulting in drastically lowered production costs and environmental impact.

At ITMA, Aleph exhibited a complete production line, featuring: a fabric feeding system that supports jumbo reels (up to 1 m roll diameter and 1.000 kg roll weight), LaForte 600 Fabric (equipped with 48 printheads), a proprietary drying system and a exit plater including optional winding unit. Both the feeding system and the plater are from Italian company Bianco Group, partnering with Aleph.

Aleph also used ITMA 2019 to showcase its flagship solutions addressing different textile market segments. These include:

• LaForte 200 Fabric, a direct-to-fabric inkjet printer featuring a compact design and a patented rotary belt. The printer is designed to address mid to high print volume production (up to 400 sqm/h with 3400 mm print width in one pass and up to 300 sqm/h with 1800 mm print width in one pass). At Barcelona, Aleph showcased a LaForte 200 Fabric model equipped with 8 dual-module printheads (dual channel, two colours per head) and with pigment inks, and will run live demonstrations of direct printing onto wide ranges of fibres.
• LaForte 100 Paper is a versatile inkjet printing system. A water-based dye-sublimation entry-level solution with production speed up to 200 sqm/h, LaForte 100 features 4 to 8 printheads (a 4-printhead model will be displayed at ITMA) and is equipped with a patented rotary belt with vacuum system, which enables to print on paper with grammage starting from 10 gsm. Offering robustness and stability in production, LaForte 100 is designed to deliver high-quality print and addresses those large format printing companies aiming to diversify their product portfolio and to explore new market segments. The printer is suitable for the fast fashion and sportswear market segments, as well as the out of home and soft signage industries.

Another highlight at Aleph’s boutique at ITMA was the showcase of high-quality printed fabrics and textiles. The brand-new advanced pigment inks and direct disperse dyes developed by Aleph don’t require pre and post treatments – enabling a significant reduction in water consumption – and guarantee durability and colour vibrancy thanks to an innovative binder with ultra-clinging-to-the-fibre capability. In addition, Aleph has recently developed new pre and post treatment solutions that help further enhance the solidity and colour vibrancy also on special fibres.

Aleph is a leading manufacturer of digital printers for sublimation and direct-to-fabric textile printing. Headquartered at the heart of Italian textile district of Como, the company has grown to become a leading international player in inkjet printing, with a dedicated sales force and a distribution network covering key textile regions. Aleph addresses the fashion and home textile markets, as well as the visual communication industry. Its product portfolio includes flagship series LaForte Fabric and LaForte Paper, proprietary software, drying systems and dedicated inks – developed in partnership with a specialist ink producer.