Eco-friendly printing with COLORS from Efi

Twelve-colour Reggiani printer and Mezzera product for greener denim production made their debuts in EFI exhibit of advanced textile technologies at ITM Turkey.  The groundbreaking new EFI Reggiani COLORS digital printer offers expanded print opportunities and the new EFI Mezzera technology offers more environmentally sustainable dyeing on denim garments.

The EFI Ecosystem of technologies leverages EFI Reggiani’s 70 years as a leader in textile industry innovation with digital and conventional processes. EFI Reggiani products, along with some of the industry’s most advanced software innovations, simplify the transition from conventional to digital production. Highlighting the company’s completely renewed digital printer range, products that give users improved production workflows, including the ability to move to greener, environmentally friendly processes, Adele Genoni, Vice President and General Manager, Efi Reggiani, told Samuel Joseph, Editor of The Indian Textile Journal that EFI’s newest Reggiani offering – the company’s fourth high-tech textile printer debut in less than one year of focused innovation development – offers a unique imaging configuration that is especially important for customers seeking to establish a distinct competitive advantage.

“The new EFI Reggiani COLORS printer launching at ITM is a breakthrough offering for textile producers, offering up to 12 colours that can be printed in a row. This unparalleled new digital printer brings new creativity to the industry with an explosion of colour. And, along with the entire portfolio of advanced EFI Reggiani textile production solutions, it helps our customers reach new levels of sustainability, efficiency and profitability.”

The EFI Reggiani COLORS digital printer gives users the ability to print nearly any configuration of inks in 180-, 240- and 340-mm widths – including using special inks, inks of different chemistry types, and chemistry for special treatments such as for higher-penetration printing, all at the same time. It prints up to 560 sq m per hour, delivering unmatched printing quality and uniformity with an extended colour gamut, superior colour depth and increased penetration into fabric.

Users can place the printer’s 12 colours in a high-productivity 6+6 configuration for superior imaging at much faster throughput speeds. An innovative continuous ink recirculation system ensures outstanding reliability and lets users print with a wider variety of inks while reducing purging and maintenance. Plus, a simplified printhead design and proprietary electronics on the printer reduce setup time and streamline maintenance tasks. New EFI Reggiani printing software on the COLORS model allows for real-time image processing, which enhances users’ overall workflow performance.

The EFI Ecosystem of industrial textile technologies helps customers address a wide range of industry challenges, including the need to cost-effectively produce samples and smaller garment lot sizes, gain faster time to market, and produce designs that are difficult or impossible to produce with conventional technologies. As users seek automation in productivity, EFI’s advanced tools provide a streamlined workflow and reduced errors without compromising on quality.

The ecosystem includes the EFI Fiery Textile Bundle, which combines technologies for efficient textile design and file preparation with the Fiery proServer digital front end (DFE) for professional colour management and high-quality RIP output on EFI Reggiani digital printers. Fiery DesignPro tools in the bundle give stakeholders throughout a design team the power to quickly and easily create professional designs, seamless repeat patterns, different colourways, colour libraries and palettes.

EFI Optitex software provides an integrated 2D/3D digital solution for the fashion and textile industry to enable companies to quickly create true-to-life 3D digital garments that inspire. Optitex 3D Design Illustrator, a new plug-in tool, gives designers the freedom to validate and customize 3D garments in Adobe Illustrator. Designers can visualize 3D garments, with accurate proportion and scaling, and customise the garment’s fabric, texture, stitching, embellishments, print patterns and graphic placement without waiting for a printed sample.

New EFI Mezzera indigo dyeing technology gives textile companies a way to eliminate the excess water usage, chemistry waste and high operating costs of denim production. EFI partnered with denim producers and manufacturers from around the globe to create the new Mezzera LOOP SLASHER product, which gives users a more sustainable process, reducing environmental impact with lower water consumption and operating costs.

The new product uses nitrogen sealed chambers to improve indigo performance and preserve chemicals. Compared with other denim production technologies, the EFI Mezzera LOOP SLASHER has a 35 per cent smaller footprint and uses 50 per cent less indigo liquor. It also limits the total amount of chemicals needed in denim production, preserving 30 per cent to 40 per cent of hydrosulphite needed in the process for re-use.