An Interview with Mr Omer Kulka, Kornit Digital CMO
Founded in 2002, Kornit Digital is a global company, headquartered in Israel with offices in the USA, Europe, and Asia Pacific, and supplies digital
1. Please let us know more details about “latest digital printing machinery and technologies by Kornit Digital.”
We recently announced the acquisition of Custom Gateway, which means Kornit Digital now offers a Workflow solution, which presents end-to-end visibility and control of the production experience, no matter your supply chain model. Whether you’re a global textile brand or a mom-and-pop shop serving local organizations, Kornit Workflow empowers you to optimize your online store, manage your product catalog, streamline production logistics, and get your orders shipped at the speed of e-commerce, driving more revenue to your bottom line while giving customers the experience they demand.
Kornit Workflow pairs seamlessly with the Kornit Konnect dashboard for remote, real-time monitoring, managing, and improving of business results.
Earlier this year, we announced the Softener solution for Kornit Presto, our system for single-step, roll-to-roll direct-to-fabric printing. Softener improves hand feel, eliminating previous barriers between digital textile printing and the fashion industry’s most demanding quality standards.
We introduced the Kornit Vulcan Plus, the first DTG production system capable of delivering more than 600,000 impressions annually. This is the highest-capacity system in Kornit’s portfolio of HD printing solutions, giving large-scale brands and fulfillers the most efficient ink usage of any DTG technology, applying scentless fixation, and delivering mass customization capabilities for a broad range of ready-to-wear, retail-quality imprinted gear.
Kornit Digital remains the only digital print provider offering a single-step production process, with no pre- or post-treatment required, for faster, more efficient, more versatile fulfilment.
2. Could you please give us a brief about textile printing machinery revolution in past 10 years?
Early incarnations of digital printing were costly and fraught with problems, but in recent years those issues have been overcome, with digital providing a reliable basis for immediate production on demand. Unlike screen printing, digital produces little to no waste ink, can imprint photorealistic images with unlimited color gamut, and commences at the push of a button, vastly increasing production uptime (which means higher capacity, and less overhead). These advancements have come alongside the evolution of e-commerce adoption that demands high-capacity, industrial solutions for production on demand; in essence, digital print technology has risen to meet the challenges posed by today’s “see now, buy now” consumer tendencies.
3. Can you compare traditional printing and new digital printing technology? Some-times end users think digital printing quality is not as good as traditional systems.
Screen printing still has a place in textile fulfilment, but it’s best used for large, mass production orders. Consumers today expect customization, personalization, variety – which means shrinking runs, and that is where digital has truly proven its value. Dye sublimation still works fine for white polyester, but a system like Kornit’s Avalanche Poly Pro makes digital detail and versatility compatible with darker polyesters and poly blends, a boon for the emerging sportswear and athleisure apparel market.
Digital is also far more eco-friendly than acid and reactive dyes, and Kornit delivers hand feel and fastness to rival those production processes, which have long been a mainstay of the fashion industry. Relative to traditional analogue production systems, Kornit’s proprietary HD DTG technology is a far more versatile option for brands and fulfillers who need to imprint many different fabrics, in any quantity, with the highest retail and brand (including Pantone/colour-matching) quality, while remaining profitable under evolving market conditions.
4. As a leader manufacturer of digital printing machinery what do you think about digital printing potentials in EMEA Region?
As the rapid growth of e-commerce is a worldwide phenomenon, any technology that empowers businesses to meet the challenges it presents stands to benefit. This means EMEA will need digital print capabilities for the long term, as it’s the most effective tool for on-demand production, giving fulfillers the opportunity to offer nearly unlimited product lines, created and shipped with minimal setup time and cost, and without risk of inventory loss.
For established brands, digital presents the opportunity to supplement screen printing and other traditional processes with the capability to make shrinking runs profitable, and the versatility to respond to new and shifting demand (such as personal protective equipment in the wake of COVID-19) with ease. For startups and more localized brands, digital presents the opportunity to bypass more traditional processes entirely, delivering both brilliant impressions and profitability immediately.
A large portion of the world’s most influential sports and fashion brands are based in Europe, in addition to the many very large consumer markets there. Answering the needs of the apparel industry will have a huge impact on this region, in terms of both supply and demand.
5. COVID 19 shows us we should rely more on sustainability and green products, please let our readers know how much textile digital printing with new technologies is green and what is the benefits for our planet?
Historically, textiles are the second-largest polluter of the world’s water supply, behind only petroleum. Digital printing, especially in the case of Kornit’s proprietary systems and consumables, eliminates hazardous dyes from the equation. Our pigment-based inks and fixation both use water, and produce virtually no water waste, meeting several of the apparel industry’s most rigorous standards for sustainability. This results in a “greener” production process, and a healthier production environment.
Furthermore, digital print means you can eliminate overproduction. By making production possible at the push of a button, you can produce only what has already been sold, and ship at the speeds e-commerce demands. No wasted inventory means less product going to landfills, and less resources wasted on the front end. In short, you produce only what the market demands, which is both highly profitable and highly efficient.
Finally, digital also enables proximity production, which reduces carbon footprint due to less shipping, as the means of production are physically closer to the end consumer. This also has the benefit of streamlining logistics, not to mention minimizing the risks/vulnerabilities associated with a complex, broadly dispersed supply chain. (When more of your production process takes place under one roof, you have more control of that process, and are more insulated from disruptions.)
About Kornit Digital;
Kornit Digital (NASDAQ:KRNT) , develops, manufactures and markets industrial digital printing technologies for the garment, apparel, and textile industries.
Leading the digital textile printing industry through its revolutionary NeoPigment™ process, including an integrated pretreatment solution, we cater directly to the needs of both designers and manufacturers to address the changing needs of the entire textile printing value chain.
Kornit meets consumer expectations from the fashion industry as it is transforming to a new digital-based benchmark: 24-hour delivery of personalized orders. Fashion brands expand their online offerings to let consumers tailor their preferred items to their own taste. Production plants are being re-shored back home – close to the consumers – and geared towards quick printing cycles of small quantities. At the backbone of this revolution stands Kornit. Printing with Kornit means zero water waste and avoiding excess manufacturing of un-purchased clothes. By enabling sustainable on-demand manufacturing, our solutions help creating a better world, where people can bond, design, and express their identities – one impression at a time.
To complete its vision of enabling fashion on demand, Kornit Digital recently acquired UK-based workflow developer Custom Gateway, which specializes in on-demand manufacturing and automation of production processes and product management. Together, Kornit and Custom Gateway design workflow products to support the on-demand manufacturing of decorated textile goods, from the online store to delivery, from the brand to the fulfiller and consumer.
