Phil Oakley, Director of Onpoint Supply Services and experienced industry professional, offers an insight into how print service providers (PSPs) can use their knowledge and skills in other areas to access work in the growing and evolving garment sector.
Having been in and around the printing and imaging industries for over 30 years, I have seen plenty of changes within the areas I have worked. Primarily, my focus has been photography, signage and fashion, with each having gone through, or in the process of going through, the analogue to digital transformation.
Beginning with photography; having worked in production roles at Kodak for 10 years, the change has been nothing short of seismic. Kodak Processing companies employed thousands of people in the UK in processing roles, from centralised high production facilities to the several hundreds of one-hour photo production sites in retail outlets such as Boots. Those days are now long gone, thanks to the huge influx of digital technologies.
Turning to signage and my experience working for HP: wide format graphics were traditionally printed for use as signage, POS and exhibition displays. However, flexible digital displays have become thinner, more accessible and the POS market is again going through the early phases of disruption and transformation. Think of bus stop signage, billboards and retail signage, with many switching to digital screens.
Finally, we have garment printing, where, in my opinion, there are plenty of untapped opportunities for those PSPs that have previously focused on photography and signage. Developments with dye sublimation on polyester textile mean that this sector has already undergone significant transformation, and we have barely even scratched the surface when it comes to the apparel, garment and fashion supply chain.
It is true that many decoration techniques and the actual consumer journey to purchasing garments are based on digital technologies. However, the essence of the actual market is very much a classic approach. Think of it as the bodywork of an electric Tesla car with the engine of a classic Cadillac Eldorado.
Supply and demand
Of course, money talks. Recent data suggests the UK apparel market is estimated to have generated almost £86bn in revenue by the end of 2024. This positions it as the third largest apparel market globally behind the US and China.
As for UK e-commerce fashion, the market is expected to be worth $44bn by the end of the year and hit $122bn by 2032. Add in the rising demand for planet friendly products – with the market currently valued at $261m and forecast to grow significantly over the next eight years – and the opportunities become clearer.
While sustainability and the environment are still relatively new areas of considerations for printers, this is nothing new for fashion. The challenge with the supply and demand business model in fashion is the waste it creates. Recent data indicates around 650,000 tonnes are diverted to recycling and end of life disposal each year in the UK, with a further 421,000 tonnes exported to landfill.
Textile waste is a major environmental concern for the UK government and while CO2 emissions data is challenging to be accurate on, it is estimated almost 30m tonnes of CO2 emissions are created per annum.
To pick up on a key subcategory, the UK consumes over 600 million T-shirts each year, representing approximately 65% of all garments sold. Of these, easily 50% are decorated but the fact that 230 million are produced overseas highlights the need for even more local, agile, digital decoration services.
UK digital T-shirt printing and embroidery now accounts for around 11% of all T-shirts consumed but is growing at around 40% annually, with this shift coming from consumer preferences toward fast and customised products.
The need for change
While these are great statistics, the reality is that the UK industry still has a long way to go in facing in the same direction of travel – a sustainable, onshore, on-demand operation. The parallel is that both photography and signage went through significant resistance to change for many reasons but there were always tipping points.
In photography, this was arguably the invention of the 1GB memory card, with digital cameras sales surpassing those of film cameras some time between 2003 and 2005. Ultimately, the technology dramatically broadened accessibility of being a good photographer without having to understand technical issues such as depth of field and exposure times. There was also camera phone integration, which, from around 2000 became not just the tipping point but a true inflection stage of change.
As for signage, the turning point was almost certainly inkjet printing. From the pen plotter to the highly sophisticated printheads today that can have up to 4,800 microscopic nozzles with water- based pigment ink firing through them at speeds of 50,000 droplets moving at up to 10m/s, there is little competition. For proof, just try painting a sign this quick!
However, with garment decoration, the industry is certainly taking advantage of digital print technology, which has been perfected through other markets and substrates.
That said, print technology may not be the tipping point for this industry to truly go through the pain of transformation; instead, it will more likely be a culmination of several factors. These could include legislation on landfill and C02 emissions, or even the Gen Z/Gen Alpha mindset of almost everything they do being online and already digital.
If you are late to garment decoration, it does not mean that you have missed the opportunity. Those who know how to save microseconds in workflow, how to deal with colour and different substrates, or how to be a master of printhead technology can still take advantage of a market that desperately needs change.
Print is an expansive skillset that will grant you access to many profitable markets. Getting on the garment train sooner rather than later will allow your business to pivot and evolve alongside one of these sectors.
