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British Fabric Printing (BFP) has installed an Epson SureColor SC-F9400H dye sublimation printer from CMYUK. This enables the business to expand beyond the printing of natural stretch jersey fabrics for children’s clothing into producing polyester-based textiles for sportswear, athleisure and interiors.
BFP was founded in 2020 by Essex-based duo Lisa Bence and Stuart Kettridge. Lisa had set up her own online children’s clothing store in 2017, where she was selling her own designs, and Stuart was working as a stone cleaner by day and an audio mastering engineer by night. The growing popularity of the digital store and Lockdown presented the couple with the opportunity to really focus on the business. The idea was to bring the necessary equipment in-house for the printing and production of Lisa’s designs, and as a secondary spin-off, also offer an online bespoke printing service.
In the last 2.5 years BFP has also installed 2 X Mimaki TX300 pigment ink printers, a Klieverik VERTEX calender press, all from CMYUK.
CMYUK invited the couple to its demonstration and training facility in Shrewsbury, where the Epson SureColor SC-F9400H was put through its paces. This is a fast, high-volume, six-colour, 64-inch paper transfer sublimation printer that is suitable for sports and fashion apparel, soft signage and other textile applications. It also has the ability to print fluorescent pink and yellow to create an array of dayglow spot colours, bringing impactful designs to garments and other items where intense hues are required.
Using water-based sublimation inks, designs are printed to paper, transferred onto fabric by a calender press where heat and pressure transforms the ink into a gas. This fuses and bonds with the fibres within the textile, creating highly durable, wash-and rub-fast prints.
The Epson SureColor SC-F9400H has a maximum print speed of 108.6m2 per hr for fast turnarounds. Settings deliver a lower tension and accurate registration, improving take-up and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) by using lower-weight sublimation papers.
