Printwear & Promotion The Total Promotional Package
Today’s younger generations were born and raised in a digital world. They expect instant gratification, design tools to unleash their creativity, collaboration with peers and brands in faraway lands, unlimited variety, and rapid fulfilment of anything their hearts desire. “There’s an app for that,” as the saying goes, and what’s true for consumers and designers is now true for apparel producers, brands, and retailers, as well.
The ”app for that” is digital direct-to-garment (DTG) decoration, and Kornit Digital leads with its revolutionary line of MAX systems, providing consistent, agile, durable impressions at the push of a button – compatible with a diversity of natural and synthetic materials, enabling an on-demand fulfilment for a lean production strategy that’s profitable and scalable.
Using certified-sustainable inks and consumables that are safe for all ages, fulfillers can deliver ready-to-ship (or wear) apparel in minutes, eliminating wasteful overstock, and transcending limitations of colour, graphic detail, and minimum order quantities while requiring less time, labour, energy, materials, and production space.
Traditional print shops know traditional analogue processes like screen printing require considerable training, take time to test and perfect, produce considerable waste, and are limited in the applications they deliver. Furthermore, the talent needed to do it right is getting harder to find, with personnel more accustomed to handling every aspect of their lives with digital means. That’s why Nic Simons skipped all that when he founded Winsford-based Shirt Monkey in 2012, turning directly to digital DTG efficiency and versatility – and he hasn’t looked back since.
“We’ve seen a massive increase in demand for our products, and we needed a machine that had massive capacity and fast turnaround for shipping,” says Simons. “The Kornit answered all those questions.”
Noting the technology’s ease of use, low cost per print, and high-quality output, Simons first invested in Kornit’s systems nearly a decade ago, and recently added Kornit Atlas MAX to his production floor. Incorporating greater automation capabilities and groundbreaking XDi graphic effects emulating screen, vinyl, dye sublimation, threadless embroidery, and even 3D imagery with one single-step, single-operator mechanism, Kornit’s MAX systems represent the industry’s most capable and efficient machine available today for sustainable, on-demand digital decoration of apparel, supporting considerable e-commerce fulfilment with an agility to answer new opportunities and challenges in real time.
Able to answer demand quickly, with digital visibility into production operations and a low-waste, high-volume end-to-end process, Shirt Monkey avoids the risks, inconsistencies, and limitations of an apparel operation built on slow and cumbersome technologies. They’re equipped to engage a web-driven marketplace, and adapt on the fly when disruptions like supply chain bottlenecks, labour shortages, inflation, pandemics, and other unforeseen challenges arise.
“We print on demand for large retail companies that primarily sell online,” says Simons. “All of the orders are shipped direct to the customer on a turnaround of anything from 24 to 72 hours.”
Having grown from a small startup into a major fulfilment provider, Shirt Monkey now generates considerable business from single-unit orders, which Simons considers a specialty for digital decoration – unprofitable with screens, but pushbutton-easy for Kornit’s digital process. It’s a perfect fit for customized and personalized sports fan apparel – and ideal for the type of football fan who tunes into The Redman TV for the latest in Liverpool FC news and discussion.
On Thursday, 19th October, we present Building a Digital Business from the Ground Up, an online event exploring why the time has never been better to capitalize on exploding demand for fast, durable, top-quality streetwear, team and fan gear, licensed apparel, and custom-designed pieces; how you can answer the call for eco-conscious apparel on demand; and how Shirt Monkey leveraged digital on-demand production to become an international sensation, providing end-to-end fulfilment operations for customers across Europe.
Register today to join Kornit Digital UK/Ireland Director Phil Oakley, Shirt Monkey Director and Founder Nic Simons, and The Redmen TV Co-Founder Chris Pajak as they discuss today’s incredible opportunity to build and scale an on-demand fulfilment operation around sustainable, on-demand digital production capabilities. Have your questions answered, build your business case, and bring your vision to life with agility and confidence in 2024 and beyond!
Building a Digital Business from the Ground Up
19th October 2023 14:00 BST
