New technology launched in the US allows for the production of pretreated garments that are ready to print.
Hanes Branded Printwear has unveiled the Hanes Perfect Pre-treat Tee, manufactured with its new PrintNOW technology for use in direct-to-garment (DTG) digital printing.
The T-shirt comes ready to print anywhere on the garment – front, back, neck and sleeves – with no need for pretreatment. Hanes estimates it will cut DTG production time by around 40%.
Other benefits are said to include the elimination of human error as pretreatment is already evenly applied across the entire surface of the garment, lower overhead costs associated with pretreating, and a reduction of three minutes per shirt in the DTG process.
Rachel Newman, vice president and general manager of Hanes Activewear, said: “We are transforming how printers handle DTG printing, streamlining the process in significant ways.
“DTG with PrintNOW is truly direct-to-garment right out of the box. As a result, this innovation saves printers time and money – two big wins for printers trying to deliver quality printed apparel to their customers efficiently.”
The Hanes Perfect Pre-treat Tee is made with US-grown, ring-spun cotton, producing a lightweight fabric with a soft drape, a modern, semi-fitted silhouette and unisex sizing. It is available in sizes small to 3X in black, white, navy and smoke grey.
There are no plans to distribute garments featuring PrintNOW technology in the UK. RTP Apparel’s ready-to-print T-shirts, which also require no pretreatment, are distributed in the UK and the rest of Europe by Solo Group through Sol’s after the product’s launch in 2016.
