Page 30 - PWM2023_January

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

Star product
Kornit Avalanche PolyPro

The PolyPro marks the introduction of the NeoPoly inks to the Avalanche range, says Nessan Cleary

which eliminates the need for pre-treat-
ment.
What is its USP?
The main USP is that it prints direct to
polyester garments; most DTG printers
are for cotton, silk, wool or other natural
fibres and most polyester printing is via
dye-sublimation. The PolyPro prints on a
variety of polyester fabrics, including
woven, knits, with poly blends (poly-
Lycra, poly-cotton) and different fabric
textures.

How easy is it to use?
It’s relatively straightforward as all the
What does it do? the ink in place so that it doesn’t soak hard work is done inside the machine by
Kornit’s Avalanche series of direct-to- into the fabric. It chemically bonds the the various chemical layers reacting
garment printers are designed as indus- ink pigments so that the colours sit on against each other. It can be run by a sin-
trial machines for continuous use, able to top of the white layer. gle operator. However, it appears the
print directly to products such as blank Specifications The final layer, the poly enhancer, operator does need a degree of skill to
t-shirts for cost-effective short runs and Max print resolu- reduces the thickness of the print and judge how much fixation to spray on the
on-demand printing. tion 1,200dpi gives a special protective layer. This is garment.
The basic design features two platens so then followed by the curing. The Poly
that an operator can load or unload one Colours CMYK plus Enhancer is a clear fluid, which acts like a What does it cost?
platen while the other is printing. white catalyst to reduce the drying temperature
from Kornit’s usual 160°C to 100-110°C, The printer costs approximately
When was it launched and what mar- Print area which eliminates the risk of dye migra- £406,000 though this is subject to cur-
ket is it aimed at? 600x900mm tion where the colorants from the polyes- rency fluctuations.
The Avalanche PolyPro was launched in ter diffuse into the white layer. What training and service support is
April 2019. It prints directly to polyester Platens 2 A further advantage is that the inks are on offer?
and polyester blends, with polyester Productivity 85 odourless.
being the second largest category in the dark/106 light How does it differ from previous prod- Sharon Donovich, product marketing
overall t-shirt market, which is valued at t-shirts/hr ucts? manager at Kornit, says that, as with all
$29bn (£22.5bn), with something like 2 The PolyPro is built on Kornit’s familiar Kornit DTG printers, it comes with six
billion t-shirts being produced annually. Substrates Avalanche platform with the principle months of warranty and various levels of
As such it’s directly aimed at the sports Polyester, polyester difference being the new inkset. This is SLA, including an empowerment plan in
segment, and the growing athleisure and blends also Kornit’s first polyester DTG printer which Kornit trains the customer to be
functional apparel markets.
Pre-treatment How productive is it? self-sufficient and maintain the product
How does it work? needed No to ensure the highest productivity and
It can produce up to 85 dark shirts or 106
The key to the PolyPro printer is Kornit’s light shirts per hour, assuming A4 image availability.
new NeoPoly ink. This inkset is made up size and High Productivity print mode. Sales targets and installations
of inline fixation, a white base layer, fol- All DTG printers take longer to print to
lowed by CMYK and then a new Poly dark materials because of the need to lay Although the Avalanche PolyPro was
Enhancer channel. The main advantage down the white ink layer first. This is announced earlier this year, and Kornit
is that there’s no need for any form of slower than some other models in the says that it has taken many orders, Kornit
pre- or post-treatment. The fixation is Avalanche series, but does include the is only just starting to deliver these print-
sprayed in the area of the print and holds time needed to spray on the fixation, ers now.

“ It prints directly to polyester and polyester blends.”
30 PrintWeek MENA January 2023 www.printweekmena.com