Epson launches its Monna Lisa textile printer and establishes a textile printing centre in Kyoto. Decorated with complex, vivid patterns, strips of smooth silk, approximately one metre in width emerge rapidly from the printer. Jointly developed by Epson and Italy’s Robustelli, the Monna Lisa inkjet textile printer uses a type of staining technique to print designs onto fabrics. These fabrics are processed into items such as clothing, ties and scarfs by apparel makers and are sold to customers.
With respect to the growth in textile printing and bolstering its efforts around its inkjet textile printer, Monna Lisa inkjet textile printer and apparel create using digital techniques. Among others, the printer is capable of printing directly onto cotton, linen, wool, nylon and polyester. Epson’s belief in the potential of textile printing is based around a shift in the industry from analog to digital techniques. While traditional analog printing techniques require plates to be pressed against the fabric, digital techniques mean that fabric can be printed out without the need for expensive plates.
