Another name of possibilities for the country’s growing textile industry is ‘All Over Printing’ (AOP). Demands are increasing day by day in this sector as per expectation. Although rotary, flat bed, screen printing were used before, nowadays the digital inject ‘All Over Printing’ has been added with them.
With the change of era, people’s attitude, choice & demand also changes. All over printed clothing are getting priority to the fashion conscious young people day by day. It has acceptance for all in every season. Shirts, tall Gowns, tank tops, punjabi, denim shirts and jeans, woven pants, home textiles etc. are being made largely with all over print.
AOP demand trend
The current shoppers are quite fashionable. So the garments manufactures are also making garments keeping fashion in the mind. New technologies are developing through which it is easy to work. When a printing machine print full width fabric with its impression it is call AOP. Usually in case of AOP fabric is cut after printing. All over printing is one type of printed clothing that is attracted by buyers of all ages. Due to having its colorful design, it’s used almost in every program.
There are various types of printing processes in the industry. Screen print, rotary screen, flat bed, digital ink jet all over, sublimation (transfer) ink jet print etc. All of these could be used in AOP. Most of the AOP companies in Bangladesh are using rotary screen printing machinery. There is digital machinery as well. The cost of digital AOP machinery is usually ten times higher than rotary or flat beds. But the production cost in digital ink jet printing machinery could be cost effective is sustainability and environmental issues are considered. However biggest benefit of digital machine is flexibility, robustness, fast batch/design changing capacity. Though the digital printing cost is more, color combination can be done as desired. There is no problem to create screen.
Synthetic fabric is printed by the sublimation process. Transfer printing technology is also used in AOPs. The number of screens which are used in the rotary or flat beds is limited.
“The tendency of the young generation of the country or the western country is now towards fusion fashion. Fashion lovers want to get out of the traditional style and wear new things. In this case, currently they are giving more importance to the all over printed designed garments”, said Rifat Jaman, an AOP marketer.
The demand of All over print (AOP) is increasing around the world. New York Fashion Week recently featured a runway show parading pieces of clothing made of digitally printed textiles. The show had also been done in the United Arab Emirates. It has been presented with various diversified and attractive designer clothing of All Over Print. The fashion houses of our country (Aarong, Kay Craft, Cats eye, BishwoRang etc.) have emphasized on all over print. The different show is being organized in the capital.
AOP garment could easily be washed after sewing and so another stage of value addition is possible. Older looked faded all AOP garments are hot in fashion market. The demand is to remain strong in coming days.
Digital AOP:
Conventional print creates huge bunch of effluents which are hazardous for the ecosystem and even for the human being. The technology makes possible to have faster production cycles, to reduce the water consumption. That’s why, digital inject All Over Printing is becoming very popular day by day due to the less environmental impact.
Nowadays, consumers want to change frequently and give them a much greater individual touch. There is scarcely any other technology that combines brilliant colors, wonderful designs and production on demand with low resource utilization. Currently, 60 percent of digitally printed textiles are produced in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. Due to the increase in demand, many of the factories in Bangladesh are opening digital ‘All Over Printing’ section along with conventional. New jobs are also being created in the different houses with attractive salary.
According to the UK-based market research firm Smithers Pira report on “The Future of Digital Textile Printing to 2021”, the future of digital textile printing to 2021 confirms that this industry segment will continue to see double digit strong growth across the 2016-2021 period. Its exclusive data shows that a total of 870 million square meters of fabric were printed on digital equipment in 2016 and was worth US $1.29 billion. This volume is expected to increase a rate of 17.5% CAGR across the next five years to 2021, consuming nearly 1.95 billion square meters in that year and a market value of US $2.66 billion. This rapid and lucrative market expansion is being fuelled by a series of factors – including technical innovations and evolving end-user demands – all of which are examined and quantified in full in this report.
AOP as a career:
There was a time when the newly graduate students wanted to work in dyeing, knitting, spinning or garments section. They thought that without joining those sectors, career growth is not possible. But now choices have been changed because of the changing era. Graduate students are choosing the printing sector as profession. It’s too much a challenging sector like medical or journalism. But if anyone is persistent towards the goal, he/she will be successful in this sector soon.
Barriers
Being one of the major exporters of garments with the huge growth and success in this sector, Bangladesh needs to solve the problems of printing industry to generate more revenue. The textile printing raw materials are directly imported from abroad. There are no manufacturing companies & solution providers in this country who can make printing solutions.
Besides, there is a lack of adequate technology and skilled manpower in the country’s textile printing industry according to the needs. For this reason, a lot of orders are refused every year in Bangladesh. Many foreign experts are directly or indirectly involved in this sector. Another disadvantages are the inadequate opportunities for research and development, insufficient gas, electricity, improved infrastructure etc. Even there is no world-class textile printing studio, development company or training center in the country to support manufacturers to get hands on experience on printing products.
Recently a reputed printing solutions manufacturers and distributors DCC India opened a branch office in Dhaka. DCC is one stop printing equipment providing company. Many of our country’s leading industrial establishments – Square Group, Liz Group, Masco Group, Knit Concern, Metro Group, Padma Textiles, Fortis Group, Mondol Group etc. are among the big-name producers and exporters involved in large scale digital printing.
Refat Jahan, Senior Executive of a reputed textile company named Hams Group (printing marketing) said, “Now the demand & popularity of all over print is increasing like washing. But the number of technical personnel in this sector is not very much. A few textile engineers are working here which is very less than requirements. It is very important to learn the total working procedure of this sector including the chemical functions in details. A bright future is waiting for all if the goal remains fixed in this sector.”
For Bangladesh, All Over Printing (AOP) is a growing sector in Bangladesh. A considerable number of experts have been developed here. Bangladesh can meet any quality demand in this. However, Bangladesh is behind in terms of digital printing in compared to India or China. If the sector can get proper patronization, investment and focus, Bangladesh will govern in the printing sector like denim or jeans across the world. In this case, the entrepreneurs, industry owners as well as the government have to work together keeping hand on hand. Have to take real and effective initiatives too. Only then Bangladesh will go ahead further to fulfill the dream of exporting 50 billion dollars by 2021.
