As part of the partnership with The Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children’s Hospital Charity, Roland DG has printed and applied printed artwork, created by designer Emily Twomey, for use within three treatment rooms and the waiting area of the Neurophysiology Department.

Anna Shepherd, deputy director for The Grand Appeal, said, ‘When Roland DG approached us with the offer to makeover spaces in our hospital, we couldn’t have said ‘yes’ faster! Bringing colour and light into the lives of unwell children will make such a difference in what can be dark times.’

It is suggested that individuals spend 80-90% of their time indoors where pollutant levels are said to be higher than those found outside, with this time heightened for those spending time in hospital. This is a situation Roland DG has aimed to address with its TrueVis AP-640. The machine is a water-based resin/latex printer, suitable for indoor applications in sensitive environments such as hospitals and schools. The TrueVis resin inks are Greenguard Gold certified, meaning they meet standards of low chemical emissions. 

The printer also has a concentrated colour pigmentation to allow heavier saturation than conventional resin inks for impact on applications including paper, fabric, canvas, wallpaper, non-PVC materials. Additionally, the True Rich Colour preset is described to take advantage of the high colour saturation of new TrueVis Ink to maximise vibrancy. 

Stephen Davis, marketing director EMEA and managing director for UK and Ireland commented, ‘We understand the importance of colour for children, particularly in aiding those who are unwell or recovering, and we wanted to help make a difference in any way we could. We’re always looking for new opportunities to implement our technology to create real impact, so to be able to give to such a worthwhile cause has been incredibly rewarding.’

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Professional skateboarder Louisa Menke and editor of female and LGBTQ+ skate platform Dolores Magazine Raisa Abal, each created bespoke deck designs to symbolise what skateboarding means to them, alongside documenting their journeys to becoming female skaters as part of a video series.

Taking their personalised artwork including hand painted acrylic canvases and graphic collage art, the print company created the bespoke, one-of-a-kind skateboards that celebrate their creative expression and individuality. The TrueVIS VG3-640 is aimed at sign, graphics and personalisation markets and can be used for a wide range of applications from signage and banners to vehicle graphics, stickers, and labels.

Stephen Davis, EMEA marketing director at Roland DG, said, ‘Skateboarding goes far beyond sport; it has its own culture and community that celebrates creativity, expression and individuality. The TrueVIS VG3-640 is the third generation of the TrueVIS, built upon tried and tested technology, but advanced to enhance print precision.’

Raisa Abal, editor of female and LGBTQ+ skate platform Dolores Magazine said, ‘Working on this campaign has given me the opportunity to chase one of the dreams that every skateboarder in the world has – to design their own board graphic. I wanted to create a design that combined all of the things that matter most to me in my life: family, nature, sisterhood, activism, passion, photography, DIY works, my past, my present, and of course, skateboarding.’

Professional skateboarder Louisa Menke added, ‘When Roland DG asked me to be part of this campaign, I started thinking about what skateboarding means to me and suddenly an ear appeared in my mind. It’s not easy to really listen – for example to how I truly feel, what I really want, what I’m afraid of and why. There’s lots of noise, distractions and many layers but if I keep listening, I’ll keep hearing new things. This was my creative inspiration for my board design with Roland DG. When I’m skateboarding, I’m listening. And when I truly listen, magic happens.’

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In celebration of the start of the new football season, the ‘92 Club’ shirt has been designed by concept kit designer Andy Slater and features a combination of over 100 different colours from each team.

Developed specifically for dye-sublimation transfer printing, the Texart XT-640 features 7pl droplet technology with 4- or 8-colour printing for a wide colour gamut and smooth colour gradients.

The Texart XT-640 is aimed at sportswear apparel and accessories print houses and soft signage manufacturers looking to create high-volume sportswear, fashion, soft signage, interior decoration and promotional merchandise.

Stephen Davis, EMEA marketing director at Roland DG said, ‘Launched in time for the highly anticipated 22/23 season and during a very memorable year for football, it is the perfect way to highlight the capabilities of the Texart XT-640, which is specifically designed to provide super quality with vibrant colour technology for sportswear, sports apparel and sport accessory manufacturers. The XT-640’s advanced print control technology produces stunning sharp image quality and brilliant vivid colour. For maximum production, it delivers fine detail and superb contrast at impressive print speeds.’

Mr Slater, born and based in Manchester, has amassed over 45,000 social media followers and is known for his creativity when it comes to creating sports apparel. He has previously worked with top UK brands and organisations such as BBC Sport and PlayStation, creating concept kits ahead of sporting events and tournaments.

Mr Slater said, ‘I was incredibly excited to be asked to work on such a creative project with Roland DG to showcase the company’s vast printing colour capabilities. The design is inspired by a style I’ve adapted over time, taking iconic vintage shirts, and putting a modern twist on them.’

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The dress is designed to act as a medium to showcase the benefits of XT-640S-F for short-run garment printing for the ‘fashion drop’ generation. It highlights the white ink and saturated colour capabilities of the new machine, alongside text which describes its benefits and attributes.

The dress, which ‘pays homage to the world of fashion design’, was produced between two fashion ‘capitals’ – designed and sewn in London and printed using a Roland Texart XT-640S-F in Milan.

Stephen Davis, EMEA marketing director at Roland DG, commented, ‘We were so excited to immerse ourselves in the world of fashion design to create this one-of-a-kind dress which shows off the capabilities of the Texart XT-640S-F. We worked with our Italian textile customers to design the machine, purpose-built for the ‘fashion drop’ generation, so it only felt right to continue our collaboration with industry creatives to bring the ‘dress release’ to life.

‘We hugely enjoyed working with talented designers, seamstresses, photographers and models to help turn our vision into reality, and we hope our customers feel inspired to make their own unique garments as a result.’

The company collaborated with designer Fabia Goff, who has worked with UK brands such as John Lewis and Laura Ashley, to create the pattern. It incorporates textual elements of a press release into a design inspired by both current trends and Japanese art and culture to celebrate Roland DG’s Japanese heritage.

Ms Goff commented, ‘The brief from Roland to ‘show off’ the printer’s capabilities through the pattern design and creation of a garment was not only fascinating but a career first for me. I specialise in lino printing, a traditional hand-carving technique similar to woodcut. Combined with my love of watercolour and graphic design I have developed towards pattern design in my career as a product designer, and this brief allowed me to bring these two passions together.

‘Right from the start of the project I wanted the pattern to be on trend, incorporating the bright colours we will be seeing on catwalks throughout 2022. Pantone’s ‘Very Peri’ Lilac was my chosen feature colour and inspired my floral focus. The contrasting white against the pattern and colour blocks creates focus on the text, highlighting the colour capabilities of the printer. It was important to reference Roland DG’s Japanese roots within the pattern, which is why I chose lilies and gingko leaves as the central motifs and used free-flowing brush strokes. ‘Press release’ quotes were placed to echo newspaper-like headlines.’

The XT-640S-F is aimed at apparel print houses and garment manufacturers, and suits fashion houses looking to build prototype versions of a clothing item or create a one-off piece for a show.

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While the sites in Bristol, Barcelona and Copenhagen had to close in early 2020 because of the pandemic, Roland has used the time to upgrade them, using digital technology to enhance and showcase the company’s solutions and help customers choose.

Innovative RFID walls feature interactive tiles which help customers to understand more about the range of possible applications. An easy-to-navigate interface supports self-guided or assisted exploration of substrates, industries, technologies and printers; visitors can place the detachable tiles on RFID readers to view information on the chosen topic, including detailed descriptions and high-definition photos and videos of Roland DG offerings.

To provide the same interactive experience to customers digitally Roland also recently launched its virtual showroom. This presents 360-degree digital renderings of the company’s flagship products. An augmented reality tool allows viewing of virtual models as they would appear in the relevant customer space.

‘At Roland DG, we pride ourselves in putting our customers first, and tailoring our services to meet their individual needs,’ commented Stephen Davis, marketing director at Roland DG EMEA. ‘While we made it a priority to stay in contact with and support our customers remotely throughout the pandemic, we understand that for many of our potential buyers, being able to experience our machines in-person and receive face to face advice is important. As a result, we were determined not only to reopen our showrooms, but to improve them.

‘At the same time, we recognise that many print businesses have made the leap to digital during the pandemic: we’re proud to offer our virtual showroom to customers who cannot reach our physical spaces or simply prefer a digital experience, for the same immersive insights into our broad range of offerings.’

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The new machine complements the existing five-colour BN-20 model and is said by Roland to be suitable for producing a range of work from stickers and labels to heat transfer garments. It uses eco-solvent inks in 220ml cartridges to offer standard CMYK only on media between 150 and 515mm (maximum print/cut width of 480mm) on rolls weighing up to 6kg.

The VersaStudio BN-20A measures just over a metre wide by 582mm deep and 293mm tall and can print at up to 1440dpi while the built-in cutter runs at up to 150mm/sec. It comes with Roland’s VersaWorks 6 Rip software which Roland says yields vivid, high-definition image quality, smooth gradations and accurate colour reproduction.

‘At Roland DG, we know how important it is to our customers that our machines are as value-packed as possible,’ commented Stephen Davis, marketing director at Roland DG EMEA. ‘The BN-20A epitomises value for money, delivering high quality, all-round printing and cutting solutions in one compact device, and we’re excited to demonstrate the brand-new solution at Fespa this year.’

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The study, which involved 250 print shops spread across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, found that three quarters of respondents had printed onto plastic in that past. But more than this, over half had UV printed onto wood (64%), PVC (62%) and metal (54%). 

These four materials were also the ‘biggest growers’ in 2020 and the most frequent used materials. In terms of growth,  just under a fifth (18%) of those polled reported an increase in demand for PVC, 17% for plastic, 14% for wood and 9% for metal. When it came to frequency of use two thirds of those polled said they print onto plastic at least once a week, followed by PVC (40%), metal (26%) and wood (25%).

‘We conducted this study to understand how UV is changing the landscape and opening up a new group of materials for printing and personalisation,’ explained Stephen Davis, EMEA marketing director at Roland DG. ‘The data suggests that businesses embracing UV technology as part of their overall product offering are expecting a steady increase in commercial opportunities as a result.’

The study also revealed a perhaps surprisingly high demand for a number of other more unorthodox materials, with over a quarter (28%) of those polled printing on glass at least once a month, almost as many onto faux Leather or leatherette (24%), just under one in five onto ceramics (17%) and 15% onto slate. Some of the most unusual items that UV printers reported using included a pair of wooden maracas, an aluminium radiator and thermometers made of both glass and wax.

Even the least popular materials from the survey still demonstrated the flexibility of UV printing, with 1% of respondents using the process to print on concrete and 6% printing onto either cork or silicone.

‘UV printing is enabling businesses everywhere to leverage a diverse range of materials, including weird and wonderful items,’ Mr David concluded. ‘Making an investment in a UV printer opens up a new world of potential possibilities for your customers and opportunities for you and your team to experiment and innovate.’

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The company’s experts are set to highlight some of the the latest innovations in this part of the industry, as well as Roland’s own solutions, championing the flourishing textile personalisation market.

Among the solutions under the spotlight at the virtual event, which will take place on 9 and 10 June, will be Roland’s Texart XT-640S DTG and the streamlined ZT-1900, the company’s most productive textile printer to date.

Shown as a concept at Fespa 2019 and shipping since March 2020, the XT-640S DTG is described as an affordable option for printing multiple garments at once. It uses a sliding baseplate and jig design to print durable, full-colour designs directly onto a wide range of garments of different sizes to allow maximum versatility and customisation, especially on short production runs. The ZT-1900 dye-sublimation printer was announced in September 2020 as a ‘workhorse’ dye sublimation transfer printer capable of 150sqm/hr in production mode..

The company will also be showcasing PersBiz, a digital web shop that supports selling online with personalisation options for consumers, tapping into the growing personalisation market, which is predicted to be worth £1 billion by the end of 2021.

‘We have been working flat-out over the past year to provide the highest quality and most cost-effective solutions for Roland DG users, keeping up with the latest industry trends and requirements,’ said marketing director Stephen Davis. ‘We are proud and excited to showcase some of our most innovative technologies for the textile and personalisation sector at Fespa and demonstrate what can be achieved with our versatile machines.’

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