Interview with Peter Hollanders

In 1992, I was the first to develop digital textile printing for flags. This has grown into the company we are today, where we design and manufacture printers for the textile industry: naturally in the signs and banner sector, but also in fashion, home decoration, military camouflage, technical textiles, and narrow fabrics.

I have always been convinced that sustainability and the lowest possible production costs must go hand in hand. That is why I consistently aim for the minimal use of raw materials, energy and resources, whilst minimising waste, using processes that are as robust as possible. This is reflected in our machines, that have an extremely long service life and, with minimal downtime and breakdowns, are suitable for virtually unmanned production.

On the one hand, it is a mission to make the world a slightly better place for future generations; on the other, it is a strictly business-focused approach aimed at the shortest ROI and lowest operational costs.

I regard the Netherlands as part of Europe, where the focus is on sustainability. Our challenges in the areas of printing, dyeing and colouring can be put simply: there is no water, energy is unaffordable and there is a shortage of skilled workers. By making progress on all these fronts, we are encouraging the return of the textile industry to Europe.

Our current ambition is that European flatbed screen printers will adopt our digital printer. We maintain the quality of screen printing – our printers are the only ones that can do this – and we offer all the benefits of digital printing (print on demand, perfect first time, no waste, no steaming, no washing, no setup or running-in, no excess mixed ink paste, no screen making, no screen cleaning, no screen storage; it’s a whole list of benefits).

Our digital printers match the production capacity of a flatbed screen printing line (up to 600 m2/h real production speed!). And all this without water, without steaming, without washing, with minimal energy consumption and no operators.

In the longer term, we dream of rolling out this solution across other textile sectors.

The textile industry accounts for 10% of the global carbon footprint. There is a race to the bottom in terms of costs, with the damage to people and the environment being passed on to the poorest countries and future generations. Now, there is growing awareness and European legislation. This finally makes it possible to scale up an alternative based on responsible and local textile production. I am absolutely delighted that this is now happening.

Sure! Here we go:

Textile production in Europe IS POSSIBLE!

Our solutions for digital printing and dyeing:

1. no water for steaming of washing
2. up to 75% lower energy consumption 
3. low in craftsmanship on the machine

We always begin with a Return on Investment calculation that is grounded in decades of data from our installed base.

We compose each system from proven modules, ensuring a well-balanced solution. 

This all satisfies to the conditions and and needs for European textile manufacturing.