GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — June 18, 2019 — X-Rite Incorporated and Pantone LLC, global leaders in color science and technology, announce the new i1Pro 3 Plus, a spectral color measurement solution specifically designed for imaging, print, and textile professionals who need advanced calibration and color profiling capabilities to support today’s wide-format and industrial printing applications. The i1Pro 3 Plus has been optimized for digital printing on a range of materials and surfaces, including ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood, vinyl, plastics, thin films, cardboard, paper, and more. Commercial, wide-format, grand-format, packaging, and industrial printers can now create ICC profiles for almost any substrate and calibrate print production devices for the highest level of color accuracy.

As more industries turn to digital printing, customers are putting greater emphasis on achieving accurate and repeatable color. To do this, production print equipment needs to be linearized and profiled for each substrate in order to monitor color output. Current profiling solutions are limited in their ability to measure textured, rough, or uneven surfaces and cannot accommodate various material thicknesses. Many devices do not have the resolution required to ensure the highest color quality when printing detailed patterns, metallic effects, or photography images. This leads to costly color errors and rework which impacts a printer’s bottom line.

“The i1Pro 3 Plus builds on the success of the i1 Family and removes the variability to create accurate ICC profiles on the widest range of materials,” said Ray Cheydleur, Printing and Imaging Product Portfolio Manager, X-Rite. “Wide- and grand-format users and industrial material printers will see immediate value by incorporating the affordable i1Pro 3 Plus into their prepress and production workflows, resulting in more accurate and repeatable color, a reduction of waste, and an increased return on investment.”

A long-term X-Rite partner, EFI (Electronics For Imaging), also sees the great potential of this latest i1 Family member. “We are delighted to support X-Rite’s newly announced i1Pro 3 Plus measurement device within our latest Fiery technologies at ITMA 2019. Due to the nature of digital textile production, this large-aperture device is an excellent fit with our latest single pass EFI BOLT high-speed textile printer. For both color management and quality control, this device will allow our customers to produce accurate color much more easily,” said John Henze, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, EFI Fiery.

New in the i1Pro 3 Plus:

• Larger aperture of 8mm to support new materials and substrates used in digital printing applications.
• New polarization (measurement condition M3) filter that reduces specular highlights and shadows on fabrics and ceramics. It provides “better blacks” and richer colors on rough surfaces and glossy medias, like canvas prints and fine art photo papers.
• Simultaneously measure M0, M1 and M2 in a single pass to account for optical brighteners so prepress and print operators can quickly predict how colors printed on optically brightened substrates will look under different lighting conditions.
• Longer ruler for measuring the wider charts used in grand-format printing. The ruler includes an ISO-compliant white backer and removable magnetic strips on the top and sides for holding samples in place while measuring.
• New LED illuminant that improves device reliability. The i1Pro 3 Plus allows for four measurement conditions (ISO 13655 M0; M1: D50; M2: UV Excluded, M3 Polarized).
• Now supports transmission scanning for backlit film and materials used in signage.
• Measures high brightness, up to 5K NITs for ultra-bright displays.

“We are used to seeing bumpy shadow measurements from unpolarized devices on glossy textured medias like canvas. With the new polarization feature in the i1Pro 3 Plus, our M3 measurements are dramatically smoother in the shadows – perfect in fact,” commented Scott Martin, Founder, Onsight, a leading workflow consultant for print, prepress, design and photography.

New X-Rite iO Table

In addition, X-Rite announces a new i1iO Automated Scanning Table that supports the i1Pro 3 Plus. This hands-free test chart reader offers automated color profiling on a variety of substrates with reduced risk of color measurement errors. It is ideal for photographers, designers, and printers who want to speed up and automate the measurement process and eliminate manual strip reading.

The new i1iO table can be used with a variety of industrial materials including textiles, ceramics, corrugated, etc. and supports materials up to 33mm thick, with the optional z-axis spacer. It also supports transparencies and backlit materials.

See the i1Pro 3 Plus at ITMA and EskoWorld

At ITMA, June 20 – 26 in Barcelona, Spain, X-Rite and Pantone will demonstrate the i1Pro 3 Plus in Hall UL, Stand C109.  X-Rite will also be showcasing the i1Pro 3 Plus at EskoWorld, June 24 – 26 in Nashville, TN.

The i1Pro 3 Plus and the i1iO table will be available in late July 2019.

Posted June 18, 2019

Source: X-Rite Incorporated

BURGDORF, Switzerland — June 18, 2019 — Reliable odor-management for cotton textiles using natural mint with the new Sanitized® Mintactiv additive. Highly washproof, effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, metal-free, applied without binders and made from the sustainable, renewable natural resource peppermint: This new development from SANITIZED AG meets the requirements of conscientious textile manufacturers and their brands with sustainability goals.

The antimicrobial treatment of textiles is an aspect of comfort, which textile producers and brands that support sustainability also want to offer their customers. The hygiene management experts from SANITIZED AG are launching a new additive, which meets this requirement in full.

Natural biocidal effect of peppermint

The base substance is farmed in plantations: natural peppermint (Mentha piperita). It contains menthol, an essential oil with an antimicrobial effect. It is precisely this natural biocidal effect which is the basis for Sanitized® Mintactiv. The peppermint oil is then refined for use in the textile industry, leaving it metal-free and 100 % natural.

Applied without binders and washproof

Sanitized® Mintactiv is active against a variety of both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The new, metal-free product can be applied in combination with other textile effects in both extraction and padding processes. A binder is not required.

Cotton textiles such as underwear, t-shirts and outerwear, as well as bed linen and towels are suitable for treatment with Sanitized® Mintactiv. The odor-free wearing comfort, which is appreciated not only for functional textiles, can withstand up to 50 household washes.

Transparency for the end consumer

The Sanitized® Ingredient Brand can communicate the differentiating competitive advantage to the consumers.

“Ecologically concerned textile manufacturers and consumers have finally found a natural, safe and reliable odor-management system for cotton textiles in Sanitized® Mintactiv,” explains Urs Zihlmann, Product Manager at SANITIZED AG.

SANITIZED AG also supports Sanitized® Mintactiv users in the production process, as well as with microbiological examinations of the treated end products.

Posted June 18, 2019

Source: SANITIZED AG

TOKYO — June 13, 2019 — Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”) has opened a new textile solutions center called “TSC Asia” at its Fujimi Plant in Nagano prefecture. Designed to accelerate the global expansion of the digital textile printing business, TSC Asia is equipped to handle every step in the textile printing process, including textile pre- and post-treatment.

Like the Epson Group’s Textile Solutions Center operating in Como, Italy, since 2014, TSC Asia supports digital textile printing by conducting research and development and by using actual textile printers to produce samples for customers in Japan and throughout Asia.

Epson was among the first inkjet printer manufacturers to put its inkjet technology to use in digital textile printing. And, joined by its Italian subsidiaries For.Tex S.r.l. and Fratelli Robustelli S.r.l., Epson has been researching and developing digital textile printing as well as producing the Monna Lisa series of inkjet digital textile printers.

Epson is currently strengthening its production and sales organizations to position it to provide products and services globally from both Japan and Italy. Epson started producing some models in the Monna Lisa series in 2018 at its Hirooka Plant in Nagano prefecture, Japan. The company will be expanding its prototyping and volume production operations for large industrial printers, including the Monna Lisa series, with the completion of a new facility in Hirooka, Innovation Center Building B, at the end of March 2020. In 2019, Epson will begin selling these products through its global sales network, which will also offer enhanced customer proposals and broader support.

TSC Asia opened prior to the completion of Building B in order to respond to growing demand from Asia.

“I am pleased that we can now fully support the introduction and use of digital textile printing by an even larger audience thanks to the establishment of TSC Asia,” said Koichi Kubota, Representative Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Seiko Epson’s Printing Solutions Operations Division. “We will contribute to the development of digitization in the textile field with Epson’s inkjet technology and will make Epson indispensable for the textile world.”

Commercial and industrial printing, including digital textile printing, are one of the strategic areas of focus cited in the company’s long-term corporate vision, Epson 25. Epson will broaden the world of digital printing in these areas, further accelerating innovation with inkjet technology.

Profile of TSC Asia:

• Name:  TSC Asia
• Opening date:  June 2019
• Total floor space:  Approx. 1,000 m²
• Investment:  Approx. 300 million yen

Profile of the Fujimi Plant:

• Address:  281 Fujimi, Fujimi-machi, Suwa-gun, Nagano prefecture, Japan 399-0293
• Operations:  Semiconductor operations, sensing devices operations, research & development, production technology development
• Lot size:   247,143 m²
• Start of operations:  1980

Posted June 17, 2019

Source: Seiko Epson Corporation