Digital Pigment Printing: Benefits, Suitable Fabrics, Comparison with Dye Ink Printing (2024)

As consumers become more conscious of environmental impact and with the efficiency and cost benefits of digital pigment printing, the use of pigment inks is expected to rise. It is projected that by 2026, the global market for pigment inks will grow at a steady rate of 9% annually.

What is Digital Pigment Printing?

According to the type of ink used, digital textile printing can be divided into:

● Digital Pigment Printing

● Digital Reactive Dye Printing

● Digital Acid Dye Printing

● Digital Disperse Dye Sublimation Printing

● High-Temperature Disperse Dye Printing

Digital pigment printing involves using inkjet textile printers to apply pigment inks to fabric surfaces, including garments such as T-shirts and sweaters, as well as fabric rolls.

Pigment inks consist of tiny pigment particles suspended in a liquid carrier. Unlike reactive dye printing, where the ink penetrates the fibers, pigment inks stay on the fabric's surface, keeping the underlying fibers, usually white, in their natural state.

Pigment printing produces vivid and highly saturated colors. After heat curing, the prints have excellent colorfastness and resistance to friction and washing.

Advantages of Digital Pigment Printing

Currently, many garment and fabric manufacturers are now shifting from reactive dye printing to pigment printing. Why the change? Digital pigment printing offers several unique advantages, including:

● Versatility: Compatible with a wide range of fabrics, such as cotton, polyester, and blends.

● Sharp, Vibrant and Durable Prints: Produces clear and vivid patterns that sit on the fabric's surface, maintaining color accuracy, and more resistant to UV light.

● Simplified Process: Eliminates the need for cumbersome post-processing procedures such as steaming and washing, saving time and effort and improving efficiency.

● Environmental Friendliness: Uses water-based inks and requires less water and energy, reducing environmental impact.

What Fabrics Can Pigment Inks Print?

Textile pigment printing is highly adaptable, working great on fabrics like cotton, linen, polyester, blends, and silk.

If your fabric printer is set up with pigment ink, you can easily print vibrant and clear designs on various fabrics without frequently changing inks, efficiently handling different printing needs.

In the apparel industry, cotton remains the most popular fabric for printing. Many garment manufacturers in Southeast Asia use the HPRT DA066M Hybrid Direct to Garment Printer to create personalized patterns on cotton T-shirts, polo shirts, and sweatshirts using textile pigment ink.

In contrast, dye-based inks are usually tailored for specific fabric types. For example, reactive dyes are more suited for natural fibers like cotton, linen, and viscose, while acid dyes are ideal for nylon and protein fibers like silk and wool.

As blended fabrics gain popularity in the apparel industry, the advantages of pigment printing become even more pronounced. Blended fabrics combine the benefits of different fibers, offering comfort, breathability, and elasticity, but their complexity poses challenges for current printing techniques.

While digital reactive dye printing and dye-sub printing processes are better suited for pure cotton or polyester fabrics, pigment printing technology can flexibly handle various blended fabrics, providing an efficient solution for garment manufacturers. This adaptability has significantly expanded the market applications of digital pigment printing.

How Digital Pigment Printing Simplifies the Process and Reduces Costs

Compared to traditional screen printing, digital textile printing significantly reduces the preparation steps, eliminating the need for time-consuming screen creation.

And pigment ink printing on fabrics takes it a step further by simplifying the complex post-processing procedures, making the entire printing process more streamlined and efficient.

For example, in reactive printing, the post-processing involves steaming to form a strong covalent bond between the dye and the fibers, followed by multiple washings to remove residues, ensuring a soft hand feel and stable colors, and finally drying to set the colors.

In contrast, digital pigment printing typically requires only heating treatment to fix the colors, with fewer process steps, resulting in faster turnaround times and shorter delivery schedules.

Moreover, the equipment and machinery required for pigment printing are relatively minimal. Fabric manufacturers do not need to invest in steaming machines, washing machines, or other auxiliary equipment, significantly reducing capital expenditure.

The digital textile printer industry has lowered the entry barriers, enabling small and medium-sized fabric manufacturers to enter the market and seize new opportunities.

Why Is Pigment Printing More Environmentally Friendly?

The digital textile printing industry increasingly emphasizes environmental sustainability due to rising consumer awareness, stricter regulations, industry competition, technological advancements, and the push for sustainable development.

In digital textile printing, pigment printing is more environmentally friendly compared to reactive and acid printing, primarily in the following aspects:

● Low water consumption: Pigment printing does not require complex pre-treatment and post-treatment processes, especially steaming and multiple washings, significantly reducing water usage.

● Minimal chemical usage: Pigment inks typically only require simple heat pressing for color fixation, avoiding the need for extensive chemical treatments, thereby reducing environmental pollution.

● Lower energy consumption: The post-treatment in pigment printing mainly involves drying, a relatively simple process with lower energy demands.

With the continued rise in global energy costs, the outstanding energy efficiency of digital pigment printing machines will offer better returns on investment for companies.

What is the Difference Between Dye Printing and Pigment Printing?

Both pigment printing and dye printing can produce vivid patterns and colors on various fabrics, but they interact with the fabric in different ways.

Dye printing forms a strong chemical bond with the fibers, ensuring that the colors remain vibrant even after multiple washes and long-term use.

Pigment printing, however, stays on the surface of the fabric, and performs well in dry and wet rub tests, maintaining excellent colorfastness.

On the other hand, dye prints, especially those using reactive or acid dyes, tend to have lower resistance to UV light. Prolonged exposure to sunlight may cause the colors to fade.

Pigment inks generally offer better UV resistance. The ink components remain more stable under sunlight, making them less prone to fading. For fabrics or garments frequently exposed to outdoor conditions, digital pigment printing is a superior choice.

As technology advances and costs decrease, digital pigment printing is quickly gaining market share due to its simplified process and low entry barriers. In countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where the printed cotton garments and home textiles industry is prominent, digital pigment printing has become a cost-effective solution.

HPRT offers a wide range of digital pigment printing solutions, including direct-to-garment, roll-to-roll digital textile printing machines, and hybrid textile printing machines that combine online coating, wet-on-wet printing, and flat-screen printing.

Recommended products include:

● HPRT DA18FS HYBRID Digital Textile Printer with Integrated Flat Bed Screen and Online Sizing

● HPRT DA188S High-Speed Roll-to-Roll Digital Textile Printer

● HPRT DA067D High-Volume Direct-to-Garment Digital Printer

These digital fabric printers are widely used in domestic and Southeast Asian regions, mainly for printing on cotton and blended fabrics, producing precise, vibrant colors with stable printing effects. Contact us for more product details and application cases.

How Long Do Pigment Inks Last?

Generally, pigment inks have excellent lightfastness and wash resistance, particularly in UV protection.

Currently, pigment printing on cotton and blended fabrics meets industrial application standards, but there is still room for improvement compared to traditional dyes, especially in terms of repeated washing and fade resistance.

Is Pigment Ink Cheaper?

In the digital printing field, pigment inks are typically more expensive than dye inks. This is because pigment inks contain solid particles that require more complex formulations to ensure stable performance and accurate color reproduction.

Additionally, pigment inks offer better durability and environmental benefits, contributing to their higher cost.

Amid fierce market competition, pigment ink manufacturers are increasingly focusing on cost-effectiveness by optimizing formulations and production processes to reduce costs and promoting large-scale production to improve efficiency, thereby enhancing the market competitiveness of pigment inks.

Currently, pigment ink manufacturers worldwide are continuously improving the performance of pigment inks, including enhancing lightfastness, water resistance, and abrasion resistance to meet the demands of high-usage products, and developing inks with higher color saturation and wider color gamuts to improve printing effects.

Digital pigment printing is an innovative, versatile, and eco-friendly solution for the modern textile industry.

As digital pigment printing technology continues to evolve, digital printing machine manufacturers like HPRT are pushing the boundaries of inkjet printing on textiles and garments, refining process techniques, and advancing color technology. We believe that digital pigment printing will lead to even more innovations and breakthroughs in the future.