The Queensland T-Shirt Company (QTCo)`, a high-volume manufacturer of digital direct-to-garment (DTG) printed apparel, has installed an additional two Kornit Avalanche HD6 systems at its Brisbane headquarters after a surge in on-demand production.
The move follows QTCo’s increased order volumes over recent months, which management attributes to the company’s rapid delivery times and increased web-driven business from COVID-related precautions and regulations.
Investing in Kornit Digital technology has allowed the business to guarantee customised pieces are shipped within 48 hours, making small orders profitable, says QTCo managing director Darren Fraser.
“We could see market opportunity in short run, on-demand printing—run lengths were consistently coming, and customers wanted their jobs in less time. The Kornit systems had the industrial scale we believed we needed to make the switch to digital a success. The move to digital has been tremendous for us—Kornit provides the quality, consistency, and productivity we need.”
Established 25 years ago, QTCo provides an array of DTG, screen printing, and sublimation services for apparel, headwear, bags, drinkwear and promotional products, with clients including major apparel brands, independent e-tailers, and private consumers.
Fraser says the advent of COVID accelerated consumer shifts towards online purchasing, and Kornit’s eco-friendly platform for on-demand DTG fulfilment is well-suited to the new market landscape.
“We are engaging with new customers every day who are perhaps unable or unwilling to go to a brick-and-mortar store,” he says. “When they discover the benefits of online shopping—the personalisation, the choice, the ease—they come back for more. The customer experience we provide is excellent.”
QTCo supplemented its Kornit DTG systems with web-based design and POS platforms, which streamline the end-to-end process.
“The growth of e-commerce in 2020 alone has been clear, decisive, and unforgiving to manufacturers unprepared for production on demand, and married to slow, traditional production cycles dependent on vulnerable supply chains,” says Omer Kulka, Kornit Digital CMO. “As QTCo and countless other satisfied Kornit customers continue to demonstrate, being able to provide retail-quality, responsibly-made apparel quickly, in any quantity, and without design limitations is a solid business plan for success and growth, regardless of unforeseen headwinds.”
According to Statista, e-commerce is expected to account for more than US$27 billion in revenues in Australia this year, a year-over-year increase of more than 22%. With more than US$7 billion of this total, fashion constitutes the largest segment of this market, and these trends have long driven adoption of on-demand production technologies.
Israel-based Kornit Digital develops, manufactures and markets industrial digital printing technologies for the garment, apparel and textile industries, including digital printing systems, inks, consumables and software.
