ImagesMagUK_Digital_Edition_March_2018

DIGITAL PRINTING www.images-magazine.com 84 images MARCH 2018 UK Printwear: Brother GTX, from MHM Direct GB Mark Stanhope, director Tell us a bit about your business We started off as a small print / embroidery shop in Stamford in 2010, selling to schools and clubs and bespoke items. We transitioned to sell via Amazon and became involved with licenced products and larger contracts. Currently, we produce licenced products for Baywatch, Danger Mouse, Royal Air Force, Red Arrows and, more recently, Top Gun. What digital printing system do you use? We started our DTG printing with a Brother GT541 – quite a relic now, but still printing very well. We bought a pair of GT-381s, which we operated for two years without any issues; we upgraded these two for a pair of the new Brother GTXs in February this year. Why did you choose your current system and what do you think are its main advantages? The advantages of the new Brother GTX are speed and quality, also the overall feel of the garments after pretreating is much better. The maintenance needed on the GT-381s was a little time-consuming. We used to clean them every week, on one afternoon; we would take one out of production to clean the white tubes, then swap to the other one the next day. It was a little costly in ink and fluids and time; however, the GTX minimises maintenance and we have saved around six-man-hours a week in maintenance with the two new machines. The addition of the colour screen to see and reprint mages in the history/memory is also a great help. Is there anything you’d like to see in an upgrade or don’t particularly like about it? The GTX ticks all the boxes for us. We keep it simple by mainly printing flat cotton garments, T shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts... That’s what it does best. We have tried hats, bags and shoes, but that’s not the market we are in. We still print a few one-offs, but generally we run the machines all day on a wide variety of work from fives to 50s. I would have preferred it to be able to print the previous RIP files from the 381 as that would have made moving over much quicker, but when re-producing the artwork at 1,200dpi quality, it was worth the extra work. What’s it like to use? Converting from the GT-381 to the GTX was extremely easy. It’s now a plug- and-play style machine. I think it can be operated with minimal training. What other machines do you have and do you use any of them in combination with your digital printing system? We have a full screen printing set up with six carousels and one large automatic and have been looking to integrate DTG onto the screen printing. Our Mimaki CJV150 Print/Cut provides a cost effective large print and also offers bright vibrant colours onto garments. We use a little flock with our DTG prints to give some designs a 3D effect. What would be your advice to others thinking of buying a digital printing system? Do your research, there are plenty of good secondhand DTGs on the market. I know that my Brother GT-381s were printing as good as new after two years, so don’t be put off looking at these. Pretreatment is often overlooked; it adds quite a cost to the garment production, and you need to understand the delivery/application system you intend to use. We have a Schulze Pretreatmaker, which we wouldn’t do without. Hand rolling or spraying is messy and time-consuming. www.ukprintwear.co.uk Mark Stanhope with his new Brother GTX We have saved around six man-hours a week in maintenance