The Big Interview
doing this in-house for years! Why keep something to ourselves when we can help others reap the benefits of direct to paper? Why would a decorator spend thousands on hardware and consumables to produce digitally printed products themselves, when they can buy these beautifully soft transfers from us? All someone needs is a heat press and away they go. We have made the investment and committed to ongoing R&D so that our customers don’t have to,” says Clive.
Not only does tranSMART save decorators from initial outlay costs, such as pricey printers and costly consumables, but it also offers other benefits that DTF and DTG printers don’t. The direct to paper technology means that the waste product is FSC approved paper and not a polyester film, so can be fully recycled after use, making it an incredibly sustainable product. The quicker press time reduces energy consumption and increases efficiency, so ultimately makes the unit price more cost effective. It also takes away the headache of machine maintenance and pre-treatment worries that come with direct to garment printing, and tedious weeding that comes with other transfers.
tranSMART also offers great flexibility. Due to customer demand, the transfers can also be fire retardant and chlorine resistant, so are suitable for industrial working environments and swimwear. They can also be used on a huge variety of products, from garments to umbrellas to notepads. Compared to traditional digital transfers which have a hard and plasticky reputation, tranSMART prints have an incredible soft feel and almost feel a part of the garment. “The quality of the transfers has got better and better over time as we perfected the process,” explains Clive. “Now we carry out around £3 million worth of business to customers on an annual basis just with tranSMART alone.” And with a volume print price as little as 40p based on an A6 size, it is easy to see why tranSMART is fast becoming the smart choice for decorators. Visitors to Printwear & Promotion LIVE! in April were among the first in the UK to hear about tranSMART. The DTB team decided to exhibit to see if there was a place for tranSMART among the many options available to decorators and they could not have been happier with the response.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
the expert at what we do and that means educating our customers.”
The detail produced by tranSMART prints is incredible
“We had over 370 enquiries from visitors, many of which have since turned into orders,” says Clive. “The feedback we have received from customers about the product is 10s across the board.”
Education is key
For DTB it’s not just a case of selling and marketing a great product, but educating their customers along the way. “We are always one step removed from the coal face and don’t always deal with the end-user of the product,” explains Clive. “We want to become
The ultimate plan is to open an education centre for distributors to visit to learn more about what DTB does and what exactly garment decoration entails. With ‘DTB Connected’, as the centre will be known, the aim will be to cut back on unnecessary questions and communication between DTB, their customers and their customers’ clients, as the customer will already have the answer to their clients’ questions and will be able to instruct DTB with exact requirements. Garment suppliers and clothing experts among others will be invited along to share their expertise with customers. “We see the ‘DTB Connected’ education centre as a key step in helping us print and embroider,” says Clive. In a nutshell, frictionless business, integration and alignment from IT to human interface. A full website with an e-commerce option and full instructional videos is currently under development and should be ready in September, all with the aim of rolling tranSMART out to a wider audience. And with account manager Stuart Blair on hand to guide customers and assist with any queries, DTB is in a prime position to bring tranSMART to the masses. Direct to film has helped bridge the gap between direct to garment printing and traditional transfers, but tranSMART and direct to paper could be the missing component that you need in your business.
The prints can be applied to many products, including umbrellas August 2022 | 21 |
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