California Apparel News

As part of the FESPA Innovations and Trends series of events, Kornit Digital announced its new MAX Technology for on-demand fashion and apparel production.

“The MAX brings the highest level of retail technology, the highest level of retail quality, the highest level of productivity for sustainability and enables our customers to do a wide range of applications that we’ve never been capable of before,” said Kornit Digital CEO Ronen Samuel during a press conference.

Kornit Digital, a self-described “worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology,” described the MAX Technology as being established on pillars of technological building blocks. These blocks have been developed over the years, then proven on other levels of Kornit Digital’s business and are now being integrated with one another to create MAX Technology.

“Everything is in one machine, everything is in one shot—really breaking all limits of this technology and helping customers do more with this amazing technology,” said Samuel.

The MAX Technology relies on six main pillars: high-quality results, durability, productivity, cost-effectiveness, new applications and sustainability.

As consumers increasingly expect the same results in-store and online, quality was previously sacrificed for faster results, but not with the new MAX Technology, which has also helped with the durability of pieces. Productivity was described by Kornit Digital CMO Omer Kulka as “boutique quality in high-industrial design at a high-industrial pace.”

With the advent of the company’s increase in technology, Kulka said costs have naturally gone down for textiles and production. And one of the most important aspects was the MAX Technology helping to reduce waste.

“Digital is the only way to produce sustainably on textiles,” Samuel said. “Textiles are not very sustainable doing it on analog.”

The MAX Technology is used with the Kornit Atlas Max, a new DTG production system and the first product to use the technology. The Atlas Max is described as a “carbon-neutral, industrial-scale” system, providing “unsurpassed retail quality, exceptional color-matching capabilities and a wide, vivid color gamut with exceptional durability.”

One of MAX Technology’s biggest features is delivering 3D capabilities for high-density embellishments in a single process and without waste. The technology can simulate embroidery, screen and vinyl, and heat transfer.

Kornit also introduced ActiveLoad Automation, which reduces time when loading and handling textiles. Overall, ActiveLoad Automation helps speed up production and reduce errors. Samuel detailed how e-commerce began to boom over the last decade, especially after COVID-19 slowed down retail. He detailed how e-commerce grew at the same rate during the first three months of the pandemic as it had in the last 10 years.

“There’s a growing realization and acceptance that on-demand production is the answer to meeting the demands of today’s consumer,” Samuel said. “Kornit’s MAX Technology defines the future of on-demand, sustainable textile production, and the future is here now. MAX offers a rare sustainable symbiosis—more creativity, less waste. I am excited to experience what’s possible once the collective brilliance of our industry begins to create digitally, without limits. A world of opportunity awaits us.”

During the press event, Kulka said the plan in the future is to bring MAX Technology to other markets such as sports, athleisure, home décor and more.

“Kornit innovation arrives at just the right moment to match supply to demand—demand that requires freedom of design for self-expression, quality and sustainable practices and supply that expands on-demand capabilities enabling the direct-to-consumer vision,” Kulka said.

Kornit Digital was founded in 2002 and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company markets, manufactures and develops digital-printing technologies.