• DTG offers a versatile safeguard against vulnerability. If community organizations, school activities, large-scale events, and sports constituted your “bread and butter” business, shutdowns probably hurt your shop. Demand for your services might’ve vanished, and if you printed pieces that you expected to sell, you might’ve been left holding worthless inventory. With DTG, you can print quickly and on demand, only producing pieces you’ve already sold. In many cases, these shops were able to repurpose their production floor to supply protective facial masks and fulfill other unforeseen needs. DTG means eliminating inventory risk and adapting to capitalize on new opportunities that arise.

• E-commerce is exploding, and digital production aligns perfectly with a digitized marketplace. We’ve long watched the “retail apocalypse” of traditional brick-and-mortar business models unfold, and a three-month period in 2020 doubled the volume of e-commerce for the preceding ten years. By 2024, two-thirds of apparel in the U.S. will be purchased online. DTG is fast, arguably the only production mechanism capable of delivering imprinted gear at the speed today’s buyers have come to expect. Furthermore, available workflow solutions offer end-to-end visibility and control, integrating POS, product catalogs, production floor, and shipping logistics to enable streamlined (cost-effective) operations and superior customer experience.

• DTG speed and efficiency means capitalizing on social listening. Today’s consumers express themselves via social media and online marketplaces. Fast fashion, micro-moments, and instant gratification are the norm. DTG means you can produce to meet demand resulting from events, causes, and thought leadership in real time. Recreate images and memes in photorealistic detail. With pushbutton readiness, any inspiration appearing on Etsy can appear on a garment; DTG fulfillers can fulfill that need for private creators as well as creative online entrepreneurs.

• Consumers demand responsible production practices, and DTG delivers. By eliminating inventory waste, removing harmful plastisol and byproducts from production, using a water-based pigment chemistry, and optimizing productivity relative to floor space, DTG answers the widespread demand for safe, sustainable, eco-friendly (low carbon footprint) practices, without sacrificing quality or profitability.

• DTG is a proven vehicle for profitability and growth. Supplementing screens with DTG makes every order profitable; screens handle the large, low-color jobs, while DTG handles complex designs in any color, in any quantity, on multiple fabrics, for a low and consistent cost to ensure profitability. When you can take every job, you can capitalize on every opportunity, on demand. Waste less, and every resource—labor, capital, and materials—is generating profit for your shop. I’ve visited countless print businesses that have grown at a staggering pace by supplementing e-commerce with DTG production, even in 2020.

For more information on Kornit’s ground-breaking MAX technology, click here.