Digital Textile Printer Revenue
Forecast To Reach $6 Billion by 2010

Digitally printing on fabric - whether rolls of fabric or finished garments - has been going on since the mid 1990s. However, the market has been slow to develop for both technical and market reasons. For the most part the technical issues have been solved and today the biggest issues are market issues such reaching new customers. I.T. Strategies divides digital textile printing into two primary segments based on printer configuration: roll-to-roll and direct-to-garment (DTG), flatbed printers designed and used for printing on textiles. Segmented this way the products produced on these printers fall into two primary areas: rolls of fabric (used for signage, furnishings and apparel applications) and finished garments (such as T-shirts).

I.T. Strategies estimates that in 2005, manufacturers' revenues (sales of hardware, media and ink) for digital textile printers was $1.9 billion. This is forecast to grow to almost $6 billion by 2010, a CAGR of 26%. In 2005, almost 90% of revenues were from roll-to-roll printers, driven by soft signage applications. However, over the forecast period, flatbed ink jet printers used for printing on finished garments (primarily T-shirts) are expected to grow to more than 40% of total revenues.

Total Digital Textile Revenues by Hardware, Media and Ink
Total manufacturers' revenues (hardware + media + ink) are forecast to reach almost $6 billion by 2010. Revenues from media (e.g., T-shirts, bags, rolls of fabric) comprise about half of total revenue. For the most part, media revenues are not accessible to digital printer OEMs. In the roll-to-roll segment, many of the print shops buy rolls of fabric from traditional fabric suppliers, not digital print suppliers. Finished garments such as T-shirts and bags will also come from manufacturers outside the traditional digital print community. However, as the market grows, especially in the direct-to-garment segment, there will be an opportunity for dealers of ink jet hardware, media and ink to sell garments for digital printing to new users entering the market and looking for sources of garments, bags and other types of products that can be directly printed with ink jet printers.

Total Retail Value of Output
The worldwide retail value of printed output from ink jet textile printers is forecast to grow from $3.3 billion in 2005 to more than $18 billion by 2010, a CAGR of 40%. In 2005, revenues from direct-to-garment, flatbed ink jet printers were about $900 million worldwide (about 30% of total revenues). By 2010, revenues from direct-to-garment ink jet printers are expected to grow to almost $13 billion (about 70% of total revenues). According to Patti Williams, Consulting Partner at I.T. Strategies, "The growth of direct-to-garment ink jet printers is based on the fact that there is already an existing market for printing on T-shirts. Lots of consumers already buy T-shirts. These direct-to-garment printers will be purchased by current garment decorators such as screen printers and embroiderers. However, they are already and will continue to be purchased by companies new to garment decorating such as Internet-based retailers like CaféPress and Zazzle, event printers who will take them to gatherings such as state fairs and sporting events, and photographers that will see an additional income stream by offering their images on garments."