The Slovenian printing house Aksel Celje specializes in the digital production of DTF transfers for sports jerseys, but also the personalization of promotional textiles and workwear. They were among the first companies in the region to invest in a DTF line for the production of transfers by STS.
The distributor of this technology for Slovenia is the company N.C.R. Ljubljana, which installed the line and did the basic education of Mr. Aleš Skaza, the owner of the company Aksel.
“I have been engaged in textile printing for many years. For a long time, my main technology was an eco-solvent printer and foil cutter with which I did print&cut on thermal transfer film. I was quite satisfied with that technology, clients were satisfied with monochrome print, with simpler applications, but today that is no longer the case.
10 seconds and 150 degrees
DTF appeared. Clients have seen colorful prints on jerseys at sports competitions. They wanted more colors and we had to adapt to that more demanding market. In the beginning, I let screen printers do the copying. The transfers were of high quality, beautiful, but there was no room for my earnings. I tried to make them with a print&cut printer. Those transfers were rigid, and the price was not favorable when I needed to use transfer film.
When I became interested in DTF technology, the first thing on my mind was that it is not 15s/160 degrees. Then in N.C.R. they gave me a sample of the imager that is applied 10s/150 degrees. The durability of the print was 60 to 90 washes and that sounded great. I do T-shirts at 150 degrees and press them for 10 seconds, I press fleece only for 6-7 seconds. I can make 300 fleece T-shirts in an hour, with the fact that I remove the foil the next day.
I also solved the price problem. When I calculate everything, paint, DTF film and powder glue, the price of the transfer films is five times less compared to the transfer films I used to get using a solvent printer and foil cutter. The printer is very stable. In terms of maintenance, everything is automated.
When purchasing the STS DTF line, it was important to me that it is a technology in the development of which strong global companies such as Mutoh – a printer manufacturer and STSink – a paint manufacturer are involved. On the other hand, the distributor is the company N.C.R. Ljubljana, which has been working on the regional market for almost three decades, and this tradition instills my confidence in technology”, commented Mr. Aleš Skaza on his experience with DTF STS technology.
