Australian apparel manufacturer QTCo has increased its investment in Kornit Digital machinery, installing an additional two Kornit Avalanche HD6 systems for on-demand production.
Having grown since its inception 25 years ago, QTCo provides a diverse array of DTG, screen printing, and sublimation services for apparel, headwear, bags, drink-wear, and promotional products, with clients encompassing major apparel brands, independent e-tailers, and private consumers.
According to the company, the move follows QTCo’s increased order volumes in recent months, which is a result of the company’s rapid delivery times and increased web-driven business resulting from COVID-related precautions and regulations.
QTCo managing director Darren Fraser said Statista published that e-commerce is expected to account for more than US$27 billion in revenues in Australia this year, a year-over-year increase of more than 22 per cent.
And with more than US$7 billion of this total, fashion constitutes the largest segment of this market, and these trends have long driven adoption of on-demand production technologies.
As such, he said investing in Kornit Digital technology has empowered the business to guarantee customised pieces are shipped within 48 hours, making small orders profitable.
“We could see market opportunity in short run, on-demand printing – run lengths were consistently coming, and customers wanted their jobs in less time,” Fraser said.
“The Kornit systems had the industrial scale we believed we needed to make the switch to digital a success. The move to digital has been tremendous for us – Kornit provides the quality, consistency, and productivity we need.”
According to Fraser, COVID-19 accelerated consumer shifts towards online purchasing, and Kornit’s single-step, eco-friendly platform for on-demand DTG fulfilment is well-suited to that new market landscape.
“We are engaging with new customers every day who are perhaps unable or unwilling to go to a brick-and-mortar store. When they discover the benefits of online shopping—the personalisation, the choice, the ease—they come back for more. The customer experience we provide is excellent,” he said.
Fraser added that QTCo has supplemented its Kornit DTG systems with popular web-based design and POS platforms, which further streamline the end-to-end process, eliminate errors, minimise time to market, and free up resources for continuous investment in operations.
Kornit Digital chief marketing officer Omer Kulka said, “The growth of e-commerce in 2020 alone has been clear, decisive, and unforgiving to manufacturers unprepared for production on demand, and married to slow, traditional production cycles dependent on vulnerable supply chains.
“As QTCo and countless other satisfied Kornit customers continue to demonstrate, being able to provide retail-quality, responsibly-made apparel quickly, in any quantity, and without design limitations is a solid business plan for success and growth, regardless of unforeseen headwinds.”
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