Worldwide Market

Global industrial textile printing is a highly dynamic sector, with volumes exceeding 30 billion square metres annually. A recent article by Debbie McKeegan, FESPA Textile Ambassador and CEO of TexIntel, highlights how the value of this global market is set to grow further, reaching $266.38 billion by 2027.

The acceleration in recent years is dictated mainly by the advent of digital printing, which, since the early 2000s, has revolutionised the production logic of the textile industry in all its segments - from fashion to visual communication and interior decoration.

In spite of the contraction caused by the pandemic, digital textile printing has maintained constant growth levels; so much so that, according to Smithers Pira's forecasts, its annual growth rate will exceed 17.5% per year for the next six years. In addition to this, the increasing adoption of digital printing solutions by industry professionals has contributed to the emergence of new business models that, thanks also to the intense digitalisation of recent years, will be further consolidated. This is evidenced by the emergence of companies that offer print-on-demand services and that, exploiting the transposition of online consumption, will acquire a value of $3.4 billion with a CAGR of 8.9%, according to Grandview Research.

The overall picture is then broken down into specific variations for each market segment (fashion, décor, soft signage), depending on the printing technologies (direct or transfer), the inks and the type of substrates used. In terms of the application segment, the global of the digitally printed apparel market will reach a value of $8.4 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 9.5%. Home textile applications will have the most robust annual growth rate: 20.7% between 2020 and 2027.
As for inks, forecasts confirm that the global market for chemicals used in digital textile printing will grow at an annual rate of 6.84% in terms of revenue and 8.61% in terms of volume over the period between 2021 and 2028. Increased R&D work in industrial textile printing, especially concerning the development of chemicals specifically for this market (primarily reactive and acid inks), will stimulate further growth opportunities for textile professionals. The adoption of digital printing solutions actually makes it possible to meet a whole series of market demands: the reduction of the environmental impact of production processes, the possibility of dealing with medium-high print runs in short times, and the ability to produce excellent quality prints on a wide range of substrates. On that topic, printing on cotton will represent 44.9% of the global textile market by 2025.

Finally, the Covid-19 emergency could have a rethinking of the industrial textile production chain as one of its long-term consequences. In the emergency's first phase, many companies were forced to move their production centres - mostly located in Far Eastern countries – to the benefit of local warehouses closer to the consumer. This is what emerges from the Ambrosetti report, presented at the Milan Global Fashion Summit, which underlines that Italy is one of the countries where the phenomenon of reshoring (i.e. the relocation of companies) has been more consistent. It is a strategic choice due to the need to avoid production stoppages and maintain constant contact with suppliers.
In the long term, the consolidation of this phenomenon could only be made possible by the entry into force of regulations that encourage reshoring. On this subject, many companies are likely to internalise the processes tied to the conversion of fabrics into finished garments ready for shipment so as to cope with the production of garments on demand.