Lincolnshire-based Countryside Art has installed a Mimaki TR300-1850C textile coating machine to help it prepare fabrics in-house, reduce lead times and offer improved product choice and colour yield.

The TR300, which was supplied by RA Smart, is designed for pre- and post-treating textiles for printing with pigment inks. Director Lawrence Chapman said he was looking to optimise the performance of Countryside Art’s cotton printing and was impressed with the machine’s small footprint and on-demand operational benefits

‘We’re able to offer small minimum runs, short lead times, competitive pricing and superb quality,’ explained Mr Chapman. ‘We work with clients to turn their design ideas into reality across a multitude of products that represent our core ethos of delivering high quality, bespoke giftware with an expert, personal approach.’

The TR300 roll-to-roll unit applies a coating to the fabric to improve print results, and once inserted into the coater, the fabric passes through a padder, where it is saturated with the necessary chemicals before passing through squeeze rollers and a dryer, and finally being rewound onto a roll.

RA Smart’s Magnus Mighall said he was confident the machine would open up new opportunities for Countryside Art. He explained, ‘The versatility of the Mimaki coating machine means Countryside Art can offer their customers the opportunity to use specific fabrics, which up until this point would not have been cost effective to coat using an external supplier.

‘From a technical perspective, it’s also possible to enhance the finished product with a range of treatments, be it pre or post print – aiding the wash and rub fastness and even adding fire retardant or waterproof coatings. We’re proud to have Countryside Art as a long standing customer, with their first investment in a Mimaki textile printer some five years ago, and we continue to enjoy seeing the amazing work they produce.’

The new Mimaki TR300 has enabled Countryside Art to achieve higher colour yield and reduce its lead times, thanks to the improvements that printing to a pre-prepared fabric offers. ‘We are now able to coat textiles as and when we need them,’ Mr Chapman concluded. ‘The ability to enhance our colour yield has made a significant difference to colour matching, which for our corporate customers is especially critical.’

Countryside Art operates five Mimaki TX300-1800 wide-format printers, running Mimaki water-based pigment inks and prints direct to a variety of cotton base cloths, all woven specially for the company ‘to ensure the highest quality and an ethical and sustainable supply chain.’ 

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