“How can we reduce costs with remote soft proofing?”

Soft proofing is on the rise as a valid means of approving print based on content and, increasingly, colour. Globalization, turnaround time and especially cost reduction are some of the reasons why remote soft proofing is becoming necessary.

When it comes to soft proofing solutions, there are many options available. There are generally two types of soft proofs, remote and real-time. A remote soft proof is usually a PDF file that’s uploaded onto an FTP site or emailed and is viewed at the client’s convenience. Compared to a traditional hard proof, remote soft proofing reduces overall approval time and courier costs, but there is still some lag between when the client views the file and when approval or comments are returned. Real-time soft proofing eliminates this delay. A real-time soft proof occurs when the client and the printer are looking at the file at the same time, live in “real” time through a third-party system, such as Remote Director or Acrobat Connect Pro.

Rather than just emailing PDFs to clients, investing time and money into remote or real-time soft proofing systems has many added benefits. This includes adding and tracking notes and comments, imposing files into a virtual book (including virtual pages that can be turned by the customer), viewing separations and simulating paper colour. The soft proof itself can be approved via a legal digital signature and password-protected. Streamlined digital workflows, such as HP Smartstream and Kodak InSite, allow customers to upload, preflight and approve their files along with docket details – and even queue their jobs, without any interaction required from the printer’s end. This type of automation is becoming increasingly popular, but requires remote soft proofing as the means of final approval.

What about trust? Do clients trust a virtual proof on a monitor as much as a traditional hard proof? The biggest hurdle for soft proofing on a monitor is trusting its colour accuracy. While a hard proof is comforting because of its physical presence in a customer’s hand, it really is a myth that monitors are less accurate than the majority of current hard proofing systems. Properly calibrated, quality monitors can display better delta-E values and colour gamut, and it might surprise you that it may not be necessary to invest in an expensive, SWOP-certified solution to do so. As long as you consider the expectations of your customers you can find an affordable solution. For instance, current inkjet proofing devices can range from $1000 up to $100,000. But, if you currently don’t need to invest in an expensive hard proofing device for colour, you probably won’t need to invest in one for soft proofing. Remember, the main selling point of soft proofing to customers is not that the accuracy and quality will be greater than your current system, but that it reduces the costs of proofing dramatically. With proper monitor calibration and good destination profiles (not canned ones) you can guarantee colour accuracy. However, to setup a working soft proofing system between you and your client, you must both trust that the virtual proof is just as good as a hard proof.

Investing in the right monitor is a key component. Customers need to use a quality display with calibration devices and software if they want to assess colour without a hard proof from their own office. Different types and different models will have features that you may or may not need. For instance, LCD monitors use either CCFL backlights or LED backlights. The new generation of LED backlit displays may cost more, but can offer a wider gamut and can last twice as long without significant changes in brightness or colour; 10 years versus three – five. If your customer doesn’t already have an instrument (colorimeter, spectrophotometer) capable of measuring and profiling a monitor, it may be worthwhile to invest in more expensive monitors that include the instruments and calibration software.

The most important considerations for implementing a remote soft proofing solution are the demands and abilities of your customers. Choose a system that has the features that your customers will use. Regarding colour, it’s important to educate your customers in the areas of viewing environments and monitor calibration so you can establish trust. Convincing customers to soft proof for content is easy and you probably already do this, but you need to prove that the value of a colour accurate soft proof is equal to that of a hard proof.

A convenient, inexpensive solution might be to remotely upload soft proofs for your client to view on your customer’s LCD monitor. They are increasingly more colour stable and keeping it in an acceptable colour range might be as simple as teaching your customer how to calibrate his/her current LCD display.

If time is an issue, then a more robust real-time solution might be bought outright. Depending on the frequency of use, you might opt for standalone solutions on a pay-per-use basis. Keep in mind that there are free collaboration tools, such as Adobe ConnectNow or Yuuguu, that might not meet the needs of colour critical work, but allow you to collaborate in real-time over the Internet.

It may be necessary to implement a hybrid system to satisfy different customer needs. Many companies, like HH Print Management, run two soft proofing systems, a simpler PDF-based one for text-heavy publications and a more sophisticated one, like Dalim Dialogue, for colour critical work. Also, the majority of soft proof users don’t go 100% soft right away. Using inexpensive solutions for content and hard proofing devices for colour is very common and a good way to ease customers into the technology.

Have you ever heard something funny and thought to yourself “that would make a great t-shirt!” Most of us have, even if we are the only ones amused. Well, it’s now completely possible through direct-to-garment (DTG) printing.

The inkjet-based process is also known as inkjet-to-garment printing and allows for the efficient production of one-off garments. Until almost five years ago it would’ve been very costly for textile screen printers to do so, but now that inkjet printers are being used for small-run jobs they seem to be creating a market all their own.

What made DTG technology so beneficial in its introduction was that it could take care of those orders that were most expensive to produce. This technology lends itself to individual customization and becomes perfect for small-run jobs because it applies the file-to-print features of inkjet printing directly onto the garment. Now screen printers don’t have to turn down the single to 25 shirt orders because of setup costs (no film output, screen preparation, registration or washout).
DTG printers can supplement screen printing in the same way inkjet supplements other printing technologies. They can be used to create samples for customers that can turn into large-screen printing orders. They can be used to finish orders in which customers request another 10 shirts after the screens have already been reclaimed.

Since the introduction of combination digital/screen printers from Makki USA, garment decorators can offer full colour, photographic images with some of the same special effects (glitter, puff inks, glow-in-the-dark) and vivid colours that screen printing makes possible. Even variable-data software is being applied to t-shirt creation.

One of the most popular avenues that DTG technology has opened up is the “design your own t-shirt” websites. These sites allow users to upload their artwork, add text and see it on a garment of their choice. Most of these sites also offer some image/text editing tools that become incredibly appealing to consumers when paired with instant pricing.

Companies like Wordan’s (Montreal) are start-up companies based on this concept, and traditional screen printers like CustomInk (Atlanta) successfully offer both services through their site. T-Shirt Monster Inc. (Oakville) started up around DTG technology and uses their site as a cross-promotional tool, for themselves and their product offering. They teamed up with James Ready Breweries to offer James Ready fans access to logos, beer labels and other artwork, and even held a t-shirt design competition; all done through their website.

Even with all of the buzz about DTG in the textile printing industry, it’s estimated that as of last year as little as 5% of garment decorators owned the technology. So, what is making screen printers so reluctant to embrace the technology?
One of the biggest concerns is that it’s an entirely different workflow compared to the traditional silkscreen process. Many devices use proprietary RIP-systems; in addition, the digital aspect creates the issue of colour management, which can be daunting for those who seldom use process colour ink sets. Most systems also require significant amounts of maintenance.
One of the biggest objections to DTG when it first came out was its inability to print on dark shirts. White ink is now available as a base coat and is being used very successfully by many, though far from perfect. The pigments used in most white inks are larger, and when they go unused for periods of time they can settle and clog or damage print heads.

Additionally, white ink is more expensive, and its application can slow production, increasing the cost per shirt by over 50%.
Traditional screen printed inks produce brighter, more vibrant colours than current inkjet products. Tracey Johnston-Aldworth of Traces Screen Printing Ltd. (Waterloo, ON) says that overall quality is the main reason they have not invested in a DTG printer yet. Comparing the DTG printed samples and wash-tests, they noted that “the quality of the devices we were looking at just wasn’t at the level of what our customers, I think, would expect from us.”

Instead, they invested in an automatic screen printer and for now sticking to the larger orders. They also noted that screen printing is a more “organic” process, where skilled workers can fix an image and/or colour problems without starting over or ruining garments, whereas DTG would require reprinting on new merchandise, unless you take the time to test print every image first.

So what does the future hold for DTG and screen printing? The machines are constantly getting faster and the washability, pigment brightness and white inks are improving, but don’t look for inkjet to replace screen printing anytime in the near future. There are many cases where customers just can’t get the same effects like they can from screen inks.
Automatic screen printers are becoming more popular and the introduction of computer-to-screen (CTS) technology eliminates the steps of having to print colour separations to film before exposing screens. As both digital and screen technologies improve, it will be interesting to see where they go and what new innovative ideas printers will find for direct-to-garment printing.