China Dyeing and Printing Association: 2024 China Textile Digital Printing Development Report (1)
Dec 17,2024

This article is translated from a report issued by the China Dyeing and Printing Association


Part 1: Overview of China Textile Digital Printing Industry


In recent years, the digital inkjet printing industry has developed rapidly, the digital printing technology has become increasingly mature, the iteration of equipment and consumables has accelerated, and the cost performance has been continuously improved, which has provided important support for the production of high-quality and high-value-added textiles. It has become the most active and most promising field in the printing and dyeing industry system, and has broad development prospects.

I The Increasing Production Scale

1. The Printing Method Has Been Continuously Adjusted and Changed

Textile printing is mainly divided into three types according to printing methods: direct printing, transfer printing and digital inkjet printing. Direct printing uses screens and rollers to directly print colorants (dyes or pigments) on white or light-colored fabrics to form patterns, and then do corresponding color fixing, washing and other processes. Traditional transfer printing uses rollers to pre-print the color paste containing disperse dyes on transfer paper to form a printing pattern, and then sublimates the dyes to the fabric through high temperature and pressure. After printing, it is a finished product without color fixing and washing. Digital inkjet printing is a plateless, non-contact printing method that inputs the required pattern into the computer, processes it through image software, and then sprays the inkjet printing ink onto the fabric through the printhead under computer control to form a flower pattern.

Currently, direct printing is the main printing method, accounting for 71.9% of the total printing volume; followed by digital inkjet printing, including digital direct printing and digital transfer printing, accounting for 18.2% of the total printing volume; transfer printing accounts for 9.9% of the total printing volume. From the development trend of the printing industry in recent years, digital inkjet printing has shown a sustained growth trend, and the market scale has continued to expand, while the scale of conventional printing such as direct printing and transfer printing has shown a certain degree of decline.
According to the survey data of the China Textile Machinery Association, from 2021 to 2023, the sales volume of rotary screen printing machines and flat screen printing machines decreased by 22% and 32% respectively on average per year. Under the background of digital transformation of the industry, the printing method has been constantly adjusted and changed, and the market demand for traditional printing equipment in China market has been declining year by year, while digital technology represented by digital inkjet printing has been continuously expanding in the industry.

2. Digital Inkjet Printing Has Developed Rapidly

China dyeing and printing industry is in a critical period of structural adjustment and transformation and upgrading. The extensive application of digital intelligent technology and green technology is the key to promoting quality change, efficiency change and power change in the industry. As a typical digital technology in the printing and dyeing industry, digital inkjet printing integrates the characteristics of science and technology, green and fashion. Its value in the industrial chain is increasingly prominent, and becoming a new force to promote the high-quality development of the industry.


In recent years, the development potential of digital inkjet printing has continued to be released, and there is broad room for growth. On the one hand, the fast fashion demand for terminal textiles has driven the growth of multi-batch, small-batch, short-cycle and high-flexibility orders of upstream, bringing new development opportunities for digital inkjet printing, and the industry market scale continues to expand. On the other hand, technological progress in the digital inkjet printing industry has driven the gradual decline in printing costs, and the processing prices of some products have been close to traditional printing, promoting the continuous growth of the industry scale.


From 2015 to 2023, China's textile digital inkjet printing output increased from 400 million meters to 3.7 billion meters, with an average annual growth rate of 37.4%. Among them, the output of digital direct printing increased from 110 million meters to 950 million meters, with an average annual growth rate of 30.9%; the output of digital transfer printing increased from 290 million meters to 2.75 billion meters, with an average annual growth rate of 32.5%. In 2023, the output of digital transfer printing accounted for 74.3%, and the output of digital direct printing accounted for 25.7% in digital printing.

II The Accelerating Establishment of Fast-response Flexible Supply Chain

In recent years, consumers have increasing demand on personalized and diversified products and services, while their requirements for delivery speed and quality are also increasing. In addition, the complexity of the supply chain brought about by globalization, as well as unpredictable factors such as geopolitics and natural disasters, have put forward higher requirements for the stability and agility of the supply chain. Against the backdrop of increasingly fierce competition in the global supply chain, it is increasingly important to create a flexible and agile supply chain that is "produced on demand". Digital inkjet printing has a short production cycle and flexible batch size, which fits the current flexible production model of small orders and fast returns in the textile and garment industry, and plays an important role in building a rapid response mechanism and flexible supply chain of "small batches, multiple varieties, high quality, and fast delivery".
At present, digital inkjet printing companies continue to strengthen product research and development and application expansion, and continuously improve the manufacturing capabilities of a full set of core equipment for a fast-response flexible supply chain by improving the level of digital equipment for the flexible supply chain and optimizing technical solutions. Relying on digital printing technology, the establishment of the fast-response flexible supply chain is accelerating, forming a full-chain industrial ecology with close upstream and downstream collaboration and intensive and efficient supply chain, promoting accurate matching and value integration between the supply part and the demand part.

III The Number of Enterprises in Dying and Printing Improves

In the early stage, most of the companies engaged in digital inkjet printing were printing factories only providing printing service and small and micro enterprises that only involved digital transfer printing business. With the maturity of digital inkjet printing technology and the growth of market demand, the number of printing and dyeing companies engaged in digital inkjet printing has also increased. Especially in the past two years, more and more printing and dyeing companies have begun to invest in digital inkjet printing production lines and shift some traditional printing to digital inkjet printing, which has promoted the continuous expansion of the scale and total volume of digital inkjet printing. Some companies have both traditional printing and digital inkjet printing, and the two printing methods complement each other; some printing and dyeing companies have eliminated the original flat/rotary screen printing lines to achieve a complete replacement of traditional printing by digital inkjet printing.

Digital transfer printing technology has basically matured, and the competition situation is becoming increasingly fierce. In terms of printing cost, digital transfer printing is about 2 yuan/meter, and some companies are only 1.5-1.6 yuan/meter, which is lower than traditional printing. Therefore, the replacement rate of digital transfer printing for traditional printing is relatively high. The companies that originally engaged in traditional transfer printing have gradually transformed to digital transfer printing.

Some enterprises have introduced multiple industrial-grade digital inkjet printing machines or Single Pass digital inkjet printing machines to meet the needs of large-scale printing production. Digital direct printing companies with large printing capacity have emerged in the industry, with an annual output of more than 10 million meters.

In addition, digital inkjet printing companies have made significant progress in product research and development, process innovation, pattern design, marketing, brand building, etc., and their comprehensive service capabilities have been continuously improved, injecting strong energy into the high-quality development of the industry.
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