(All images courtesy of Print Logistic.)
Print Logistic was founded in 2018 by Michal and Wiktor Tracz who were soon joined by Ross Newens. They have one joint vision: to transform the manufacture of sewn textiles, rewiring the traditional workflow to offer printed, sewn apparel and décor on-demand.
Based in a historic quarter of Poland, an area with a renowned textile heritage, the company prints and manufactures sewn garments on-demand in their custom built, high-tech manufacturing facility. Their vision is now a reality, with a global client base, manufacturing 3,000 SKUs per day in their smart manufacturing hub which signifies a new era for manufacturing as the industry shifts to offer sustainable production.
We recently interviewed the team, taking a deep dive into the manufacturing process to discover more.
Michal Tracz is responsible for operations; based in PPoland,Polahe oversees all aspects of production on a daily basis, explaining:
“I’m the CEO and founder of Print Logistics. I’m sitting in our factory doing daily operations and taking care that everything is fine, and that production is working well. I’m focused on improving, to be better and better in our on-demand production. I believe that fashion on demand will be the future. That was five years ago, and now we are seeing the market transforming in that way.”
Ross Newens adds, “I’m also one of the co-founders of Print Logistic. We started the company with Michal about five years ago. And at that point, I was one of the initial investors in the company. We joined forces because we had two e-commerce platforms based in Poland. And we were really looking for, let’s say, a sustainable resource to meet our garment production needs for these platforms. We joined forces with Michal and his brother almost five years ago.
“I didn’t really know anything about this particular industry,” he continues. “I’d come from other sectors—the TV sector and digital out of home. I’m also the CEO of a listed company in Warsaw. We joined forces and then I started my baptism by fire, trying to understand really what this whole sector was about. Michal and I went on a tour of ITMA and FESPA in 2019, and my eyes were opened to what was really happening in this sector. That’s when Michal and I really started working on a new vision for printed, sewn products.”
He adds, “The most interesting thing for me was the amount of waste and the toxicity of the whole garment and fabric production side of the traditional textile business. I now focus on developing international relations with clients. When we started, 90% of our business was in Poland. Four years later, 90% of our business is outside of Poland. We’re servicing clients from the US to all parts of Europe.”
Debbie McKeegan: Ross, could you summarize what your vision was for the business when you first joined?
Ross Newens: Michal and I were discussing this earlier actually, and the vision kind of changed because initially, we were just looking to have a reliable partner to support the merchandise platforms that we had in Poland. But as we started to really understand and see the opportunity, I became a believer, let’s put it that way, in this opportunity. And I think that was the critical time for me to really understand what the opportunity offered and the true businesses potential. I don’t think that vision has really changed much. We’ve had to adapt the business model to enable us to reach that point. But now, five years later with all of the technology and the integration capabilities which Michal and the team have built, we now have the way to work with larger international clients and with small disruptive brands as well who are perhaps going to be the spearhead of this revolution in the sector.”
DM: During the last five years, the supply chain has seen many market shifts. Consumers are now aware of the true cost of over-production within the fashion cycle. Technology has also advanced significantly. Michal, how have these developments impacted the business?
Michal Tracz: It was COVID that had a huge impact on the transformation of our business and on-demand software. COVID sped everything up, and frankly, our company was not ready for it because we only set up this business the year before. COVID gifted us an opportunity to implement the technologies required to scale the business.
DM: Can you explain the services offered and the range of printed products that you supply?
MT: We started with direct to garment at the beginning, with a small range of products using Kornit DTG technology—T-shirts and hoodies—and then we realized that on-demand production is the future. So, we started developing this part of the business. It was tough, a lesson for us at the beginning. And now I can say that we finally transformed our production facility, and we are ready to go with fashion on-demand. We now offer all-over printed products. In DTG, we are now offering more than 3,000 SKUs in the stock across all colors and all models, using the most popular brands. For roll-to-roll printing, we are servicing 15 to 20 different fabric types printed by the meter, on demand.
We are offering all over print starting from basics like T-shirts, hoodies, moving to home decor, like bed sets, pillows, curtains, kits, also sleeping bags. So, whatever we can invent and whatever our customers are asking for and requesting, then we are trying to supply and adapt our production to their needs. This is the beauty of this fashion on-demand approach. We work with our customers to generate new types of products. Our team adapt production on-demand. We also offer accessories, like mugs, phone cases, all small sublimations.”
But the biggest opportunity for us, and for the future, is this fashion on-demand.
RN: We talk a lot about the technology, and we talk a lot about the innovation on that front, but finally also we have to have human capital resources. I mean, doing cut-and-sew, which is at the heart of fashion on-demand. We’re very fortunate in our location, which was sort of a historic capital of garment and fabric production that we have access to multiple seamstresses. We have a huge pool of resources with which we can scale the business.
This resource of qualified, experienced seamstresses is critical in terms of business development. We are very fortunate that where we’re located, we have a huge supply. In fact, I would love to think that at some point we will probably have a sewing academy, so we can bring new people into the business.
MT: That was the biggest challenge at the beginning, I think, that conventional production for standard large-scale manufacturing of garments was way different than the way we are now producing on-demand. When manufacturing a couple of hundred or thousands in one line, at volume, it was easy because seamstresses were trained to produce one product, like T-shirts.
And in our factory, the biggest challenge was to teach seamstresses to switch quickly between the products, from simple T-shirts to sleeping bags and to bed sets. We have also had to adapt our machines as we are offering on-demand, in three days, therefore we have to frequently change the setup of the sewing machines.
DM: How do your clients create printed products on demand?
MT: If it’s the brand owner who would like to start a business with their personalized products, they can choose from our white label catalogue of the products and start designing using our 3D tools. This is quite easy, and in a couple of minutes they can start creating.
But with the fashion designers, it’s a different story. We create the line together, and we create the renders for 3D and then adapt the workflow, which is not so complicated for us now, so we can also offer this on-demand production for fashion designers.
This service is developing all the time, and we’re just about to release a Pattern Uploader where effectively we can take a designer’s pattern and then upload it as a digital file. Once we have the digital file, then that fits into the rest of the workflow. This will be very innovative, enabling designers to actually create customized unique products. I think that will be a complete game changer for on-demand production.
Print Logistic is pioneering a whole new landscape for the manufacture of sewn textiles; their business model is adaptive and primed to revolutionize the manufacture and sale of apparel garments and décor products, both online and offline.
Michal explains, “We offer a full end-to-end service. Upon receiving the order, we are preparing for production, printing, cutting, stitching, quality control, packaging, and dispatch direct to the consumer, retail store, or warehouse.”
