At Heimtextil 2020, Neenah Coldenhove introduced a new digital transfer paper for natural fiber fabrics. Although an estimated 60% of apparel is made from polyester or polyester blends, that still leaves 40% that uses natural fibers such as cotton, linen, rayon, and more. As pigment ink technologies improve, the industry has looked to those inks to increase the range of fiber types that can be printed digitally. To date, that has typically meant direct-to-fabric. That changes with Texcol, a unique new offering from Neenah Coldenhove, designed specifically for heat transfer onto natural fiber fabrics. We spoke with Gijsbert Harmsen of Neenah Coldenhove to learn more.

WhatTheyThink: Gijsbert, thank you for speaking with us about this exciting announcement. Although our readers are likely very familiar with Neenah Coldenhove, let’s start with a bit of background on the company.

Gijsbert Harmsen: Coldenhove paper mill was established in 1661, and we were under private ownership until 2017, at which point we were bought by Neenah. It has been a good marriage. Neenah has a group of paper mills producing fine and specialty papers.Coldenhove has two paper machines. One of these machines primarily focuses on dye-sublimation papers. In fact, we have produced sublimation papers for rotary screen printing since 1970. In 1996, we began to consider the potential of analog printing moving to digital and determined that we needed a paper that covers digital printing. That led to the invention of the first digital dye-sublimation paper and Coldenhove’s entry into digital printing. We are a market leader since then, and had a patent on that paper that was valid until last year.