Remember back in the 1990s when we had the dot-com boom (and bust)? That’s the timeframe during which we saw the emergence of a myriad of web-to-print offerings. Most of those initial companies are gone, but web-to-print lives on. For companies who have implemented this approach to customer support and service, it has been critical to ensure an efficient back-end operation. You can’t have thousands of jobs coming in over the web and expect to make money on them if you have humans processing them.

This same on-demand production model is now making its way into the textiles and apparel industry, and DPInnovations is one of the companies that is helping to address this essential back-end productivity requirement. In fact, Steve Smith, the company’s founder, had the foresight to trademark the term Web2Fabric. The company offers a set of tools that can be modularly configured to meet the needs of individual companies. He says, “The key to beginning an engagement of this nature is to have a thorough discussion about the vision the company has about its web presence. You never just copy and paste these configurations. There is always customization.”

Smith gives an example of print quality, saying, “Depending on who the target audience is, you may or may not want to make print quality information, including dpi, available to customers on the web. If you are dealing largely with hobbyists, this audience likely doesn’t care as much about those technical details as compared to large brands or a skilled experienced textile industry designer, for example.”