Scheduled for December 11 and 12 in Durham, N.C., the Digital Textile Printing Conference 4.0 is a great way to wrap up a year that has seen a great deal of change in the textiles and apparel industry. Jointly sponsored by AATCC and SGIA, this two-day event includes sessions presented by some of the biggest and most respected names in the industry. They’ll be covering topics on everything from the newest digital textile ink and printing technologies to global market conditions, workflow, color management, and more.

The conference kicks off with a primer on digital fabric printing featuring SGIA’s Johnny Shell, AATCC President and Spoonflower Senior Vice President of Research & Development Kerry King, Michael Sanders from Top Value Fabrics, Katelyn Lee from Cotton Incorporated, Ken Bach from Aberdeen Fabrics, and David Clark from Huntsman Textile Effects. This informative session will help ensure a level base of knowledge among attendees and is sure to deliver added value even for those more experienced.

Changing market dynamics and growth potential will be the subject of a session delivered by Keypoint Intelligence’s Ron Gilboa, and from there, the content gets a bit more granular with sessions on pre-coating of fabric, an important element for success in digital fabric printing; color management and workflow automation; ink technologies, including the all-important category of pigment inks; and the challenges associated with keeping up with the latest very high-speed single-pass printing technologies through integrated design-to-production workflows.

During lunch the first day, participants will be able to work in small groups to develop key questions they would like to have answered during an expert panel on Day Two. This is a great way to make the conference more interactive, as well as to provide conference organizers with more insight into key challenges and topics of interest that can be incorporated into future learning opportunities.

Not to be forgotten are the advances in the cutting room and the opportunities provided by microfactories, where all manufacturing activities are undertaken under one roof with as much automation and as little human intervention as possible. This is an area of very important interest, especially as entrepreneurs and industry professionals work to both develop a more sustainable manufacturing process, and to reshore more textiles and apparel activity to North America.

The final session, a panel discussing Real-World Use and Technology Integration, is a great wrap-up to an exciting and informative conference, not only providing expert views but giving attendees an opportunity to share their challenges and successes. It also provides an opportunity for developers to hear first-hand the technology “wish lists” that arise from the conversation, helping to guide their future development efforts.

WhatTheyThink is pleased to be able to attend this important conference, and we hope we will see you there. We’ll also be posting a summary of the key learnings from the conference following the event.