Page 50 - Print21 July-Aug 2018 Magazine

Dye sub print
Super Colour ups its dye-sub game
At the foot of Mount Cook surrounded by Wellington’s trendy cafés and bars sits wholesale printers Super Colour. Although most printers are traditionally found in industrial parks, Super Colour has taken its place right in the heart of the city. That’s because it’s not your average printer; the young team is on the front foot with the energy to back it up.
Super Colour investing more than $1.7m in new equipment over the last 18 months.
It’s part of the approach adopted by the two brothers. “We’ve always got a keen eye out for new products and applications,” says Aaron.
Hitting new standards
A strong focus for Aaron and the team is the dye-sublimation textiles market. “Fabric is an interesting space for us, as it’s a fledgling market segment in NZ. It’s certainly more mature in Australia, which is a larger market on the whole. We’re taking the lead from this.”
In the last few months Super Colour has gained extra confidence
in their production quality due to
a happy accident. When the usual fabric was out of stock, they made the call to try out a newer premium product, Dekotex, by German manufacturers Georg+Otto Friedrich. It worked so well, they’ve never looked back.
Aaron admits fabric printing isn’t an easy craft to master. “It’s been
a hell of a learning curve. We’ve been doing this for five years and we’re only getting really good at it now.” However, the switch in fabric, combined with Aaron’s technical profiling knowledge, has allowed Super Colour to take its product
to the next level. “The quality of
the colours and black point on the Dekotex fabric really pops; the feedback we’ve been receiving from our customers has been unreal.”
New levels through collaboration
The positive feedback has been a
real validation for Ashton Lines- Sherwood, the national sales manager at Starleaton in New Zealand. A firm believer in collaborating and working with his customers to drive quality solutions, he’s more than happy that his confidence in the merit of the Georg+Otto Friedrich range is paying off. “Momentum was definitely slow to start with, so it’s really encouraging that people are now seeing the long- term benefits in using this calibre
of product. For example, from this purchase, Aaron either calls, texts or e-mails me every day with new photos or videos about how good it is.”
He also believes that this is just
the beginning for dye-sublimation
after observing the Australian side of the business. “After seeing dye-sub become such a strong feature of the Aussie market, it’s pushed me to work closely with guys like Super Colour in anticipation of a similar explosion in the New Zealand market. It’s been really satisfying to see their business grow and grow. They’ve definitely got the right drive and attitude to take advantage.” 21
Ever since brothers Aaron and Simon Waddington started Super Colour in 2012, the business has been steadily growing.
The increase in demand led them
to expand to a second location in Christchurch. With a staff of 17
on the production floor manning their eight large format production machines they have successfully carved out a niche for themselves by becoming ‘printers for the printers’ dedicating themselves to trade only jobs working with resellers.
When you ask founder Aaron, who boasts 12 years in printing, what motivated him to get into the industry he simply answers, ‘who knows’ with a shrug. Dig a little deeper though and his passion becomes clear. His drive to seek out new technology and increase the efficiency of production has led to
Above: Ashton Lines-Sherwood, national sales manager, Starleaton NZ.
Wellington – home of Super Colour.
Below:
50 Print21 JULY/AUGUST 2018