Page 51 - Print21 Jan-Feb 2022

Market opportunities
The unstoppable
mega trend to personalisation
has been good news for Ben Carroll,
CEO at trade heat transfer supplier Vicon and its sister company Velflex, which supplies heat transfer equipment and knowledge.
Heat transfer offers a quick and easy route to garment decoration, a route that for hard-pressed printers can offer another lucrative revenue stream, for a relatively low investment. That proposition has seen business at Velflex and Vicon boom over the past 18 months, and boom and pandemic are not words that usually go together.
Carroll has spent his
entire working life in heat transfer, and fi teen years ago established his fi st business. His can-do approach has seen his company create innovative manufacturing solutions, based on customising digital and analogue print processes.
Facilitate
Expansion
The solutions supply side of
the company, Velflex, is based in the border town of Albury Wodonga, while the trade supply side, Vicon Transfers, relocated from Sydney to Brisbane 18 months ago, in order to facilitate expansion, with the new factory double the size of the previous premises.
Th move took place as Queensland bounced in and out of border closures, Carroll and his team taking advantage of one of the small windows of opportunity during those days.
In the following year-and- a-half the company invested some $2m on equipment in
its new factory, as business expansion took place at a rate that surprised even Carroll, who says, “I could never have imagined the rate of growth that we have seen, it blew away all my expectations.” Business has actually doubled in the past year, with the company
Opportunity: Ben Carroll, Vicon Transfers
where customers of Velflex
and Vicon who have invested in garment heat transfer technology of their own can learn from the expertise of
the company. Carroll says, “What often happens is a print business or an entrepreneur will source some heat transfer work from Vicon, and if it goes well we will talk to them about setting up their own operation.
“For print businesses
they may already have the eco-solvent printer, if they don’t, they still know what they are dealing with. They understand fi e management, colour management, and they may actually already have the customers. It is a relatively straightforward step to
having their own heat transfer operation.”
Intricate Jobs
The trade supplier side of the Vicon business is also designed to handle the intricate jobs, where the weeding out of excess material can be challenging. However, even for that Carroll says a piece of new technology is about to be launched.
He says, “We have two systems in Brisbane, which we are putting through their paces, and if all goes well, we will be releasing them in the fi st half of this year. It is a DTF direct-to-film ystem that will enable users to produce even the most intricate heat transfers, but for a fraction of the price of the systems that we have operating here.”
The investment at Vicon has seen the screen printing lines expand from one to three, with the company also now looking at the latest HP Indigo to supersede its existing model. Carroll says, “We have also automated everything – screen washes, coaters, UV tables – we have really ramped up since we moved here.”
For hard pressed print businesses a move into heat transfer for garments may make sense; a low investment, an expert partner, and a market which will only grow. 21
Garment Printing
The thought of setting up in a new market could be daunting, but Vicon managing director Ben Carroll says heat transfer garment printing is straightforward, low cost, and can give you a whole new revenue stream.
currently going through a major staff xpansion.
That growth came as print entrepreneurs faced Covid, causing them to look at new ways of doing things, and
at new revenue streams as existing markets tightened. Carroll says, “I knew demand would be strong. People
want the identity that heat transfer gives, whether that
is for a sporting club, a work environment, a group of family or friends. Our mission is to give print entrepreneurs the tools to enable them to meet that demand.”
Many may be surprised
to learn those tools are straightforward, and to set
up in garment printing and decoration requires little more than a commercial heat press, an eco-solvent printer from the likes of Roland DG, Mimaki or Mutoh, along with a cutter, and the all-important knowledge support. Carroll says that it will be less than $20,000 for the whole kit and kaboodle.
The new premises in the north of Brisbane has a purpose-built training room,
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