Page 50 - Print 21 Magazine Sep-Oct 2020

Digital Textile
QTCo surging with Kornit in DTG
Australia’s biggest apparel direct-to-garment printer QTCo is having a stellar year, seeing growth
even during the Covid era. The company has installed two new Kornit DTG printers. Managing director Darren Fraser tells Print21 editor Wayne Robinson why the company is achieving continued success.
Aquarter of a century ago Darren Fraser joined
his wife Samantha at QTCo. At the time, it was primarily a fashion business. Together, they diversified into screen printing. Today, 25 years on, that small business, which had eight staff, is now a DTG powerhouse with 57 staff running double shifts, for what has become the biggest t-shirt printer in the region, with a digitised workflow running a suite of Kornit DTG presses.
This year, while the economy is being battered by Covid and many printers are battening down the hatches, QTCo has installed two new Kornit HD6 printers – the high volume 1200dpi printers which have CMYK plus red, green, and white – to join the four other Kornits currently pumping out work in the QTCo factory.
There are two sides to the QTCo operation: the business-to-business operation, which sees the company working with major brands, and the print fulfilment side, which sees it work with major portals such
as Redbubble, and directly with the public.
The QTCo journey has been one
of escalating growth, based on an understanding of the market, a focus on customer service, and implementing technology to enable it to stay ahead.
When Darren Fraser came on board, the company began its printing by outsourcing. Then, after
five years, the opportunity to buy some screen print equipment from
a company that was closing came along. That went well but fast- forward a dozen years and QTCo had a big decision to make.
Fraser says, “We could see market opportunity in short run, on-demand, printing. Run lengths were coming down all the time, and customers wanted their jobs in less time. We investigated the technology that was available to enable us to be in the position we wanted to be and concluded that the Kornit printers were right for us. They had the industrial scale that we believed we needed to make the switch to digital a success.
“It was a big decision for us at
the time, a massive investment. We could have stayed where we were, but we decided to go ahead with the investment. That move into digital has been tremendous for us. It set us on whole new platform that we are still working on today.”
In fact, within a short period of time of QTCo installing the first Kornit Storm II, they made further investments purchasing two Kornit Avalanches, then a Kornit HD6, and then this year two more HD6s.
The Kornit printers are the backbone of their DTG business, Fraser says, “The Kornit printers provide the quality, consistency and productivity that we need, and have proven it over the years. The new HD6 printers have a wider gamut
Above
They come back for more: Darren Fraser, managing director QTCo
with the red and green channels and produce the retail quality that we look for, therefore making them an attractive proposition for us. Kornit is the best platform for QTCo, we hope to have them as our partner as we move forward in the years ahead.”
The whole production line at
QTCo is digitised, jobs come in through their API which is then directly integrated to the large global customers they offer print fulfilment services to, and to some of the most popular web platforms, so that integration with smaller customers is also seamless. Fraser says, “We have all jobs that come into the factory going out of the door within a maximum of 48 hours.”
This speed to market has seen plenty of work that had been
going overseas, particularly to
the US, coming back onshore with QTCo. Fraser says, “We win with the delivery times. The customer experience we provide is excellent.”
The stock in trade products at QTCo are of course t-shirts, with fleeces not far behind. QTCo also diversified their range offering sublimated print on demand drinkware products given the increased demand.
“We could have stayed where we were, but we decided to go ahead with the investment, and that move into digital has been tremendous for us, it set us on whole new platform.” Darren Fraser, QTCo
It was only two years ago that QTCo moved into its new factory, tripling the floorspace of the previous site, giving it plenty of room to expand. Fraser says, “It was a smart move, we have been able to accommodate the new printers, and the inventory has doubled.”
Classic business textbooks will tell you one of the best ways to grow is to find a niche, and service it so well that you become a go-to player in there. QTCo has certainly done that, showing courage in backing its own beliefs, and is now reaping the rewards, as are its customers. 21
50 Print21 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020