DT papers: The next step towards increased sustainability

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DT papers: The next step towards increased sustainability

DT papers are promoted as an alternative to DTF transfer films. But what’s behind it?

Speaker 1: WTiN
Speaker 2: Felix Schoeller

Speaker 1
Hello and welcome back to Innovate Direct-to-film Printing. I'm your host, Madelaine Thomas, Head of Content here at the World Textile Information Network. If you missed our first session of the day, it discussed market drivers opportunity and competition in D to F printing, then don't worry, all our sessions will be available on demand via the event website. And they will also be available for one month after the benefit after the event finishes tomorrow. So that's until the 17th of May.

This next session is brought to you by our event sponsor Felix Schoeller. Founded in 1895, it's a family owned company with 17 locations in 10 countries and offers proven purpose solutions including sublimation purpose for fashion sportswear and home furnishings. In addition to proven purpose solutions Felix Schoeller enhances the use of paper and new applications and replaces limited resources with paper as a renewable raw material, as we're seeing in the DTF market. So the company started with firstly a portfolio for transport transport applications in 2023. With the aim of providing sustainable paper based solutions in this market, like in its others. So in addition to film products, the company offers the new possibility of shifting it to a paper based solution, reducing plastic waste by 67%. So on that note, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Christin Nimtz, marketing specialist at Felix Schoeller and Dieter Kaumkötter, Chemical Engineer at the company as well.

Hello, both. So before I hand over just a quick note to our audience. Just any questions for Felix Schoeller, then please use the q&a function that's provided. And we will endeavour to get your answers questioned in the q&a session at the end of Felix Schoeller's presentation. So thank you. And over to you, Christin and Dieter. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2
Yes, hello, everyone. Thanks for having us.

Hello, my side. Yeah, we

will start a short presentation. And as always, at the end, we have the time to have some question and answers. So looking forward to a nice discussion. I will share my screen. So if you're looking into the world and what is happening out there, then yeah, that's a bold statement or a bold question whether there will be more kilogrammes of plastic than fish in our oceans until 2050. That was a research done and statements done by the European Parliament. And of course, you can claim or how do they know how much plastic is in now how many fish but the fact is there that plastic is causing big troubles with pollutions. And as Maddi just said, We affiliate Shala trying to find solutions based on renewable raw materials, and paper is one of them. So, we are definitely convinced that paper can play its part in these challenges, because it has, in our opinion, almost infinite potential to enable solutions that are better for our planet, and for all people and the functions they have, they are providing. So who are you seeing today as thanks for the introduction, Mary. So you see DITA and myself, we had Felix Shala take care of our transfer media. And today we will talk about not only DTF films, which are very well known, but the new solution of dt paper as well. So, as we said we're paper manufacturer from Germany, Felix Shala. And we've entered the transfer market with a clear aim of providing sustainable solutions. So therefore, we are very proud to do not offer only two DTF films, but the new DT paper which was just launched at fastboot a few weeks ago. So today we will not only talk about our products, but we want to talk about the media in tech and transfer in tech side transfer in general. So films and papers. So what you should know or what you need to know if you If you're considering using a paper in your solution, as just Colin, in the previous presentation, pointed out and showed exactly on our papers, so we want to give you a dedicated introduction, what's worth knowing about this new and more sustainable solution. So first and most important, the structures of these two products, if you're comparing a film a classical TTF film on the left side with a new paper based solution on the right, you can see on the left side that of course, normally it's based on a normal PG film. And then you have a special release layup, it can be wax, or it can be silicone depending on what kind of hot or cold you want to you want to achieve. And then of course, you have a colour receiver layer. And this layer actually is the one that is most important for the vibrance of colours for the for the deepness of blacks, and for just the sharpness of every image. So in general, if you're looking out for a new media solution in in DTF, definitely watch out for good quality of the colour receiver layer. And on the same, it's the same on normally most papers. So if you're looking to the right side, the PTT base has been replaced by a raw bass paper. And then, of course, you need a release layer as the same thing for the same functions. And for example, we had Felix Shala, we use the exactly same colour receiver layout for the exact same quality results, same brightness of colours, etc, on our paper compared to our film. And then there's one big difference about the barrier layer. So we would recommend that you watch out for that if you're looking for a paper solution. Because this barrier layer is needed, because the paper itself, it's more open than a PE firm. So you need a barrier to do not let the inks penetrate. And now it's really important the barrier layer on the back. So layer number five, there are a lot of papers in the market, which only contain the layers 124 And no barrier layer on the back. If you're going for that version, watch out for cutting issues because there's a highly high likeliness that the paper might get a curl when you want to cut it. So therefore we for example, edit the fifth layer the barrier layer on the backside as well to avoid any curling problems during cutting. And as you can see here, the the major difference, of course, is the base material, whether it's p t, or whether it's a renewable raw material, which is paper. And we will look into that and what these these different instruction means in your processes in a second in in more detail. So if you compare both versions, or both solutions, you can have a DTF film or a DTF paper that you will find similarities and differences. And this is what we want to show to you now. So first of all the ingredients. As I just said, the structure itself is completely different. When you go for DTF film, you end up with a solution which is 100% plastic. If you're going for a paper solution, of course that depends which paper you're going for on the market. But with our paper for example, you save 60% of plastic, why not 100% as I just explained, you definitely need barrier layers and definitely a release layer. So and this needs to be wax or silicone for you to have a good transfer results. So therefore, it's not 100% paper, but at least saving 67% of plastic, which of course is a big environmental aspect as well. The second thing if you're talking about the final surface or the surface of the final transfer, you have both options in both in both ways no matter for which solution you go whether you go for film or paper, there are products on the market where you can create a matte, matte finish feeling of the texture as well as the glossy one, our paper and our phones right now are optimised for Mac look and feel. But you could find both on the market it does not depend whether you want to go for film or paper that should not be any difference. Then the other thing is the print performance of course you know and you're experienced that you need special colour special profiles for the different films you're using in your processes and your machines and your inks and your and the print print machine itself. Even if we use the same colour receiver layer or paper is from the same manufacturer, we would recommend that you definitely test your profiles because we see that even if it's the same colour receiver layer on top, the different structure of the product might give you slight changes in We're in performance. So therefore, we would recommend that you check your profiles and maybe adapt them a little bit to have the best results. And another thing are the heat settings. So of course, in both versions heat is definitely necessary and it needs to be adapted to, to your consumables. So what what kind of ink are you using? What kind of hot melt are you using, what kind of temperature is needed there to make to make a good result? What is important to know that in general, you can, you can use the film with a film solution with up to 180 degrees Celsius, while papers normally use 140 degrees Celsius as the maximum as the maximum heat, so that would be the maximum limit you should go for with the paper. Because otherwise you might risk with problems in the processes. But on the other hand, on the other hand, you can create the same results and maybe even save some heat and save some energy costs on that. Some further differences, of course, is the optic. Now as you if you already watched the first video where you've seen the paper in running in full speed, you know, film is 100% transparent, of course, it has a plastic look and feel when you're touching it. The paper definitely has to pay high opacity compared to 100% transparent film. That's No, that's no question. What is important for that, of course, you need to, to adapt that in your processes. Because it's of course a little bit or could be a little bit more difficult to position your transfer on you're sorry, you can you can position your print on on your fabric, but it's not 100% opaque. So if you're trying it, you will see that it's definitely possible without any problems. What is the difference? Of course, it's a visual inspection. If you're used to inspect your print directly after printings through the 100% transparent Phil, you now would need to need to maybe peel it off the paper and have a look at it from that perspective. Because you would see major defects you would see no problem even through the paper. But if we're talking about little defects or very little bending, also, it's easier and better to to peel it off the paper and see it not sort of the paper itself. But when you touch it for the first time, you will see that a paper solution definitely has a much more natural look and feel.

And the same as for the haptics Of course you are all used to the typical feel and stiffness of films. A paper of course, has generally a warmer haptics and the highest a little bit higher stiffness. When we're talking about the colour fixation as we said, both solutions always have colour receiver layer which are optimised for the substrate and the ink they're using. So, there is no difference in the in the logic or the process of colour fixation between both solutions and of course, the release itself we have to release layer and then it depends on what you want what is what is optimised for your process, do you want to go for a hot peel solution or for coffee solution that highly depends on what your target process is? So you can have both films and papers optimised for hot or cold peel applications no no problem. In our case we optimised our solutions for hot pill applications to make them use useful in in high speed processes. And last but not least electrostatic This is an important task as well. So when we see that films can be sensitive to electric electrostatic discharge and you can you can have your hot melt, sticking to it where you definitely do not want to stick. See it sticking, especially if you have low temperatures and low humidity climate. This is definitely a problem less often with paper. So you definitely see this electrostatic issues less if you're using a paper based solution. And last but not least we have the environmental issues here. So if you're looking for certificates, and you have a transfer film normally the professional ones offer different certificates here. As far as our experience goes. Vehicle techs as well as the got certification are highly relevant in this market. And can we definitely found for transfer films. The same is valid for paper so you can have and find that you could take God's certification for papers as well. Adding, of course further certifications for example, the FSC certification for Yeah, paper coming from, from trust for resources. Of course, that could be in a spec to watch out for solutions with these certifications, because we know that there are a lot of different solutions on the market that might not meet any standards. Very interesting co2 emissions. If you're looking on your knowledge transfer film, and you compare the paper against it, paper solutions, of course, it depends on how you measure the product, carbon footprint, etc. But for example, our paper saves 30% of the product, carbon footprint, co2 emissions compared to classical transfer films, which is a really nice thing to go for, and really do something for, for our sustainability. And the last aspect of NASA is things of the disposal. If you're wanting to recycle it to recycle a transfer film, this is very, very difficult. So of course, you can throw it away. But normally, the only possibility is, yeah, to heat them and burn them, because the different layers cannot be separated from each other. This is a little bit different with the paper. So it's the disposal regularities in every country variety a little bit. But in Germany, for example, you only can throw something in the paper bin for recycling, if it's 95% paper. And as you just learned, our product is 67% plant paper. But you can still put it in this recycling way. And the different layers can be separated from each other, so that you can recycle part of the paper fibres and bring them back by recycling, which is a huge benefit, especially if you're running high productions with a lot of waste material. Yeah, this is the big benefit for paper based solution in general. So if we now talk a little bit about the similarities and differences, we wanted to give you some quick tips and tricks. If you're right now used to film solution, what you could do, or what you should look out if you're going or checking out a paper based solution. So first, as I already mentioned, check the profiles, even if you're taking a film and a paper from the same manufacturer, and they are claiming that the colour receiver layer is the same. As I said, the structure of Bose products is different. So it's really worthwhile to check your profiles a little bit and adapt them according to the different needs of the paper. Secondly, check your heat settings. Of course, we would always recommend to use the lowest possible temperatures, which still work out with your ink and your hot melt, because this will save you energy costs. And there might be a difference between film and paper as well. So it might be possible to go with a paper with even lower temperatures compared to film, it might even go or work out with better results. And we already saw in our testings and experiences that with the films, comparing different firms from different manufacturers, that they've arrived in the optimal temperature settings as well. So definitely it's worthwhile to testing the heat settings a little bit with your with your different media solutions. Next one is the visual inspection. I already mentioned that. So we saw it best that if you if you need to check for very, very small details, then it might be useful to do one test printing peel off the ink and the hot melt from the paper to give an enormous visual inspection as you might would have done through the very transparent transfer form. So it's a little bit change of the process. But the it can be done in the same way normal visual inspection you see whether there are any defects or not and you can continue your production. Hot pill of course, here it's the same so try out a little bit with the heat settings to optimise for hot period have a cold peel. And even you could you could use it again. So if you did, if you produce something and you wanted to use it hot peel later, of course you can place it once again on your press heated up a little bit and then you can have the same heat hot period results as well. But as I said it's worth trying the different heat settings to optimise your results in any film or paper solution. And the last thing is a cutting. So what we heard sometimes that people want to use the cutting devices with a print on the lower side of the medium. In this case in the paper, if you're cutting device mind might face some problems in finding the cutting marks through the paper. Then we saw that it's an very easy solution to simply turn it around so that the printers on top of the paper, which makes it very easy to find the cutting marks for your device. And then once again, there's no change in process, just just cut it the other way around, if there might be problems facing it, but this might arrive from cutting device to cutting device. Okay, a quick outline of them. So as I, as I said, we entered the market to give sustainable solutions we did already with the paper, but we don't want to stop here. So we will definitely use options to further reduced plastic in the product itself. We are looking into ways to using recycled fibres. So for example, a recycled paper base and then the different layers. And we're looking into options to optimise the products for recycling processes. This is what we from Felix Shala will do. But this is what we definitely expect from the market as well, from the paper solution that you can find on the market right now, if these are manufacturers that want to go further on as we want to do. So coming a little bit too into the end of the presentation. The major question, if you're using a film and you're considering a paper, is it a change? Yes, definitely. It is definitely it definitely needs some adjustments in your process no matter what. But I hope that we could show you that the changes and the adjustments are not tremendously, so they can be done very well. And we would say is it worth trying? And we would say absolutely yes. Because we need, we need to do something for for the people for the planet. And we saw already very good results and interest from sustainable conscious customers who are asking a lot about the processes about the materials that are used for the final product. So we see both a big advantage for convincing new customer groups and on the other side, playing our part for a more sustainable future. So here, once again, our contact details. So as Mary said, The presentation will be online, if you want. Just take a picture with your mobile phone, if you want to connect via LinkedIn, we'll be very happy. We will share more details in the upcoming weeks whenever they are news, or you're interested in the product or you have further questions even after the presentation. So we are very, very happy to connect. And now I would hand over to Maddi again to start and open. Yeah, the q&a sessions, because we are looking forward to your questions.

Speaker 1
Thank you, Christin. Thank you Dieter. Yes, we definitely have a very lively audience today. We've got lots of questions coming through, which is always great. And so hopefully, we will have time to get through them all. But firstly, on one of your your last slides, and you talked about the future outlook for the company and what you're you're going to be working on what kind of the timeline for that when you think about, you know, read recycled paper and reducing plastic even further. What kind of product development timeline Are you are you looking at? Are you talking about, you know, a few years there are.

Speaker 2
It could be a few weeks. What different for, for example, recycling paper, I believe that's the easiest point until then you must change the fibres, but use the plastic, the part of plastic that's more difficult. And that will takes 1123 years I believe.

The feedback we will receive right now is very important. So we are out with a lot of testing materials with different customers, getting their feedback, how it's working, what they would like to change, this will definitely influence the process and

Speaker 1
we just wrapped around the recycle. Actually we do have a question on whether you've done recycling tests to check the benefits. I'm not sure whether this person means recycle tests on recycled paper or recycling the actual paper themselves. So maybe you could kind of answer a little bit of both.

Speaker 2
There are different recycled tests in the market that you can see if it's possible that all compounds of your product goes it works in the recycle process. And for example for papermaking all also the 5% Not five US tent or to know or gets no problem in the paper making process in the future. Okay.

Speaker 1
And what are the costs? I mean, isn't it? Everything comes down to cost? Doesn't it seems? So what are the kinds of costs when you think about paper versus film for D to F?

Speaker 2
Cost for compare?

So you mean the pricing? Right? If somebody comes to buy it, yeah, yeah.

For product, the price for the DT paper are slightly lower than for the PT fun. Okay, we

wanted to, we wanted to make sure that first we know it's a little change in the process. So we want to give a good introduction for the people wanting to try it. And on the other hand, we are really looking for a more sustainable solution. So we wanted to force the people in in trying these things and giving us therefore the possibility to develop further.

Speaker 1
Okay, then that makes it even more attractive with all the sustainability benefits that you mentioned as well, doesn't it? That's interesting, perhaps a bit more of a theoretical question. Now then. with you guys and other companies as well, kind of changing director film in the introduction of peppers? Where does that leave us with the terminology that we're using, you know, direct to film printing, and you created your own method, like, what do we call it now? Do you see this kind of this printing technology as an evolution?

Speaker 2
So actually, to be honest, when when we entered that market, or when I entered the market and wanted to understand it, I think it's it's a market it's I called it Wild West, not only in the machinery inks, hot melt that is used, but in the terminologies from DTG to DTF, meaning direct to film direct to fabric. So we have so many different terminologies. So right now, we would set up for DTP paper, in contrast to DTF direct to film DT paper direct to paper, but I think let's see where the market where the market will go and develop. So, I think there will come so many new things. And that we will see that will develop and it's not only one person developing it, but the the users all around.

Speaker 1
So you've got D to G D to F and d to p we have another technical question now is the ink receiving layer in film and paper media based on inorganic So, silica or alumina particles and other barrier layers in the paper based media made from natural materials or synthetic?

Speaker 2
The kind of receiver layer on the DTF enter DTP film. shows no difference. Yeah. So there are n. Yeah, cat Yannick systems in principle and chemistry. And that's the same on the DT FM and on the DT paper. There is no difference.

Speaker 1
And so the the barrier layers have is that natural materials or synthetic materials

Speaker 2
as a barrier layer in the moment, it's a polyolefin system.

Speaker 1
Okay. And with the complex layer buildup of the paper with the polymers included, is this harder to recycle compared to 100% pt film?

Speaker 2
Sorry, could you repeat the question? Sorry, with

Speaker 1
the complex layer buildup of the paper, is this harder to recycle compared to a 100% pt film? I guess because it's the one on material the PT, right?

Speaker 2
It's not possible to recycle the PT film 100 to 100%. Because you have on the PT Firm A layer which Vax or an additional two can receive a layer and actual recycle process. It's with a recycled process. It's not possible to split the colour receiver layer and release layer from the PTT. And so you can't give this PT fin in a PT recycle process.

Not a modal material even if it's a PT phone so it has different layers the PT foam, so you cannot use it. And therefore it's even better with the paper because they are you can separate the layers and you can therefore recycle the paper.

Speaker 1
I see. Okay, brilliant. Thank you. And a question now on your testing results. So if I'm show obviously that you have tested things like wash fasteners and light fasteners and things like that compared to film and and other products. So how does your paper new paper product compare to in those regards?

Speaker 2
washability? For example, we see no big difference here. It's the same.

Speaker 1
And what about things like the brightness of the colour?

Speaker 2
Yeah. The profiling for the colour are slightly different, because you have difference in the surface. And yeah, somebody's electricity, and the print that says a different on this. If, but if if you're finding if you have the right profile for film and a paper, you do not see any difference. So you see, we had the samples hanging at the festival. One was the film one was a paper, you could not tell the difference, because the base material itself does not really affect the final print. It's more of the colour receiver layers and the barrier layers that effect the textile print directly. And these are the same.

Speaker 1
Okay, interesting. And what do you see as the market potential for this product? And for D to F? How far do you see our DTP, we should say, How far do you see its potential reaching?

Speaker 2
Unlimited? Unlimited. Okay, yeah. So I think that there's just as Colin said, so a lot of people compare the market growth that we're seeing with DTF, and the FOSS and everything, the noise around it to the DTG market. And so we definitely see huge potential, because it's not only for the textile industry, but for industrial applications, and so on. So we really see a high potential there, because you definitely have lower investment costs compared to screen printing solutions, and easy applications. As Colin said, no, no chemicals included. So we really believe in a very high market potential for the DTF technology itself. And of course, we hope that paper one day will play an important role there as well.

Speaker 1
Interesting. Well, I think that's a really good point to finish on. So thank you so much, Kristin, and data for your time and for your insights. And thank you also to our audience. If you do have any other questions for Felix Sharla, then please do get in contact with us or with the company directly. Christine had the details up on the presentation for you. So our next session will begin shortly at 2pm UTC, it will be our first panel session of the day. And we'll continue to answer assess the environmental impact of direct to film printing and how we can look to improve that and we'll look at this from you know, we've just we've just seen paper what we're looking at from a software hardware, ink and film standpoint as well. So we look forward to seeing you then. See you soon