Epson America (Los Alamitos, California) has unveiled its first direct-to-fabric printer available in North America – the Monna Lisa 8000. Characterizing the new printer as “the culmination of over 20 years of research, development and customer feedback,” the Monna Lisa 8000 (ML-8000) “combines precision engineering with advanced design” to deliver the ability to print on a range of fabric types.
“Epson Monna Lisa printers have long maintained a strong reputation and market position in Italy, where they’ve been used to digitally print fabrics for some of the world’s largest international high-fashion brands,” said Mark Krzywicki, Product Panager of Professional Imaging at Epson America. “The Monna Lisa 8000 has been developed to provide that same high quality in a more attainable, easy to use package – enabling North American companies to print on a wide variety of fabrics locally for both short runs and larger-volume orders.”
The ML-8000 features 8 all-new 4.7-inch PrecisionCore printheads that deliver crisp, professional quality textiles at industrial-level print speeds up to 1,744 ft2/hr.1 Leveraging Epson’s most advanced imaging technologies, the ML-8000 accurately reproduces complex patterns, colour gradations and “photographic-like detail” to meet evolving trends and designer needs. The ML-8000 is available for install with either Epson Genesta Pigment, Reactive, Acid, or Disperse ink – to best suit each customer’s needs and application while providing high-performance printing on an array of textiles – including cotton, viscose, polyester, nylon, silk, wool and blended fabrics. The printer features a hot-swappable ink system that holds up to 20 litres of ink per colour and automatically switches from an empty ink pack to a new ink pack mid-print for uninterrupted printing.
The ML-8000 is also available for install with new Epson Edge Print Textile workflow software for powerful colour management and seamless workflow integration, and is compatible with Epson’s new production-management Cloud Solution Port, providing an operational dashboard view of a production line with cloud-based printer-fleet reporting. Epson Precision Dot Technology and exclusive Micro Weave, Multi-layer Halftoning and Lookup Table functions work together to reduce banding, graininess and degradation. Numerous user-friendly features include auto nozzle cleaning by fabric wiper, nozzle verification technology, fluff blower and ink-mist extraction system. Epson tech support and remote monitoring system allow for fast and easy troubleshooting.
