Digital Textile Laboratories (DTL) has launched following a £700,000 investment in digital production technologies and workflows aimed at serving the growing textile decoration market.
The company was formed by five directors after two years of research and planning. The founding team includes three experienced figures from the print industry – Julian Marsh, Adrian Stark, and Andy Price – alongside investor Adam McGill, owner of the Fizz Group, and Fizz Group operations director Lynsey McIntosh.
DTL has already recruited 24 staff to support early demand. The company describes itself as a fully digital operation, using AI-driven systems to manage production and quality control while providing customers with real-time visibility of orders. The platform also supports pop-up shop fronts designed to enable partner businesses to access the production infrastructure.
The business has been established to target growth in digital textile decoration. According to the company, the global digital decorated apparel market was valued at between $25bn and $29bn in 2023 and is projected to exceed $68bn to $99bn over the next decade, with growth driven by demand for personalised products such as t-shirts, hats, trainers, bags and jackets.
DTL will begin a four-month production period to fulfil a contract from Fizz Group, producing garments using direct-to-film (DTF) printing alongside embroidery.
The initial production setup includes 24 Melco Summit high-speed 16-colour commercial embroidery machines, three Epson SureColor G6000 direct-to-film printers equipped with Adkins inline curing, and an Epson SureColor F3000 direct-to-garment printer.
Julian Marsh previously held senior roles in digital and on-demand printing at Minotaur Group, Harrier, and District Photo. Adrian Stark was part of the UK start-up sales team for Indigo in the 1990s before spending more than 16 years at Ricoh. Andy Price previously worked as digital manager at Butler and Tanner before founding Think Digital Books.
Mr Marsh said: “Textile decorating is a logical bolt-on to existing print companies that are already dealing with hundreds of customers.”
DTL said it is open to collaborating with commercial and digital print service providers looking to expand into textile decoration, with early discussions already underway with a range of potential B2B and B2B2C partners.
