Digitally printed textiles account for just two per cent of the total printed textile production worldwide. Digital textile printing has a number of important advantages over screen printing. For example, it offers greater freedom of creativity and flexibility in design and is more cost efficient for short print runs. Also, it is more environmentally friendly. It enables physical inventory levels to be reduced and requires less capital investment, has a smaller production footprint.

Furthermore, adoption of digital textile printing helps manufacturers adapt more quickly to changes in global sourcing trends and consumer demand. However, there are many opportunities which provide the digital textile printing industry with scope for future expansion. In particular, whereas production of digitally-printed textiles is currently weighted heavily towards developing countries, there is likely to be an increase in production in European countries in the future.

Digital textile printing will also become more important in the home textile sector as consumers increasingly view home textile products as consumables and update their home furnishings and bedding more frequently.

Among non-consumer applications, there are major opportunities for the digital textile printing market in soft signage. This field is ideally suited to digital printing as customers in this sector usually order in small quantities, and digital textile printing is capable of producing short print runs cost effectively.