Agfa has entered into a strategic partnership with a company called TFL, focusing on the development of Alussa, an inkjet printing solution to decorate high-end genuine leathers and which is being presented at the Simac Tanning Tech trade fair for the leather industry in Milan this week.
Agfa is providing the inkjet printer and dedicated inks for Alussa, as well as the software to manage and monitor the printing process, while TFL is providing custom-developed coating chemistry for the system, which can run at up to 80m2/hr.
Alussa can print white and full-colour designs with photographic quality on diverse types of leather as used in the fashion, upholstery, automotive, aviation and nautical industries.
“Fashion Trends are changing fast and it seems like the speed of modification and the desire for individualisation is increasing year by year. This is a big challenge ánd opportunity for the leather industry. Hence, we are very excited about the partnership between Agfa and TFL. Together we can create countless, customized fashion effects combined with high flexing and wearing properties to meet the rapidly changing demands of today’s fashion industry,” said Markus Hess, global head of product marketing at TFL.
“Printing images on leather using inkjet technology, and obtaining top performance in terms of flexibility and scratch resistance, is a complex challenge,” added Tom Cloots, director of industrial inkjet at Agfa. “Alussa combines the best of two worlds to provide a perfect synergy between leather and ink.”
