中文Industrial-scale digital textile production is undergoing a fundamental reset driven by agile operations, supply chain transparency and strategic collaboration. As highlighted at Durst AG’s Brixen panel, leading manufacturers are shifting from traditional fabric suppliers to holistic solution providers, leveraging digital pigment technology, localised innovation hubs and skilled talent to absorb market volatility.
The textile industry is not simply evolving. It is resetting. And the manufacturers navigating that reset most successfully are not those with the highest volumes; they are those with the sharpest vision, the most agile operations and the deepest commitment to collaboration. That was the central message from a panel at Durst AG’s headquarters in Brixen, Italy, during the Durst Next festival, moderated by Debbie McKeegan, CEO of Texintel and FESPA Textile Ambassador.
The panel framed the scale of change reshaping textile manufacturing. Volumes are moving east, where digital production accelerates. Consumer behaviour has shifted toward personalisation, shorter buying cycles and near-instant responsiveness. Regulatory pressure is intensifying, with supply chain transparency now a legal and commercial fact. Margins are under sustained structural pressure. This is not a temporary disruption but a fundamental reordering of how textile manufacturing must operate.
Durst opened with a significant announcement: a commitment of more than EUR15 million to a new innovation hub in Como, Italy, the birthplace of digital textile printing. For Alessandro Manes, proximity to the customer is a competitive advantage. “Como is a symbol in the world for textile. Digital printing was born in Como, 25 years ago. We want to stay in contact with our customers, brand designers, to listen to the market, to develop innovation.” Opening in January 2027, the facility will include an interactive lab, a chemistry centre and a 1,000 square metre customer experience centre. The merger of Aleph and Durst, creating the only Italian-owned digital printing company of its scale, deepens this commitment.
Ratti S.p.A holds an archive of more than one million design pieces representing centuries of Italian silk heritage. For Alessandro Ivaldi, digital printing has transformed what Ratti sells. “In the past, we sold fabric and accessories. Now we have to sell solutions. That is the main difference.” In 2009, Ratti ran a single digital printer at 1,000 metres per day; today 24 machines produce up to 20,000 metres daily. More profoundly, brands arrive with uncertainty rather than clear briefs, and Ratti has become an active creative and commercial partner. Ivaldi stressed identity as the new competitive currency: digital print, with its special effects and unique colourways, is the tool that makes differentiation possible, but it demands a technology partner offering longevity, collaboration and certification.
CDL Knits, based in Mauritius, produces 12 million garments per year for retailers in the USA, Europe and South Africa, thousands of kilometres from supply chains and markets. Jay Purmessur chose a different game: digital pigment printing, making CDL Knits potentially the first pigment digital printer in the Southern Hemisphere. Development cycles compressed from weeks to hours; unlimited colourways and design complexity became a competitive asset; sampling costs dropped dramatically, with 100 digital samples comparable to one conventional screen. By controlling the full chain from yarn to print, CDL Knits runs small drops, replenishes quickly and offers full traceability, behaving “like it’s sitting just next to the customer.”
Alessandro Floridia of Fasac offered a visceral account: “We are no longer just suppliers. I consider ourselves shock absorbers.” Brands need a manufacturer who absorbs volatility, smooths the journey and reduces risk. Fasac has invested in people, machinery redundancy and client-held inventory. Quality, Floridia noted, is no longer a differentiator but a baseline; customers pay for responsiveness, flexibility and speed of answer. Fasac’s manufacturers are becoming clients’ R&D departments.
Sustainability threaded the discussion, but Floridia named a paradox: brands want to claim sustainability while demanding one-metre samples tomorrow and unlimited short runs, which are often structurally incompatible. Genuine improvement requires planning lead time and supply-chain-wide discipline. In Mauritius, CDL Knits produces exactly what the customer asked for, because overproduction defeats everything; digital printing helps with less water and fewer chemicals, but intent and discipline must accompany technology. Ivaldi added quiet pragmatism: companies can only maintain their social and environmental role if they are first economically sustainable. Profitability is the prerequisite, not the enemy, of sustainability.
The panel’s final answer to what remains constant was immediate and unequivocal: people. “Machines create efficiency, but people create value,” Floridia said. Talent is the precondition, not the consequence, of opportunity. The manufacturers who lead the next chapter are those investing now in people capable of adapting, alongside the right technology partners.
The Textile Reset is a condition, not a moment. Digital production is the industrial standard for competing on speed, flexibility and design diversity. The winners will be those who solve the most, not produce the most, and no single company can navigate the complexity alone. Collaboration across the supply chain is the mechanism by which complexity becomes opportunity.
Source: FESPA (by Debbie McKeegan), published 2 September 2026.
