Ricoh partners with Coloreel to revolutionise textile industry with thread colouring innovation

Ricoh Europe, London, 16 May 2018 – Print specialist Ricoh has entered a partnership with Swedish technology innovation company Coloreel to create a groundbreaking thread colouring unit for the textile industry.

The landmark move will enable textile, fashion and sportswear businesses to evolve their offerings through high-quality instant colouring of textile thread while in production. By instantly colouring a white base thread during the embroidery production, operators can enjoy complete freedom to create unique embroideries without any limitations in the use of colours. The added vibrancy achieved allows businesses to offer a more striking portfolio and boast a genuine point of differentiation in an ever-changing market. The first product to make use of this technology is a thread colouring unit that is compatible with any existing industrial embroidery machine. Initial production is set for autumn 2018.

The partnership is the result on ongoing international collaboration between Ricoh experts based in Japan and the UK with Coloreel engineers in Sweden. Ricoh will develop and build a major sub-system in the unit, based on the company’s advanced inkjet printing capabilities. This will be complemented by Coloreel’s colorisation technology. 

Peter Williams, General Manager of Commercial and Industrial Printing Business Group, Ricoh, says: “The partnership with Coloreel further demonstrates our commitment to collaboration and pushing boundaries. Combining our history of driving innovation for over 80 years, our commitment to customer needs and intent on becoming the analogue to digital transformation experts in industrial process is enabling us to disrupt this exciting industry”.

Mattias Nordin, CEO, Coloreel, adds: “It feels amazing that a company like Ricoh, with their dignity and size, has chosen to enter this partnership with us. To have Ricoh as our partner gives our product even more credibility, and we are excited to see what this partnership will bring”.

Tetsuya Morita, General Manager of Commercial and Industrial Printing Development Division at Ricoh, concludes: “This partnership is a high profile project for us; we see much potential in this product and this industry. We believe in Coloreel and their unique technology.”

For more information about Coloreel visit www.coloreel.com.

For more information about Ricoh visit www.ricoh-europe.com.