Textile Solutions
‘Introducing the Kornit Storm HD6 to Hairy Baby has been probably one of the best financial decisions I have made in this business,’ said Daragh Murphy, founder of Hairy Baby Clothing Company.
Based in Cork, Hairy Baby was founded when Daragh Murphy, a former DJ, saw a market opportunity in imprinting shirts with what he called ‘Irishisms’, fun slogans playing into his countrymen’s common jovial character. He started with screen printing and vinyl transfer printing – two longtime standards of the decorated apparel industry – but which he describes as having ‘a very slow process, requiring a lot of hand-eye coordination’.
‘We are a very reactive brand, so if something would happen, say, in pop culture, in the media, we wouldd be able to spin up a t-shirt really quickly,’ said Daragh. ‘You can only do that if you are operating a print on-demand system, so direct to garment was perfect for that.’
Furthermore, screens and transfers were limited in the types of impressions they could deliver; a 15 colour job would prove too complex and costly, requiring Daragh to either temper the customer’s expectations or lose the order entirely. He found Kornit’s single operator, single step push button capabilities offered a more consistent, versatile mechanism for accepting graphically complex orders in any quantity – and thus became the first business in Ireland to adopt Kornit Digital technology for sustainable digital direct to garment production on-demand.
'Speed of print, the reliability factor, and the cost per print were the three main factors for me,’ Daragh said. ‘Once we first saw our design roll off the Kornit, we said that is it, we are sorted here. This is brilliant. At present we have a lot of demand for crazy graphics, and the only way we can reproduce these is by using Kornit technology. With Kornit Storm HD6 it is a beautiful smooth print, perfect color every time, everyone is a winner.’
While sourcing internationally has long made good business sense, Daragh has found in recent years – especially in the post Brexit era – that supply chain logistics have grown more complicated, and offering onshore fulfillment services to the Irish market specifically created a profitable market opportunity for Hairy Baby.
‘The print on-demand market in Ireland was pretty much nonexistent until we arrived on the scene,’ he said. ‘There is a lot of new brand start ups in Ireland and up until now they have been getting a lot of their t-shirts printed abroad. By having a print on-demand system here using the Storm HD6, we have nicely captured that market.’
Digital production system offered Hairy Baby the opportunity to improve its end to end operations, beyond the benefits of reliably high quality fulfillment. Digitising meant streamlining routines, ensuring visibility, and establishing a more robust sales network.
‘We are in the final stages of onboarding the KornitX workflow system, a unique system that allows us to integrate directly with some of our third party client websites, so once an order has been placed in their sites it feeds directly into our workflow,’ said Daragh. ‘Orders come in from our third party, they are printed on the Kornit, and they are shipped out directly to our clients.’
Furthermore, Daragh found Kornit’s sustainable inks, consumables, and production capabilities aligned well with his own sustainability goals, a key consideration in Hairy Baby’s technology investments.
‘All of our t-shirts are organic cotton and sustainably produced, and all of our packaging is either craft paper or biodegradable mailers,’ said Daragh. ‘Kornit and the NeoPigment ink system that we use helps us deliver that fully sustainable package.’
Since implementing Kornit Storm HD6, Daragh has built what he considers ‘a good relationship’ with Kornit, finding the company quick to react to support needs.
‘The company has exceptional support systems, so anytime you would log a ticket it is answered almost immediately, and the team is always very quick to introduce a fix,’ he said. ‘The company has some great training systems that you can attend; I went on a five day training course and found it exceptional because there aren’t too many problems I have had with the Kornit that I couldn’t actually handle myself now.’
Owing to the single step efficiency and versatility in imprinting a wide variety of materials and delivering ready to wear retail quality within minutes, Daragh foresees Hairy Baby ultimately replacing its screen and transfer operations entirely with the installation of a second Kornit production system, as ‘demand is so high at the moment that our machine is working almost around the clock these days’.
‘I am immensely proud of Hairy Baby and what we have achieved, especially since the introduction of Kornit systems,’ he said. ‘It has allowed us to expand the business rapidly. Our growth in the last year has been fantastic, and that is a direct result of having a really high end direct to garment system in place.’
‘Entrepreneurs like Daragh at Hairy Baby recognise the value of capitalising on new market opportunities, creating new sales channels, and providing efficient, responsive, high quality products wherever the demand exists,’ said Chris Govier, president of Kornit Digital EMEA. ‘By digitising customer engagement, on-demand production, and shipping logistics, Kornit’s technology suite empowers these business visionaries to meet that challenge and scale their operations with a consistency and reliability to overcome the uncertainties of a dynamic market.
‘We are proud to support Hairy Baby, and showcase the company as a model of sustainable, versatile onshore fulfilment.’
