SuperGamut is expanding its industrial direct-to-film (DTF) portfolio with three technologies aimed at advancing high-volume digital apparel decoration: a new 13-color Kraken Color Beast configuration, the Super Hydra commercial DTF system and the compact Sentinel Scout vision-based automated cutting system.
Together, the technologies represent SuperGamut’s broader approach to industrial DTF production, combining high-speed printing, expanded color capabilities, automated cutting and software to improve production efficiency while reducing manual labor.
Kraken Color Beast Pushes DTF Color Capabilities
The new Kraken Color Beast configuration expands beyond conventional CMYK DTF production, with configurations incorporating fluorescent inks for additional visual impact.
SuperGamut is also developing a new 13-color configuration intended to improve DTF color accuracy beyond traditional expanded-gamut printing. Additional technical specifications and the system’s complete ink configuration have yet to be announced.
“Screen printing has always been the benchmark for serious apparel production, but we’re pushing DTF into territory people used to assume belonged only to screen printing,” says Rob Super, president of SuperGamut. “Better color, serious production speed, purpose-built automated cutting, high-quality automated pressing, and the right software are changing what digital production can look like.”
Super Hydra Targets Commercial DTF Production
SuperGamut is also introducing the Super Hydra, a new commercial DTF printing system designed as part of the company’s next generation of industrial production equipment.
The company has not yet released the Super Hydra’s final specifications, making this an early look at the new platform rather than a full technical launch.
For decorators, its significance is in how SuperGamut is positioning the system: not simply as a standalone printer, but as one component within a larger automated DTF production workflow encompassing printing, curing, cutting and heat application.
SuperGamut’s Sentinel Scout is a compact vision-based automated cutting system featuring a 25-inch cutting format designed to automatically identify and cut cured DTF transfers. Photo courtesy of SuperGamut
Sentinel Scout Automates DTF Transfer Cutting
The Sentinel Scout expands SuperGamut’s family of vision-based automated cutting systems with a more compact option designed around a 25-inch cutting format, making it suitable for 24-inch rolls of DTF film.
Sentinel technology automatically identifies and cuts cured transfers, targeting one of the more labor-intensive stages of DTF finishing. Automating this process can reduce time spent manually separating transfers while helping improve cutting consistency.
Building DTF as a Complete Production System
The three technologies also illustrate a larger shift toward treating high-volume DTF as an interconnected manufacturing workflow rather than simply a printing process.
“A printer by itself isn’t the production system,” says Aaron Montgomery, education and community outreach director for SuperGamut. “It is how all the pieces work together that creates the business advantage.”
SuperGamut’s broader product approach encompasses software and color management as well as printing, curing, automated cutting and pressing, with the goal of improving consistency, efficiency, production capacity and profitability.
