The first Screen Print trade show with over 40 exhibitors and technical seminars debuted in Sir Lanka was a great success which concluded on 1-3 December with co-located events – Sublimating Ideas Expo, Label Show and Dyes & Chem. To mark the inauguration of the first Screen Print Sri Lanka exhibition, leaders from Indian and Sri Lankan printing industry jointly lighted up the lamp and cut ribbon in the presence of invited guests, exhibitors and visitors.

The event received over 2500 visitors from Garment industry, screen printing, digital printing, offset and label printing, not only from Sri Lanka but also other Asian countries. Devang Sheth, director of Aditya Expositions, the organizer of the expo, warmly welcomed the exhibitors and visitors.

Devang Sheth, director of Aditya Expositions said that keen interest was seen among visitors who took time out to visit Screen Print Sri Lanka expo despite the fact that currently it is the busy production season in Sri Lankan garment industry. Some of the companies made it a point to send their production staff to give them exposure to new technologies and techniques in garment decoration as a whole. The visitors expressed their satisfaction for the first exhibition ever held in Sri Lanka exclusively focusing on screen printing. Many of the exhibitors were able to generate leads and also establish contact with new customers. They could also get wider exposure to Sri Lankan garment/printing industry to expand their business further since the local market is growing.

Some of the leading companies who took part in the exhibition include: Grafica Flextronica, Skyscreen, Ninehearts, NBC, JK Garments, Indian Dyes Sales Corp, Antler General Industries, Colorcroma, CöLöRs, Devraj Rangwala, Domex, Impress Apparels Machines, Ingrin Printing & Graphic Academy (INGRIN), JK Garments, Knowell Corporation, Kumar Textile Industries, Multi Colour Premium Ink & Chemicals, Panorama Screen, Standard Holdings, Unifold, Weera Industries, Winson Inks, Zibo Paper Tech and many others. Some of these companies represent global brands of repute.

The range of products showcased by these companies included: Screen printing (textile and graphics)/digital/sublimation printing machinery, pad printing machinery, finishing equipment, screen/digital/sublimation/pad printing inks and consumables, screen making equipment and tools, paper and non-paper substrates, UV special effects, heat transfer printing inks and chemicals, heat press, transfer papers, etc., which covered the entire gamut of garment decoration in particular and screen printing in general.

The interest of the Sri Lankan garment printers to gain knowledge is such that all the technical seminars by three eminent speakers were received good attendance. Charlie Taulieb of Taublieb Consulting who is also a member of ASDPT, USA, conducted three seminars on "Multi-color Printing on Dark Garments," "Four Color Process" and "Creative T-Shirt Printing & Enhancing Techniques." At frequent intervals of three days' exhibition, he had also performed live demo of direct to garment printing at his 'Charlie Corner' which was well watched by garment printers.

Bhargav Mistry Director of DMI, conducted a houseful seminar on "Secret of Producing Digital-Like Quality Prints in Textile Screen Printing" wherein he had also touched upon the entire screen making process theoretically and showed on screen some of the important aspects of pre-press and color management, and spot color process file separation. The seminar on "Migration of Fabric Dyes to Prints is a Common Phenomenon where Polyester or its Blends Employing" by Suneth Jayasumana, Antler General Industries (P) Ltd, Sri Lanka, was also well attended.

The organizer had also hosted an Exhibitors' get-together on the evening of 1st December at Hotel Renuka, Colombo. The delightful Evening was attended by over 100 guests who were welcomed by Devang Sheth. On this occasion, the Lead sponsors of the exhibition and Speakers of various Technical Seminars, and association supporters were honored with memento.

The Screen Print trade show was held from 1-3 Dec at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre, Colombo.