PRINTING United: what was new.

PRINTING United Expo ran at the Las Vegas Convention Center from 23 to 25 September. For a production shop the useful questions are short: what was actually new at this show, what does each number on a stand count, and whose page says it. The answers below come from the makers’ own releases and spec pages, with trade press where a maker printed nothing. Much of what looked new had been announced months earlier, and most speeds arrived as “up to” with no method attached.

The show’s own numbers

The organiser’s release of 26 September reports, as preliminary, 27,000 registered attendees from 100 countries, more than 850 exhibiting companies, about one million square feet of show floor and 4.9 million pounds of equipment. Its release for Orlando a year earlier reported over 30,000 attendees from 104 countries, 838 exhibiting companies and 4.7 million pounds, also as preliminary. Set side by side, attendance is at least 3,000 lower, a fall of 10% or more, because the 2025 count is stated as over 30,000, which is a floor. Exhibitors are up by at least 12 and countries down by four. The 2026 release also says equipment weight rose by more than half a million pounds on last year; against the organiser’s own 2025 figure it rose by 0.2 million. The two releases do not reconcile, and the 2026 one says every figure is subject to final verification. Its exhibit page still carries a banner of 30,000+ attendees, 4.7 million pounds, 800+ exhibitors and 104 countries, which matches 2025, not 2026.

At the show’s media day the Alliance’s chief economist said that more than 70% of print firms have diversified beyond their primary printing segment, citing the Alliance’s own data. The report gives no sample size or survey date.

The 2026 Pinnacle Awards, the Alliance’s product awards, were announced on 24 June: 71 awards, 25 for output, 32 for non-output products and 14 for technology. A Pinnacle badge on a stand is a June result, not a show launch.

The next edition runs from 14 to 16 September 2027, again at the Las Vegas Convention Center, then in Atlanta from 18 to 20 October 2028.

Sources: PRINTING United Alliance, 26 September 2026 · PRINTING United Alliance, 24 October 2025 · printingunited.com, exhibit page · Large Format Review, 28 September 2026 · ASI, media day · PRINTING United Alliance, Pinnacle winners, 24 June 2026 · printingunited.com, 2027 dates

Apparel: the press, not the printer

The day before the show opened, Impressions made the case that in high-volume DTF the transfer-application stage, not the printer, becomes the bottleneck. A printer that makes film faster than the press station can apply it builds a stack of transfers, not finished garments. The floor bore that out: the apparel machines with numbers attached were presses and applicators.

Stahls’ Hotronix Carousel puts six production stations and three heat zones in front of one operator. Its product page rates it at up to 300 garments an hour. On the show floor its director of product marketing told ASI “300 to 400 garments an hour”. The page and the stand are the same company, a hundred garments apart. Stahls also reports that more than 700 customised shirts were ordered and fulfilled on its stand during the show, a vendor’s own count, reported by Printing Impressions.

M&R’s ORBITER spreads application time over several heat-press platens and, in a brochure dated February 2026, produces “more than 360 transfers per hour under optimal conditions”. A transfer is not a garment, and the brochure does not define the conditions. ROQ’s ID Press, for small-hit transfers with automatic feed and peel, is rated at “500+ pieces per hour” on its product page, with no job size stated.

The three numbers count different things: garments, transfers and pieces. A shop comparing them needs the same job run on each, from loading to stacking.

Sources: Impressions, 22 September 2026 · Stahls, Hotronix Carousel · ASI, four trends in apparel decoration · Printing Impressions, the trends that defined the show · M&R ORBITER brochure · ROQ ID Press

Printers that were new to the hall, not to the market

Kornit unveiled its Atlas MATRIX direct-to-garment system on 12 April at its own Konnections event. Las Vegas was its North American trade-show debut, and what was new there was a neon ink configuration for activewear. Kornit’s show release gives no speed or price. The only speed in print is a trade journalist’s: 150 impressions an hour on cotton and 98 on polyester, for a 330 × 330 mm image. A product called Kornit MATRIX is in the 2026 Pinnacle technology gallery.

Brother’s GTX300, a DTG and DTF hybrid, was introduced on 17 July, two months before the show. Epson announced the SureColor F370 dye-sublimation printer at $999 and a Sublimation Primer for Cotton at $149.95, both list prices, available in November 2026. Epson describes the primer for cotton and natural fibres and does not mention blends.

Sources: Kornit, 12 April 2026 · Kornit release via Screen Printing, 23 September 2026 · Indian Printer & Publisher · Pinnacle Awards, technology gallery 2026 · Digital Output, 17 July 2026 · Epson America, 23 September 2026

Objects and drinkware

Roland DG announced its two direct-to-object UV printers on 1 September, ahead of the show. The RC-300 cylindrical printer does “a medium-sized object, such as a 20-ounce tumbler, in approximately 60 seconds”, and the asterisk on that figure limits it to one object size printed in white plus CMYK. The IO-300 flatbed is rated at up to 3.5 m² an hour in standard CMYK mode. Epson’s CONTOURJET pairs an S800 PrecisionCore printhead with a six-axis robot for curved three-dimensional objects. Its European release names sporting goods, automotive parts and industrial items. Drinkware is not among them, and the release does not mention the show.

Sources: Roland DGA, 1 September 2026 · Epson Europe, CONTOURJET

Wide format, finishing and software

HP launched the Latex R530 AI Printer for rigid and flexible media, with new AI tools in its PrintOS Production Hub. The printer is available from 1 December 2026, and its AI Automatic Print Mode Selection follows by firmware in early 2027. HP says one Production Hub tool cuts average order creation time by 90%, from a couple of minutes to a few seconds, and quotes users on an 80% improvement in order management and a 22% cut in substrate waste after a year. None of the three comes with a method or a sample size.

Vanguard, a Durst company, unveiled its Cumberland flatbed at the show with “print speeds of up to 6,588 sq. ft./hr. and 164 boards per hour”. Neither the print mode nor the board size behind either figure is stated. Durst brought back the P5 350 HS, shown at every edition since its 2019 launch, in a D4 high-speed configuration rated at up to 930 m² an hour. EFI brought the VUTEk M3h X and the FabriVU 340 i8 dye-sublimation printer, which has inline fixation, to US audiences.

Konica Minolta’s Embellishment Forge is software: a platform, powered by Adobe Print Services, that starts from a standard PDF and generates embellishment files for a participating print provider. It is not a finishing machine, which is how our Pulse of 29 September described it; that issue now carries a correction.

Three days after the show closed, EFI and Agfa announced that Agfa’s digital printing solutions business will combine with EFI, 60% held by an affiliate of Siris and 40% by Agfa, with about €540 million of pro forma revenue in 2026 and closing expected by the end of the year. Section 07 has what it means for owners of either maker’s presses.

Sources: HP via Large Format Review, 22 September 2026 · Large Format Review, Vanguard Cumberland, 24 September 2026 · Large Format Review, Durst at PRINTING United · EFI via Large Format Review, 23 September 2026 · Konica Minolta release via The Cannata Report, 23 September 2026 · Pulse, 29 September 2026 · EFI and Agfa, 28 September 2026