Bespoke suitcase company Personalised Luggage has installed two new HP DesignJet Z6810 printers to help it meet increasing demand for its unique product - while making substantial savings on ink.
Personalised Luggage prints on demand standard suitcases with images or corporate branding, inserted into a transparent shell on the case. Popular designs are colourful artwork, bold monograms, caricatures and brand logos. The business was built on the foundation of a corporate gifts company, which works with blue-chip companies to fulfil bulk orders of printed merchandise. Seeing an opportunity to move into a new category of customised products - printed on-demand - Stephen Isaacs founded Personalised Luggage in 2014.
With no minimum order and an easy-to-use website, Personalised Luggage sells to both individual customers looking for a one-off product and big names buying several branded pieces for use by its sales team or as corporate gifts.
The new business began by outsourcing the printed work, but soon invested in second-hand printing systems to have greater control over quality and costs. However, as production grew, these printers began to creak under the pressure and this summer one eventually suffered a breakdown.
"We had been using second-hand and ex-demo printers, but we're now at the next stage of our business: to buy new, more and better equipment," comments Stephen Isaacs.
Personalised Luggage had been using software from OneFlow, which HP acquired in June, so Stephen explains 'it made sense' to also install HP hardware as part of its workflow. HP, with HP Gold Partner PSW Print & Paper Ltd, were called in to see how it could help this small but rapidly growing business.
Initially, Personalised Luggage was loaned a HP DesignJet to enable it to get back to work, just two days following the breakdown. Looking for a permanent solution, Stephen Isaacs reviewed his options and - with advice from Tom Skinner of PSW - selected the HP DesignJet Z6810 aqueous production printer. This system delivers consistent, accurate colours on a wide range of printing materials at high speeds - and offers exceptional ink efficiency.
The Personalised Luggage Director comments: "The new HP DesignJet uses around 40 per cent less ink compared to our old non-HP printer so we're seeing those savings already, following its installation in August. The print quality is also better, and the printer is more efficient and cost effective overall."
Stephen Isaacs does not come from a printing background and says he 'is learning every day' - but is finding the new HP DesignJet Z6810 easy to use. Personalised Luggage is already expanding into other travel accessories, such as passport wallets, luggage tags and earpods, with more plans for the future.
For more information on Personalised Luggage, please visit www.personalisedluggage.com
For more information on HP, please visit: www.hp.com
