T-Shirt Printing: Kornit Posts Q1 Growth as Atlas Metrics and Apollo Gain Traction

Kornit Digital closed the first quarter of 2026 with $48.5 million in revenue at the top end of guidance and a narrowed EBITDA loss of $2.8 million, driven by a 12% year-over-year jump in trailing-twelve-month impressions and a sales mix tilting decisively toward new customers leaving screen printing behind. Forty percent of Q1 system sales went to net-new accounts, while 65% of all deals landed with traditional screen printers targeting long-run work, a clear signal that digital is no longer confined to short-run customization and is now eating into the core analog production base that has powered the decorated-apparel supply chain for decades.

Atlas Metrics Breaks Through Polyester's Digital Print Ceiling

CEO Ronen Samuel told analysts on the company's May 13 earnings call that the Connections 2026 event in Miami, which drew nearly 600 attendees including hundreds of existing customers and a "strong mix" of new prospects, brands, retailers, and fulfillers, became the stage for Atlas Metrics, a single-platform system capable of producing across cotton, polyester, and blends with what Samuel described as "industrial scale quality, durability, consistency, and efficiency." Powered by Kornit's proprietary Karbon Shield technology, Metrics addresses dye migration the technical limitation that has kept polyester sportswear, performance apparel, and athleisure out of reach for most digital direct-to-garment workflows. Samuel said customer feedback "exceeded our expectations," and the company is already building a "meaningful backlog" of upgrade orders from the installed Atlas Max and Atlas Max Poly base, as well as new system sales. Metrics will be officially released at FESPA Barcelona the week of May 19, where Kornit expects additional orders from European customers. The first beta-site shipments and upgrades began generating revenue in Q2 2026, with the bulk of upgrade activity forecast for Q3 and early Q4. Kornit previously disclosed that roughly 30% of run lengths below 1,000 pieces are printed on polyester, primarily for sports and athleisure a segment where digital has struggled to deliver wash-fast, migration-free color. With Metrics, that $1.8 billion slice of Kornit's addressable market is now in play.

Apollo Moves Into Cut-Piece Territory and India Places First Orders

Also demonstrated live at Connections, Apollo took a technical step forward: Kornit showed cut-piece printing for the first time, automating a workflow historically difficult to scale digitally. Samuel said the response from screen printers "looking to replace analog" was "very strong," and the company has already secured an order in India specifically for this application, opening markets in Portugal, Latin America, and Eastern Europe where cut-piece decoration is standard. Apollo's value proposition centers on throughput, automation, and consistency at bulk and mid-run volumes exactly the production profile where screen printing has been unbeatable on cost per piece. Samuel noted that relatively new Apollo customers, such as Promos Inc. (which became a Kornit customer in 2025), expanded their fleets in Q1 2026 with multiple Atlas Max systems via the AIC (all-inclusive click) subscription model and are now beta-testing Metrics. Another example, Printis, a high-volume Canadian screen printer focused on sports and athleisure, added multiple Atlas Max systems during Q1 and committed to upgrade its entire fleet to Metrics, including planned U.S. expansions. These cases illustrate that initial digital adoption is no longer a one-system trial once a screen printer sees operational proof, fleet expansion follows within months.

AIC Subscriptions Double as Impressions Drive Recurring Revenue

CFO Assaf Zipori reported that AIC revenue grew approximately 103% year-over-year, with Kornit ending Q1 at roughly $27 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) after adding $2.1 million during the quarter. Samuel said the company expects a "meaningful step-up" in ARR in Q2, with continued acceleration through the second half of 2026, based on signed backlog, advanced pipeline, and customers already committed to AIC. More than 90% of new customers entering from the screen market are adopting AIC, Samuel told Morgan Stanley analyst Maya Neuman. In contrast, adoption among existing customized-design accounts is mixed some prefer CapEx purchases because they understand the cost structure and want to avoid per-impression charges, while newcomers to digital lean toward AIC for its predictability and lower upfront commitment. The strategic advantage of AIC, Samuel explained, is that customers on subscription contracts print more impressions on average than CapEx buyers, driven by contractual minimums and volume incentives. That higher utilization feeds consumables revenue and improves gross margin over time. Q1 gross margin came in at 41%, down from 45.2% in Q1 2025, pressured by a heavier mix of systems and services relative to consumables (typical of seasonal patterns), plus a 190-basis-point hit from shekel strengthening and tariff-related costs. Zipori said he expects gross margin to improve sequentially in Q2 and more meaningfully in the second half as utilization and recurring revenues scale.

Print Factory Acquisition and Presto Max Push Into New Segments

Kornit announced the acquisition of Print Factory, a production workflow and color-management software platform already deployed across "thousands of production sites globally," according to Samuel. The deal, expected to close in Q2 2026, accelerates Kornit's strategy to build what Samuel called "the connected digital infrastructure for the textile and apparel industry, connecting demand generation, workflow, production, and fulfillment into one scalable ecosystem." As digital production moves beyond short-run customization and into scaled manufacturing, Print Factory's advanced color management and workflow automation become critical particularly for multi-site operators and contract decorators managing brand-approved production programs. Days after Connections, Kornit introduced Presto Max Plus at Texprocess in Frankfurt, targeting footwear, technical apparel, camouflage, performance wear, and home décor. Powered by Kornit's DuraTech architecture, Presto Max delivers "exceptional durability and print performance on demanding fabrics and applications that historically were impossible to address with digital production," Samuel said. Customer feedback on print durability, fabric flexibility, and the ability to eliminate traditional pre- and post-processing was "extremely positive," and Kornit is seeing a growing pipeline of opportunities and orders. Samuel disclosed that Kornit has "a specific project on compression" with one of the biggest brands, though he did not name the partner. Presto Max also plays into military camouflage a massive addressable market where Kornit held "tens of meetings" with military personnel at Texprocess, driven by interest in the durability unlocked by DuraTech.

Industry Outlook

The Q1 earnings call and product roadmap reveal a company no longer pitching digital as a customization upside it's positioning as the successor to rotary screen and manual screen printing in volume production. Metrics removes the polyester barrier. Apollo automates cut-piece workflows that screen has owned for decades. Print Factory ties it all together with color consistency and production control software that enterprise buyers and brand compliance teams demand. The 12% YoY impression growth shows that utilization is rising across the installed base, not just among new buyers, and the 103% AIC revenue jump confirms that Kornit's business model is shifting from one-time hardware sales to recurring, usage-based contracts. For contract decorators, the message is clear: digital is no longer a question of if, but when and how fast. Screen printers who wait risk losing programs to competitors who can print blended fabrics, automate cut pieces, and document water savings in brand audits. The Atlanta-based fulfillment operators serving Kornit's top ten customers collectively printed over 200 million garments in 2024, according to Samuel proof that industrial-scale DTG is already here, not coming. The risk for smaller shops is not obsolescence overnight, but margin erosion as brands route volume work to digitally capable suppliers who can hit shorter lead times and tighter color tolerances.

What This Means

Coimbatore's knit and apparel cluster has historically leaned on screen printing and export-grade dyeing, but the Kornit results underscore a broader reality: buyers in North America and Europe are tightening water-use audits, shortening lead times, and demanding sample-to-production speeds that screen setups can't match below 1,000 pieces. Metrics and Apollo aren't replacing screen presses next quarter, but they're qualifying for programs that would have automatically gone to screen two years ago. Local converters and garment units evaluating digital investment should focus on three questions: Can you print polyester blends without migration? Can you automate cut-piece workflows? And can you document per-piece water savings in an audit? If the answer to all three is no, your export pipeline is at risk not today, but within 18 months as brand procurement teams expand their digitally qualified supplier lists.