The inkjet textile printing technology collaboration driving M&R’s Polaris S4

In a market driven by demand for sustainability, quality and personalisation, M&R’s new Polaris S4 digital pretreat unit represents a major leap forward for Direct-to-Garment (DTG) and inkjet textile printing. But behind the breakthrough lies something even more powerful: a three-way collaboration between technology leaders Xaar, Nazdar and M&R, built on trust, innovation and a shared goal to innovate and disrupt the textile space.

Rethinking pretreatment for performance and quality

Traditional DTG systems have often struggled with pretreatment application. Applying fluid across a fixed rectangle around the print area often results in the ‘pretreat box’, visible discolouration and inconsistent results, especially on challenging garments like fleece or brightly coloured fabrics. For years, the industry has accepted these limitations in inkjet textile printing.

M&R saw the opportunity to solve this problem head-on, but doing so required rethinking how pretreatment was applied, the chemistry and hardware – which meant bringing in specialist partners.

The triangle of collaboration

Described by all the partners as a ‘triangle of collaboration’, this project brought together:

·         Xaar, with our Ultra High Viscosity technology and aqueous technology enabling precise, targeted jetting of pretreatment fluid only where it’s needed on the garment

·         Nazdar, who developed a robust, high viscosity pretreatment fluid tailored to the application

·         M&R, leveraging its deep DTG experience to integrate and industrialise the solution in record time

It’s not just about having technology that works – it’s also about having trusted partners who will work through the challenges together. That’s what made this project such a success.

The technology behind the transformation

At the heart of the Polaris S4 is our printhead technology, engineered for handling high viscosity fluids like Nazdar’s bespoke HighV Aqua Series reliably. Our Ultra High Viscosity capability, combined with our aqueous technology, allows the jetting of viscosities up to approx. 1000 centipoises (cP) at ambient temperature (around 100 cP at jetting temperature). This is key to reducing fluid use – achieving faster drying times, reducing energy consumption and leading to high-quality results in inkjet textile printing

Our printheads also feature TF Technology for continuous ink recirculation and AcuChp for automatic printhead tuning, ensuring consistent performance, self-management of nozzles and maximum uptime. These capabilities are particularly important in DTG environments, where uptime, precision and repeatability are essential.

This opened the door for Nazdar to apply their expertise to develop an advanced pretreatment fluid, optimised for seamless jetting with our printheads. As a result, the Polaris S4 Digital Pretreat Unit can apply the pretreat fluids only where the design requires it, rather than across the whole textile. That means no more boxes, less waste and dramatically improved print quality on a wider range of garments.

M&R leveraged its machine-building expertise to successfully integrate our printhead technology and utilise Nazdar’s pretreatment fluids in the Polaris S4 digital pretreat unit for inkjet textile printing. The scalable, modular system delivers targeted pretreatment placement, compatibility with difficult fabrics (such as fleece, red, green, or purple), brighter whites and enhanced colour saturation, sharper detail, and reduced consumables leading to lower cost per print.

Built to evolve

Rather than a one-off solution, the Polaris S4 was developed as an adaptable platform – one that could evolve with changing customer needs. The open, upgradeable design allows new fluids, technologies, or system capabilities to be integrated quickly and effectively.

That flexibility mirrors the strength of our collaboration with M&R and Nazdar – a partnership focused not only on solving today’s problems, but on shaping the future of inkjet textile printing.

A new standard for DTG pretreatment

What makes the Polaris S4 unique isn’t just what it does – it’s also how it was developed. The close, iterative partnership between Xaar, Nazdar and M&R transformed a shared vision into relentless innovation, achieving what none of us could have accomplished alone.

The machine sets a new benchmark for what’s possible in DTG and inkjet textile printing and shows how powerful collaboration can unlock solutions that are smarter, faster and more sustainable.

By combining innovative printhead technology, advanced fluids and M&R’s highly reliable machine platform, we’ve enabled a robust solution that meets the needs of the textile industry, which was brought to market in record time.

Find out more about how our aqueous technology is enabling a range of textile applications here.