Taking place five months before the London Olympics, the Printwear & Promotion Live trade show will place a major focus on sporting apparel and teamwear – welcome news for anyone producing custom polo shirts.

Sponsored by Printwear & Promotion, the leading trade journal, the show runs from February 26 – 28 at the NEC, Birmingham in what promises to be the biggest industry event for many years. 100 stands will be showcasing the latest in embroidery, digital and screen printing technology, while more than 40 clothing suppliers will be displaying their newest lines. Almost 20 exhibitors will be appearing for the first time, including Burrda Sport, Cotton Roots, H&B Clothing, Everything Environmental and Permaset Inks. However, t shirt printers will see plenty of familiar names from previous shows, including Absolute Apparel, AWD, Barudan, Continental Clothing and Fruit of the Loom.

To the delight of tshirt printing anoraks everywhere, a number of hardware manufacturers will be showcasing their products, including J&B Sewing Machine Co Ltd, who will be unveiling their new industrial duty AnaJet mpower Digital Apparel Printer. Resolute DTG will be demonstrating their popular R-Jet 4 textile printer.

Amaya will be demonstrating a cutting-edge way to personalise hoodies at the show, with their new Texjet Plus printer; a fast, compact machine offering full industrial strength performance, and handling images up to 42 x 60cm. Uploaded with the latest Rip software, the package includes pressurised ink cartridges, easy garment loading, auto-height adjustment, closed loop ink system and photo quality print resolution. Other features include an ink cost calculator, auto white mask generator and T shirt templates – all at a highly affordable price.