Playford-Browne joins Kornit as ANZ regional manager

Innovative digital textile printing solutions developer Kornit Digital has appointed well-known industry identity Ashley Playford-Browne as its new regional manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Playford-Browne is currently celebrating his 20 year anniversary in the digital print industry, having started with GI Solutions in 1999, and latterly working with Fujifilm as its national sales manager.

Andy Yarrow, president of Kornit Digital Asia Pacific, said, “the amount of interest for Kornit at the recent PrintEx show reinforced my optimism about the opportunities for Kornit in ANZ.

"The arrival of Playford-Browne, who has a huge amount of experience in the ANZ market and is a familiar face to anyone in the inkjet space, is a great step forward for us. I am delighted to have him join the Kornit team. We are looking forward to seeing our business in Australia and New Zealand grow under his leadership and guidance.”

Kornit technology solutions are distributed and serviced by Kissel + Wolf in ANZ, with whom Playford Brown will develop a close relationship.

He said, “I am thoroughly looking forward to working in this evolving and exciting market. When I started discussing this role with the team at Kornit, I could see instantly it was a company with a great vision for the future of the textile industry.”

Kornit has ambitious growth plans based on its direct to garment print technology. Its Avalanche PolyPro direct to polyester printer just took out a Hot Pick technology award at PrintEx, and is one of a range of solutions developed by the 15-year-old company.

“I have always had a strong belief that technology will change the way we purchase fashion goods, particularly online, but also understanding the other great benefits this technology offers just blew me away. Think of just in time manufacturing, print on demand, and fully customised fashion – these key production techniques allow brands to drastically reduce their inventory and make margin-crippling end-of-season sales a thing of the past.

 “You take the technology to the next level and it is going to provide the consumer with an online experience that surpasses what can be delivered in a physical store. These are exciting times for me, and I'm really excited to be working with our partner Kissel + Wolf to help shape the future of our local textile industry,” said Playford-Browne.