2026 Pinnacle Awards: The DTF and Heat Press Winners

PRINTING United Alliance announced its 2026 Pinnacle Award winners on June 25, 2026: 71 products across 25 Output, 32 Non-Output, and 14 Technology categories. For DTF shops the ones that matter are the M&R Orbiter in the direct-to-film category, Brown Manufacturing Group's Stomper Yet-Tee automated DTF lines in Technology, Easy Group's MagicInk for textile digital inks, Siser's Brick 600 Pearl for cuttable heat transfer material, the Insta Graphic Systems Model 421 heat press, and Mimaki's UJV300DTF-75 for UV DTF on rigid substrates.

The winning products will be on display at the Alliance membership booth during PRINTING United Expo, September 23 to 25 in Las Vegas. Our PRINTING United 2026 DTF preview has the booth-by-booth plan.

How the Pinnacle Awards Work

The Pinnacle Product Awards are judged by independent industry panels on innovation, functionality, and impact. Lindsay Ferrari, the Alliance's program administrator, said the 2026 winners "showcase the creativity, technical achievement, and forward-thinking vision that continue to advance print." Companies enter their own products, so a category winner is the best of what was submitted, not a survey of the whole market.

Direct-to-Film: M&R Orbiter

The Orbiter is an automatic DTF application system, not a printer. It is a rotary indexing machine with three or four heat press stations, an automatic placement station that lifts each transfer with suction cups and sets it on the garment, and an automatic peel station that removes the film after pressing. Splitting the press cycle across several platens is how M&R reaches its rated output of more than 360 transfers per hour with a single operator.

M&R designed the Orbiter around its own Quatro DTF transfers, and it is available with or without the auto place and peel stations. It is the first mainstream answer to the labor bottleneck that our DTF transfer economics guide identifies as the real ceiling on DTF volume: printing is fast, pressing one shirt at a time is not.

Technology: Brown Manufacturing Stomper Yet-Tee Automated DTF Systems

Brown Manufacturing Group won in the Technology awards for its Stomper Yet-Tee automated DTF systems, the same lines DuPont will run with powderless jettable adhesive at its PRINTING United booth. The Yet-Tee platform moves film from printer through adhesive and curing without manual handoffs. Our powderless DTF explainer covers the DuPont JA1100 adhesive it will be paired with at the show.

Textile Digital Inks: Easy Group MagicInk

Easy Group, the company behind the DTGPRO brand, won the textile digital inks category for MagicInk, a patent-pending ink it describes as clog-free. Announced as a winner on August 11, 2026, MagicInk is aimed at a different buyer than the rest of this list: it prints onto DTF film from standard desktop Canon and Epson printers as well as conventional DTF machines, then cures with DTF powder or with Easy Group's MAGICLINE HTF foil and colored powder system, which does not require white ink.

Dr. Dimitris Constantinou of Easy Group said the ink "was developed to solve a real-world problem that textile printers face every day," referring to the pigment settling and daily maintenance that white DTF ink demands. Easy Group sells it in bulk bottles and refillable cartridges. Independent wash testing has not been published, so it belongs in the same wait-and-see column as the other alternatives in our DTF ink and film brand comparison.

Cuttable Heat Transfer Material: Siser Brick 600 Pearl

Siser North America won the cuttable heat transfer material category for the Pearl colors of Brick 600, its 600-micron dimensional HTV. The Pearl line adds a pearlescent finish to the raised, matte product reviewed in our Siser Brick review. The award came three weeks before STAHLS' announced it had acquired Siser North America.

Heat Press: Insta Graphic Systems Model 421

Insta Graphic Systems received a Non-Output award for the Model 421, a 6 x 6 inch manual clamshell press with a $1,195 MSRP. It uses a touchscreen controller with programmable presets, cast aluminum construction, and a pressure mechanism centered over the upper platen that drives force to all four corners through struts. Insta positions it for DTF and traditional transfers on small areas such as sleeves, pockets, and labels, the use cases covered in our heat press buying guide.

UV DTF to Rigid Substrates: Mimaki UJV300DTF-75

Mimaki USA won the UV-DTF to rigid substrate category for the UJV300DTF-75, which Mimaki calls its first purpose-built UV DTF printer. It ships as a complete workflow with Mimaki UV inks, dedicated UV DTF film, RIP software, and compatibility with the CG-AR cutter, and it produces the film-and-laminate transfers used on tumblers, signage, and curved hard goods. Josh Hope, Mimaki USA's director of marketing, called the award "continued validation of Mimaki's engineering standards." Mimaki also won for the TS200-1600 dye-sublimation printer. Our UV DTF vs DTF comparison explains where UV DTF fits.

Also Recognized in Garment Decoration

• Direct-to-garment: Kornit Digital's MATRIX and M&R's Polaris S4 industrial DTG platform. M&R won a third award for its Qwik-Klean squeegee cleaner.
• Dye sublimation: Epson SureColor F20070 and F9570H, and the Mimaki TS200-1600.
• UV flatbed: Mutoh America's XpertJet 661UF, a compact UV-LED flatbed with a 19 x 23 inch bed and automatic table height control for objects up to 5.91 inches thick.
• Screen printing: DCC Group's Copperhead ProMini automatic garment press.

What the 2026 Winners Say About DTF

Three of the six DTF-relevant winners are automation products rather than printers. The Orbiter automates pressing, the Yet-Tee automates the film path, and the Sentinel-style vision cutters from other vendors automate finishing. Printer speed stopped being the constraint in DTF production about two years ago; the awards reflect where the industry's engineering money is going now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What won the 2026 Pinnacle Award for DTF?

M&R Printing Equipment's Orbiter automatic direct-to-film application system won the direct-to-film category in PRINTING United Alliance's 2026 Pinnacle Product Awards, announced June 25, 2026.

What is the M&R Orbiter?

The M&R Orbiter is a rotary automatic DTF application system with three or four heat press stations, automatic transfer placement using suction cups, and automatic film peeling. M&R rates it at more than 360 transfers per hour with a single operator. Pricing is by quote.

How many 2026 Pinnacle Awards were given?

PRINTING United Alliance presented 71 awards in 2026: 25 Output winners, 32 Non-Output winners, and 14 Technology winners.

Where can I see the Pinnacle Award winners?

Winning products are displayed at the PRINTING United Alliance membership booth during PRINTING United Expo, September 23 to 25, 2026, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, and in the online winners gallery at pinnacleawards.printing.org.

Related Resources

Read the STS XPD-924D review and the Mimaki TxF330-800 announcement for the production printers that will share the show floor with these winners, and browse the DTF printer directory for current pricing.