Kili Arts on garment printing and why you should support local business

Inside Kili Arts is a series of blogs that takes you inside our office in Slough and introduces you to the people behind the Kili Arts. Get to know the Kili Arts team members in a more personal way and find out who we are, what we love, and what we do in and outside the office.

On a long list of misconceptions about direct to garment printing, the idea that it’s not as long lasting as other printing methods sits at the top. Kili Arts founder and Director, Jagdeep Panesar, begs to differ. “I wasn’t really into the idea of direct to garment printing until my friend introduced it to me,” he says. “I went to one demonstration, printed a few T-shirts and I was obsessed with the result and the quality.” And Jagdeep knows good quality.

The Kenyan-native started his career in 1999 working for the UK government before deciding to focus on photography in a highly competitive industry. “I decided to take my professional photography as a career supporting the family business at East West Photography” he explains. “Along with my brother-in-law Gurwinder Soor, we purchased our first large format printer to support our photography clients in 2013. This led to the creation of Kili Arts. It was a natural step for Jagdeep and his team, it made sense to manage the framing and packaging in house – so each album or print can be quality checked internally.

We went on to support local photographers before expanding the printing business and purchasing our second large format printer which allowed us to specialise in printing the ChromaLuxe HD Metal prints. 4 years since we started, the business has three areas that have grown through working with local businesses in our surrounding areas. Our Large Format print service supports local businesses especially in advertising, our Fine Art print service that support many artists and photographers and our ever growing Garment print service which does not have a minimum number order restriction.

Our plans for next 12-18 months will be to move from our 3000sqft space to a much bigger space allowing all three areas of the business to have a dedicated space and showrooms. We currently have six full time staff and one part time.