What has Gavin Watson launched?
Gavin Watson says the HP Indigo 35K installation, completed in July 2026, supports a new service for short and ultra-short digital packaging runs. The company is based in Blantyre near Glasgow and already operates an HP Indigo 6900.
Industry coverage published on 4 September by Print Monthly says the investment is intended to make smaller packaging quantities more commercially viable and reduce the need for brands to commit to the minimum order volumes normally associated with conventional production.
Labels & Labeling, which reported the installation on 26 August, said the new press will be used for work including prototypes, multiple design versions and personalised packaging. It also reported that reduced makeready requirements should allow the company to process more individual jobs per shift.
Why short-run packaging is becoming more important
The underlying commercial trend matters beyond the packaging sector itself. Product cycles are getting shorter, brands are managing more SKUs, and ecommerce and social-media-led launches can create demand for packaging that changes more frequently.
For a small clothing label, print-on-demand seller or personalised-gift business, that can make traditional high-volume packaging purchasing awkward. A brand may need cartons for a limited edition, influencer campaign, seasonal range or product test long before it knows whether the line will justify a large repeat order.
Digital short-run packaging can address that mismatch by allowing brands to order smaller batches, change artwork more frequently and test several versions without building the same level of packaging inventory.
Gavin Watson chief executive Tom Brown said the company wants growing brands to be able to access premium packaging without ordering more than they need. The company is positioning the service around faster turnaround, personalisation and commercially viable quantities for emerging brands.
What the HP Indigo 35K adds
The significance of the installation is less about one press model and more about the production model it enables.
According to the reports, Gavin Watson plans to use the system for:
- short and ultra-short carton runs;
- prototypes before larger production decisions;
- multiple artwork or design variants;
- personalised packaging applications; and
- faster handling of a larger number of distinct jobs.
The company is also developing skills around colour management, variable-data printing, workflow automation and digital press operation as its digital packaging work expands.
That combination is useful for brands whose packaging requirements are becoming less predictable. Rather than treating packaging as one large static order, digital production makes it easier to treat it as a flexible part of a campaign or product lifecycle.
What this could mean for UK ecommerce and custom clothing brands
For ElitePrints customers and other UK businesses buying custom garments or merchandise, the most relevant part of this story is the direction of travel.
The personalised-products market already operates around shorter runs, rapid design changes and highly segmented orders. Packaging is increasingly being asked to follow the same pattern.
A clothing startup might launch three T-shirt graphics in small quantities. An events supplier may need packaging branded for a single campaign. A personalised-gift seller could have multiple seasonal designs. In each case, ordering tens of thousands of identical cartons may be commercially inefficient.
More short-run digital packaging capacity in the UK gives businesses another route to coordinate packaging volumes more closely with actual sales and campaign demand.
It can also make experimentation easier. Brands can test alternative graphics, messaging or product variants before settling on a long-term packaging design. That is especially relevant for ecommerce businesses that make frequent creative changes based on customer response.
Potential inventory and waste benefits
The shift also has a sustainability angle, although the environmental outcome depends on materials, production choices and the wider supply chain.
Labels & Labeling reported that producing packaging on demand is expected to help customers reduce excess inventory, overproduction and unused packaging that becomes obsolete when a product or design changes.
For smaller brands, obsolete packaging is not only a waste issue; it is also tied-up cash and storage space. Ordering closer to immediate requirements can reduce that exposure, particularly during testing or early-stage growth.
Why this story matters for the UK print market
Digital print has already changed expectations around short-run labels, personalised products and garment decoration. The Gavin Watson investment illustrates the same economics moving further into folding-carton packaging: more versions, smaller quantities and faster response.
That is worth watching for UK print and ecommerce businesses because it narrows the gap between how quickly a brand can launch a product and how quickly its physical packaging can be produced.
For custom clothing and merchandise companies, it also points toward a more connected production model in which garments, labels, inserts and packaging can all be ordered in quantities that better match individual campaigns rather than a single large forecast.
The immediate news is one Scottish printer's investment. The wider signal is that short-run, personalised and on-demand production continues to spread across adjacent print categories — potentially giving smaller UK brands more flexibility in how they bring products to market.
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