THE textile printer and dyer Stead McAlpin is investing and expanding - and has created 20 jobs so far this year.

The company has installed a digital printing machine at its works in Cummersdale, near Carlisle, to "test the water" for short bespoke runs.

Managing director Joshua Soper said the equipment had cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

He added: "It is a digital printing machine. It is on a small scale because we are just testing the waters with it more than anything else. But it is the way a lot of our main competitors are going.

"You have very small scale runs on this type of printer so we anticipate the main customers will be our high-end clients or start ups who just want a small amount."

He said the firm has had access to this kind of equipment at its design studio in Macclesfield for about 10 years.

The new device sits alongside the existing flat and rotary printers. More digital printers could be installed, if demand continues to rise.

"The area we have designated for it has space for another three machines," Mr Soper added.

He said that digital printers bring a number of benefits to customers.

"It gives you an unlimited number of colours rather than the flat bed where 24 is the maximum," he continued.

"You can also do more photographic printing, which you cannot do on other machines.

"This is something that we have been looking into for quite a while.

"We are very excited and I wouldn't say we have been missing out but it is a part of the industry where a lot of people are going."

The company is not hiring additional staff specifically to work on the digital printer, but its workforce is growing.

Mr Soper said: "We now have 95 people and we were at 75 before the turn of the year."

The order books are healthy and business is going well as retailers increasingly look to stock high quality, British-made textile products.

"A part of that has to be one of our main competitors flooding in December [the Cummersdale site escaped flooding] and also it is down to more aggressive sales and marketing," Mr Soper added.

"In the future we are looking to expand more but at the moment I think we are where we need to be."

The investment follows an £8m funding package to finance growth that Stead McAlpin's owner, R Soper, agreed with Lloyds Bank in 2014.

The company acquired Stead McAlpin - which dates from 1835 - in 2009 after the previous owner, Apex, went into administration.

Apex had bought the business from the John Lewis Partnership in 2007.

The Cummersdale factory now accounts for two thirds of R Soper’s turnover.

R Soper was founded as a drapery shop in Lytham, near Blackpool, more than 90 years ago.

It is now based in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, employs more than 300 people and supplies home furnishings such as curtains and furniture coverings to major retailers.

It is also the largest producer of blinds in the UK.