Digital ink jet pigment textile printing offers both opportunities and challenges when compared to traditional screen-printing. The application of colorant to textiles by ink jet printing is very different from screen-printing and the ink-fabric interactions produce different results. Ink jet pigment printing provides a very different set of printing and end use characteristics in the printed textile compared with traditional pigment printing techniques. In each of these aspects of ink jet pigment textile printing, there are potential advantages as well as challenges as the industry moves forward to embrace these new processes. This paper will address several of these differences, provide a review of the current state of the art and offer a perspective on potential future developments.