Manufacturer · Japan

Brother: all devices

Brother is a Japanese electronics group that, alongside printers and office technology, has built sewing and embroidery machines for over a hundred years. The most relevant products for makers are the ScanNCut cutting plotters with a built-in scanner and the SP1 sublimation printer, both sold through Brother Sewing Machines Europe. The brand is of interest to crafters, seamstresses and small creative businesses that want to use plotting, sublimation and embroidery from one system with the Artspira app.

In the wiki: 2 Devices in 2 Categories.

Sublimation printer (1) · Cutting plotters (1)

Pros and cons of Brother

Facts

History

According to Wikipedia, Brother goes back to Yasui Sewing Machine Co., founded in Nagoya in 1908; the first sewing machine under the Brother name followed in 1928, series production from 1932, and the renaming to Brother Industries, Ltd. in 1962. Today the group is broadly based (printers, multifunction devices, label printers, machine tools, sewing and embroidery machines) and reported around 42,800 employees and ¥876.56 billion in revenue for 2024. According to Wikipedia, the European household sewing machine business was consolidated in Brother Sewing Machines Europe GmbH in 2010, which according to Wirtschaftsforum is based in Bad Vilbel and also distributes cutting plotters alongside sewing and embroidery machines. According to its own press release, Brother introduced the first ScanNCut in 2013 and described it as the first hobby cutting plotter with a built-in scanner; the DX series with automatic blade adjustment followed in 2018. The SP1 sublimation printer came onto the market in 2023 (exact date not documented) and is listed under "Kreativdrucker" (creative printers) on the German site, together with the PrintModa Studio fabric printer.

Customer support and warranty

For its sewing and craft division there is a separate German-language website (sewingcraft.brother.eu/de-de) with a contact form, troubleshooting pages for sewing machines and ScanNCut, a dealer locator and product registration; drivers, manuals and software are in the Brother Solutions Center. According to the warranty terms, the warrantor is Brother Sewing Machines Europe GmbH: ScanNCut cutting plotters have a 2-year warranty on parts, labour and supplied accessories, "Kreativdrucker" (creative printers) 2 years on spare parts and repair, in each case only 1 year for commercial use; the SP1 is not named in the terms but, going by the website's product structure, falls under creative printers. The prerequisites are purchase as the first customer from an authorised Brother dealer with an invoice; demonstration and used devices are excluded, as are blades, mats and other wear parts, and claims go to the dealer, a service centre or, for ScanNCut, by email to info@scanncut.eu. The 3-year warranty advertised on brother.de applies to the printer and office division and does not mention ScanNCut or the SP1. On Trustpilot, sewingcraft.brother.eu has 3.2 out of 5 stars from only 4 reviews (as of October 2026), which is not meaningful.

Environment and commitment

The sewing division refers to an environmental policy (considering the entire product life cycle, compliance with the EU chemicals regulation REACH) and to the programme "Brother Earth" with a click-to-donate campaign for environmental projects. This page names no specific targets, figures or certificates.

Criticism and problems

No major documented problems found for ScanNCut or SP1. There have been recalls of other Brother products: in 2002 Brother recalled around 100,000 laser printers in the USA because of overheating and fire hazard (CPSC), and in Australia the VX-1410 sewing machine was recalled because of an electric shock hazard (date not given there). For the SP1, a hands-on test cites slow printing, expensive original ink and paper, and an Artspira app that still offers little for sublimation; the printer is designed for Brother sublimation ink. The warranty for ScanNCut and SP1 is shorter than for many Brother sewing machines, at 2 years (1 year for commercial use).

Research as of 10/2026. Information on support and reviews changes; please report errors via the Contact form.

Brother does not sell these devices directly in Germany, but through retailers.

Official help and wiki: Brother Sewing & Craft service and support