NOW AVAILABLE: Find Ultraflex Products at LexJet

At LexJet, we’re always looking to add more of the products you love. Today, we’ve expanded our line of Ultraflex-branded products. So now you can find the Ultraflex products you love and receive the personalized customer service you count on with LexJet.

As a full-service dealer of Ultraflex products, LexJet will provide the consistent, reliable products you need, including Ultraflex’s line of banners, films, textiles, wallcoverings and canvas for a variety of applications, such as soft signage, building wraps, banners, floor and wall murals, tradeshow graphics, digital fine art reproductions and more.

“We’re excited to further our partnership with Ultraflex,” says Justin Lehman, VP of Sales for LexJet. “Customers know they’ll get consistent results when printing to Ultraflex substrates, as well as having access to the right products in stock at the right time. At LexJet, customers will receive the same quality at the same price they expect with Ultraflex products.”

For more information about Ultraflex products and how they can help grow your business, call a LexJet print specialist at 800-453-9538.

Visit S-One at GlobalShop @ RetailX in Chicago

For the first time, our parent company, S-One, will feature a booth at GlobalShop @ RetailX later this month in Chicago. Inside the booth, S-One will feature a number of exciting materials, perfect for retail environments.

Because the media you use matters, our team has hand-selected the best materials to bring your vision to life — all of which are available through LexJet. You can trust your most important graphics, signage and visuals to the materials we provide, whether you’re focused on high-impact graphics, color matching or environmentally-friendly media or if you simply need to stay within a strict budget.

Plus, every material we’ll highlight offer an ease-of-use that will make your floor transitions a breeze. When you stop by GlobalShop booth 5063, our team will demonstrate how easy the media is to handle.

Some of the products that will be on display include:

  • HP Backlit Fabric
  • HP Adhesive Vinyl
  • Vescom Gold and Silver Mylar wallcoverings
  • Fredrix Metallic Canvas
  • Fisher Textiles stretch fabrics
  • HP Recycled Satin Canvas
  • ChromaLuxe photo panels
  • UltraFlex Signetics magnetic receptive media

So whether your team is working with aqueous, latex, solvent or dye-sub print technology, there is a solution for you. We look forward to seeing you at GlobalShop @ RetailX later this month. If you have questions about retail signage, please give one of our print experts a call at 800-453-9538.

Shift Your Focus on Wide-Format with LexJet at SGIA 2018

As a print service provider and business owner, you know it’s critical to keep your eye on what you do best, while also smartly diversifying your business with new offerings for your customers. Gone are the days that we can get by on banner prints alone! Thanks to ever-evolving print technology and media offerings, new opportunities exists in décor, textile printing and even outdoor graphics.

When you start to shift your focus on what you’ve always done in wide-format printing to what you can do in the future, you’re sure to see a boost in your bottom line and discover new and exciting markets that will delight your customers. Check out these three key ways to grow your business and if you’re headed to SGIA Expo in Las Vegas, Oct. 18-20, be sure to stop by booth 1185 to learn more from our print specialists:

LexJet Flex Tek

Increasing your profits: As a customer-focused supplier of printers and media, we’re always on the lookout for the best products at the most advantageous prices for print service providers. We’re seeing some exciting offerings in outdoor signage, and we’ve brought those to market this year. We partnered with Avery Dennison to provide a full line of exciting vinyl products for a huge variety of applications. We’ve also launched LexJet Flex Tek, a PVC-free, recyclable, non-woven technical fabric that can be used as either a banner or a non-cracking canvas for gallery wraps. Print service providers should be excited about dual-action products like this, and we expect to bring more environmentally friendly, versatile products to market in the coming months.

Mastering new markets: If you’re a print service provider and you’re not at least sticking your big toe into the décor market, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. We’ve seen a wide array of exciting finishes and designs introduced into our wallcovering lines that are compatible with latex and solvent. But even if you operate an aqueous printer, you can also get in on the action. Décor doesn’t stop on the walls – it includes canvas prints, fine art reproductions, photo enlargements, textile printing and so much more. Dye-sub printers have more options than ever, thanks to advances in outdoor metal panels, like those from the ChromaLuxe EXT line.

EnduraFab Textiles

Answering customer demand: If there’s one thing we’ve been hearing from end users it’s that they want more printed fabric! This started in the soft signage arena but has quickly expanded into trade show graphics as well as décor. PSP’s customers love fabric because it drapes elegantly in retail environments and can be easily swapped out by any employee. Fabrics used for trade show exhibits also quickly pack up and ship for less than films or vinyl. Screen printers cornered the market on printed fabrics for decades, but with the advances in latex-compatible textiles, we’re seeing gorgeous results in specially formulated fabrics for elegant, lightweight, easy-to-handle modern signage.

To discover products in each of these areas and to learn how to shift your focus on wide format and expand you’re offering, visit LexJet’s SGIA Expo booth 1185. We’ll be featuring the latest print technology and helping you to tie it to your customers’ applications.

If you still need a free SGIA Expo pass, we’ve got you covered! To register for your free pass from LexJet, click HERE and follow the instructions.

Print Protection Tips: When to Use Liquid Coating

For prints that are subjected to direct light, wear-and-tear or even graffiti, one of the most economical ways to protect them is with a coat or two of liquid coating. Water-based coatings, such as Sunset Gloss or Satin Coating as well as Marabu ClearShield and EnduraCoat options provide consistent, reliable and cost-effective print protection for everything from canvas wraps to wall murals to outdoor signage.

The benefit of using a liquid coating include abrasion resistance, extending the life of the graphic and making it easier to clean them, which is especially helpful for outdoor signage that falls victim to those graffiti artists. Coatings can also change the image’s finish — from gloss to matte, for example — which is one way to reduce the glare of a glossy print.

Ink Interaction & Coatings

While ink technology in inkjet printing has evolved significantly in recent years, even latex or solvent inks can use added protection from a liquid coating, especially for long-lasting or high-traffic prints (think: wallcoverings).

It’s especially helpful for prints displayed in direct sun, which need help against the UV light that can eventually wear away any ink. It’s important to remember, however, that ink-and-coating combinations can sometimes behave in an unpredictable way. Best to test compatibility before coating an entire job.

StarLam coating for water-based coatings

Water-based & UV Coatings

Water-based Coatings: For smaller jobs, a water-based coating is the way to go since they can be roller, mop or machine applied. These are great cost-effective alternatives to thermal or pressure-sensitive laminates. Since they are liquid, water-based coatings can conform to uneven surfaces when needed, which a laminate film cannot typically do.

These can also be machine-applied. Check out this video to see how easy it is to use the Marabu StarLam coating machine. Waterbased coatings range from $0.08 – $0.18 per square foot.

Machine-applied UV liquid coating

UV Coatings: Machine-applied UV coatings provide longer life at a lower cost, $0.04 – $0.10 per square foot, depending on the product. Our line of Mara Shield UV coatings are application-based, such as anti-graffiti, corrugated board and rigid or flexible substrates.

UV coatings dramatically extend the life of prints and intensify the color vibrancy of printed images. The MegaCoat XL 63 UV Coater can handle everything from films to boards that are 1-inch thick.

To learn more about coating, ink and substrate compatibility, check out our Print Protection page or call at LexJet coatings expert at 800-453-9538.

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Hotels Are Becoming Fine Art Spaces — But Where Do They Buy Their Art?

Queen Elizabeth sits serenely with eyes closed in a giant photograph — perhaps meant to lull viewers to sleep. Her portrait is not on display in a museum, rather, she hangs in the lobby of London’s Churchill Hyatt Regency, part of a growing trend of hotels that are using artwork to create a unique and memorable experience for their guests. But where do hotels buy their art?

Whether a Hilton, Hyatt or Marriott, these franchises must all meet branding specifications set by a parent company. Art selection, on the other hand, is usually determined by an architect or interior design team hired by the hotel owner. There are also Boutique Hospitality Art Consultants who negotiate with working artists to create custom art packages for hotels.

Art consultancies will often locate artwork from local artists through area art galleries for global placement in luxury hotels around the world. One way for local art galleries to stay informed is to partner with the American Society of Interior Designers Association. This partnership helps galleries get an inside track on current and upcoming interior design projects.

Sometimes these design projects require high-volume and quick turnaround and that’s where digital print technology comes in. Galleries and designers look for quality substrates such as Fredrix Canvas to reproduce museum quality work for their guestroom art pieces. Artists know they can trust their work to Fredrix because of their 150-year-old legacy of making fine canvas products in the U.S.

Fredrix 777VWR Vivid Matte Canvas – is an 18-mil, bright-white, poly/cotton canvas with a 2-over-1 weave. This water-resistant canvas is the smoothest of the Fredrix aqueous canvas line, making it the perfect choice for highly detailed, photographic, decorative gallery wraps on canvas.

Fredrix 901SGSJ Artisan Semi-Gloss Canvas – A poly/cotton blend, 2-over-1 canvas is specially engineered to create beautiful prints with the latest solvent, eco-solvent, and latex inks, providing a wide color gamut, exceptional Dmax, and a consistent, subtle texture.

For more information on Fredrix Canvas offerings, call 800-453-9538 to speak with a LexJet sales representative or visit lexjet.com to purchase Fredrix Canvas today – available exclusively through LexJet.

From Banners to Canvas, the All-new LexJet FlexTek Can Do It All

Looking for a multi-functional material that performs for a variety of uses, from canvas to banners and beyond? The new LexJet FlexTek PVC-free, non-woven technical fabric can do it all for a wide range of both indoor and outdoor applications.

Available in both 200g SUV and 170g aqueous versions, FlexTek is finished with a slight texture that looks and feels like traditional fabric. With great tear strength, it can go from grommeted banners to stretched canvas wraps to pole pockets for multiple signage possibilities, including outdoor use (short-term outdoor with 170g aqueous). Plus, with no plasticizers, you get consistent results that you can rely on.

Starting at $0.35 per square foot, FlexTek a versatile, budget-beating, environmentally friendly option.

Product Highlights:

  • PVC-free (no plasticizers) and recyclable with a wide range of post-use options
  • Multi-functional material so you can carry less inventory
  • Comparable to canvas, fabric and other banner materials
  • Cuts clean with no fraying like a fabric
  • Grommetable, stretchable, stitchable
  • Images look great from a distance or up-close

Watch the video above to learn more, and give a LexJet print specialist a call at 800-453-9538 to learn more ways that LexJet FlexTek can work for you.