Better Banners: When to Choose Vinyl or Fabric for Event Signage

Banner printing is a staple in many print shops, and vinyl was the go-to for years. However, fabric is a top trend lately that customers demand these days. While fabric used for banners has some advantages, vinyl is still the top option in many circumstances. We put together this quick hit list on when to choose which media for the best event banner results:

Printer capabilities. If you have an aqueous printer, vinyl is generally your best bet. Fabric works well on latex or dye-sub printers. However, LexJet does offer LexJet Poly Select Heavy, for example, which works on aqueous or latex printers. It’s a good option when you want the drape of a fabric, but a heavier option that won’t curl like vinyl. It’s also available in Poly Select Light and Poly Select Medium that are multi-tasking products that can be used for backlit signs and trade show displays.

rodeo bannerEnvironment. Asking your customer where the banner will be displayed and what the ambiance is are the two most important questions to help you deliver the best banner for their expectations. At a casual, outdoor sporting event, a vinyl banner with grommets can deliver great results for the money. However, as Nackard Companies found when working on the Chuck Sheppard Memorial Roping event, opting for LexJet Poly Select Heavy was a great outdoor choice because when the signage hit the chain-link fence, it didn’t make as much noise as vinyl would, which could spook the animals in the rodeo.

Print Fabric, Save Money: 35% off Poly Select Blockout Fabric

Poly Select Blockout Fabric is an excellent choice for banner stand displays, as well as special event graphics, like these banners that bookend the stage at a special event by Jojo Monster Graphics.
Poly Select Blockout Fabric is an excellent choice for banner stand displays, as well as special event graphics, like these banners that bookend the stage at a special event by Jojo Monster Graphics.

LexJet Poly Select Blockout Fabric is on sale at 35 percent off the regular price, but only until Oct. 4. Ideal for banner stand displays, LexJet Poly Select Blockout Fabric is a 14-mil bright-white polyester fabric with a blockout layer that provides greater opacity.

Compatible with aqueous and latex inks, the fabric lays flat, minimizing edge curl and making it easy to work with in production.

“The image quality with the Poly Select Blockout Fabric is really good,” says Joe Batten, owner of JojoMonster Graphics in Venice, Calif. “We used it to print hanging banners at a charity event. We needed something lightweight that we could add rigidity to with pole pockets and dowels, and we didn’t want the light to show through and prevent the image from looking good on the printed side.”

The water-resistant coating provides exceptional imaging quality with a wide color gamut and higher ink saturation for rich, brilliant, eye-catching color. In addition to display, event and trade show signage, Poly Select Blockout Fabric is also an excellent alternative to scrim banner for durable banner applications.

For more information, and to take advantage of this limited-time offer, call a LexJet print specialist at 800-453-9538.

Roping up Fabric Banners for Rodeos

Fabric Banners for a Rodeo

Special events are an increasingly important branding opportunity for the Nackard Companies and the beverage brands it represents in the Arizona market. As the beverage distributor’s experience with Dew Downtown, the annual snow-shredding competition through downtown Flagstaff, has illustrated, a successful and growing special event provides brand saturation beyond the point of sale.

This summer is rodeo season in Arizona, and Nackard is branding at four different rodeos. The first one of the summer started just three years ago and Nackard was there as a sponsor and a print provider from the beginning.

The Chuck Sheppard Memorial Roping event at the Prescott Frontier Days Rodeo Grounds brings calf and team ropers together to honor Chuck Sheppard, a famous horseman and roper, and to support various area scholarships.

Fabric Banners by the Nackard CompaniesWith an average of about 30 sponsors per year, Nackard’s job is to provide 3×8 banners to line the fences around the rodeo grounds. Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager for the Nackard Companies, created a template that includes one of Nackard’s brands and one of the sponsoring companies.

The rodeo’s first request was for banners that wouldn’t make a lot of noise when they flapped in the breeze and struck the fencing. It seems the animals get a little spooked when that happens, and the last thing a roper needs is a spooked animal in the ring.

So, Lalio suggested LexJet Poly Select Heavy for the banners, and the solution worked. Though it’s a heavy, durable fabric, it doesn’t make a lot of noise against the fencing if it flaps around, or at least enough noise to get up the hackles of a bull.

“If every sponsor notices what we did with the banners, they’ll want the fabric material because they print well, look nice and are lighter than typical banner material,” says Lalio, who prints the banners on the shop’s Canon iPF8000S. “What’s also nice about the fabric is that we can run them without lamination, so all we do is print, put Banner Ups and grommets in the corner, roll them up and send them out.”

Wall Flowers with Print-N-Stick Fabric

Wall Mural on Print-N-Stick Fabric

Though it may not seem quite like spring in certain parts of the country, the calendar says, “Yes, indeed, it is spring.” And so does Macy’s, which launched its Spring Flower Show last week in select cities.

An important component of the Macy’s Spring Flower Show is the art that decorates the spaces converted for the annual show within Macy’s stores.

Macy's Wall Mural
This is the mock-up that Larry Cooke, owner of Lake Media Services, came up with for the Macy’s Spring Flower Show. Cooke says LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric replicated it perfectly.

At the Macy’s Chicago location, Lake Media Services Inc., owned by long-time print industry veteran Larry Cooke, was called upon to produce a background mural consistent with Macy’s Spring Flower Show campaign. The mural backs a low stage where demonstrations and presentations are held during the show.

Cooke turned to LexJet and his customer specialist Bryce Montisano to find the best method for producing the mural, something easier to apply than vinyl that would reproduce the mural to the same fidelity as the national campaign.

Montisano recommended LexJet Print-N-Stick Fabric because it has a bright-white base to ensure color pops and it has a repositionable adhesive that will also make the mural easy to pull off when the show is over.

Installing the Macy's Spring Flower Show wall mural was a breeze with Print-N-Stick Fabric. Once the show is over it will also be easy to remove and leave no trace behind or cause any damage to the wall.
Installing the Macy’s Spring Flower Show wall mural was a breeze with Print-N-Stick Fabric. Once the show is over it will also be easy to remove and leave no trace behind or cause any damage to the wall.

“I took pictures of the wall, created the artwork and superimposed it on the wall so the client could see what it would look like. I then ran a swatch on Print-N-Stick that was 44″ x 80″ and put it on the wall for them to see and then went on with the rest of the printing,” explains Cooke.

The mural was printed in seven 44″ panels on Cooke’s Canon iPF8300 with a 1/2″ overlap between each panel included. Cooke hired an installer who taped the panels in place to ensure they lined up perfectly, and then applied them vertically. Cooke says the application went as smoothly as advertised and when the show is over it will be a breeze to remove them.

“I print a lot of smaller in-store signs for Macy’s, and I’m hoping Macy’s will do this type of work more often now that we’ve created a successful mural for them,” adds Cooke. “What Macy’s really likes about the material more than anything is that it has a nice matte surface that doesn’t reflect the light and distract from their graphics and their message. Also, we found that it was easy to cut with a razor without fraying.”

Dew the Graphics

 

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Signs
One of hundreds of signs and banners produced by the P.O.P. shop at Nackard Companies for Dew Downtown Flagstaff hangs in front of the main event.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff is gaining momentum, thanks in no small part to the work of Nackard Companies, a regional beverage distributor based in Flagstaff. Nackard Companies and its P.O.P. shop crank out hundreds of banners, signs and displays to brand the event while it’s in full swing and to promote it beforehand.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff BannersNow in its third year, the annual ski and snowboard festival is based around a slopestyle course on San Francisco Street in downtown Flagstaff.

As the event has grown, so has the number of tents and activities that surround the course. So, of course, the number of graphics required for the event has grown. Steve Lalio, P.O.P. shop manager for Nackard Companies estimates that they printed about three times more banners and signs for this year’s event than they did for the event’s inaugural in 2012.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Fabric Banners
These banners leading into the slopestyle course at Dew Downtown Flagstaff were printed on LexJet Poly Select Heavy fabric.

“We printed about 40 banners just in one day. The event has really gotten a lot bigger in three years. There were about 20,000 people at the even this year; even my cousins came up from Albuquerque to see it,” says Lalio.

Dew Downtown took place the weekend of Feb. 8-9. Mild weather leading up to the event meant that most of the snow was man-made, though it snowed a few inches during setup the day before.

Dew Downtown Flagstaff Medals
Nackard Companies even provided the medals, which were printed on LexJet Extreme AquaVinyl. The backdrop was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene and applied to Coroplast.

Most of the signage was printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Polypropylene, laminated with LexJet 3 Mil Luster UV Standard Low Melt. Graphics applied to metal and Coroplast were printed on LexJet TOUGHcoat Water-Resistant Self Adhesive Polypropylene. A smattering of other banners and flags were printed on LexJet Poly Select Heavy Fabric, and all the graphics were printed with a Canon iPF8000S inkjet printer.

LexJet Introduces New Blockout Inkjet Printable Fabric

LexJet recently added Poly Select Blockout Fabric to its line of inkjet-printable Poly Select Fabrics, which also includes Poly Select Light, Poly Select Medium and Poly Select Heavy for aqueous inkjet printers, and Poly Select Light SUV and Poly Select Heavy SUV for use with solvent, low-solvent, UV-curable and latex printers.

Inkjet fabric printing for banners
JojoMonster Graphics printed these large banners for either side of the stage at a charity event on LexJet Poly Select Blockout Fabric.

LexJet Poly Select Blockout Fabric is a 14-mil bright-white polyester fabric with a blockout layer that provides greater opacity. Compatible with aqueous and latex inks, the fabric lays flat, minimizing edge curl and making it easy to work with in production.

“The image quality with the Poly Select Blockout Fabric is really good,” says Joe Batten, owner of JojoMonster Graphics in Venice, Calif. “We recently used it to print hanging banners at a charity event. We needed something lightweight that we could add rigidity to with pole pockets and dowels, and we didn’t want the light to show through and prevent the image from looking good on the printed side.”

Compatible with the latest aqueous ink technology from Canon, Epson and HP, the water-resistant coating provides exceptional imaging quality with a wide color gamut and higher ink saturation for rich, brilliant, eye-catching color. Poly Select Blockout Fabric is an excellent alternative to scrim banner for durable banner applications.

“Like all of our Poly Select Fabrics, Poly Select Blockout Fabric can be used in a variety of applications, from point-of-purchase displays to event signage and trade show graphics,” says Dione Metnick, LexJet product manager. “The blockout layer ensures that the light won’t shine through it when it’s backlit with bright lights, such as you’re likely to find at a trade show.”

Poly Select Blockout Fabric is available in 24″ x 15′, 24″ x 60′, 36″ x 100′, 42″ x 60′, 50″ x 60′ and 60″ x 60′ roll sizes with $9.99 flat-rate shipping from LexJet’s Nationwide Delivery Network. For more information, contact a LexJet customer specialist at 800-453-9538.