Soft Machines: Serving Up Soft Signage

We can define soft signage as “display graphics printed on a textile-based substrate,” in contrast to “hard signage” printed or mounted on a rigid material like board or plastic, or even things like PVC banners. Soft signage includes fabric banners, flags, pop-up displays, trade show graphics, backdrops, and “feather flags” often seen outside auto dealerships.

The advantages of soft signage include ease of transportation, much lower cost of shipping, ease of installation and removal, and environmental benefits. Much of the impetus for soft signage began in Europe where bans on PVC drove print buyers and providers to seek alternate solutions.

“A lot of [signage] products were produced on PVC banner material before textiles became popular,” said Andy Arkin, Director of Integration for Next Wave Digital Textile Solutions. Next Wave offers all the pieces of a complete digital textile printing workflow, including RIP software, printer, ink, paper, fabrics, heat presses, sewing/finishing equipment, color management, and production expertise. The company is also a distributor of EFI Reggiani fabric printing equipment. “Look around a trade show, any trade show, and 90 percent of it is done on textile products vs. the materials that were used as little as five years ago.”

Give Them a Hand

One advantage that soft signage offers over, say, apparel printing is that companies can get started by using equipment they already own such as the solvent/eco-solvent, UV flatbed, or aqueous machine that they may be using for other types of display graphics. Alternatively, if a company is serious about soft signage, they can adopt systems that are optimally suited for textiles, such as dye-sublimation or latex. So although you can technically use any printer for soft signage, results will vary in terms of print quality, image longevity, and even profitability.

“There are coated fabrics for soft signage that can be printed with eco-solvent inks,” said Lily Hunter, Product Manager, Textiles and Consumables, for Roland. “It’s a popular way for traditional sign shops to get into soft signage using their existing printer.” They key is the coating, which makes the fabric receptive to eco-solvent ink. There is a downside, though. “It’s traditionally a stiffer material so it’s not going to have a ‘drape’ effect,” said Hunter. “It’s more like PVC. It’s great for a hanging or retractable sign, or even a backlit sign stretched into a frame.” It’s also not washable, and, given its stiffness and rough hand, can crack or crease when folded, shipped, or even sewn.

Soft signage can also be produced on a UV printer. The advantage to UV is that you don’t have to use a specially coated fabric, which gives you more substrate options. And, again, if it’s equipment you already have, it’s a quick way to start offering soft signage.

“You can print UV directly to textiles for backlit applications,” said Arkin. “By overprinting or double striking the ink, you can build up a very high density so that, when backlit, you can achieve vivid colors and extra-rich blacks.” The problem is the ink and print time will cost a fortune, but there is another, as well. “UV ink sits on top of the fabric rather than being absorbed, so you lose the soft hand of the fabric. Even for signs, every time you handle it, you have the potential to fracture, scuff, or mar the image.”

Dyeing to Try This

Dye-sublimation has fast become the de facto process for textile printing. It offers the benefits of soft hand, good draping characteristics, washability, foldability, and image quality. There is, however, the expense involved, not only of the printer, but also a heat press or calender and transfer paper. There is also the issue of space: is there room in the shop for dye-sub and all its accouterments?

“The main thing with getting into sublimation is the investment in equipment,” said Hunter. “You need to build up that soft signage business until you have enough business and space to support a printer and heat press.”

It’s also crucial to understand the entire dye-sublimation process, especially “fixation,” or where the dye is sublimated from the transfer paper into the fabric. Effective dye sublimation requires a very specific combination of time, temperature, and pressure. “If any one of those changes, it will have an impact on color quality,” said Arkin. If you have an inexpensive heat press and it can’t maintain its heat over the course of a job, you’ll get a color shift. Even the temperature and humidity of the pressroom can affect what happens in the heat press.

The Latest Latex

Latex printing is most commonly associated with HP, although Mimaki also offers latex units. Latex inks are water-based and are able to print on a wide variety of coated and uncoated substrates for both indoor and outdoor use on the same machine. They also dry very quickly. HP’s Latex was originally developed for printing on PVC and other vinyls, but proved well-suited to some textile applications. “Latex has many advantages [over dye-sub],” said Roman Barba, Applications Development Lead for HP’s Large-Format Printing. “It’s much simpler to produce, and you don’t need any additional equipment like a calender.” The disadvantages of Latex textile printing is that it’s not scratch-resistant, and while Latex prints are somewhat waterfast, they would not withstand washing. So Latex is not suitable for apparel or furniture that would see much use. “Most of the applications today, like trade show graphics and pop-ups, don’t require washing,” said Barba. Barba also cites the ability for the new Latex 1500 to print up to 3.2 meters wide, allowing PSPs to output large trade show graphics or backdrops without having to stitch together individual panels.

And the beauty part of soft signage, at least today, he said, is that it’s also a high-margin market. “Not everybody can do this kind of application.”

How high-margin? “Six to nine dollars a square foot is what wholesalers are charging,” said Hunter. “I’ve seen it up to $18 a square foot, and that may be the low end.” It will depend on the fabric used and the application. Basic banners reached the point of commoditization several years ago, and now prices for feather flags are dropping lower and lower.

Part of the reason for the high margin is that, at least for dye-sub, there is the significant investment in the various pieces of equipment. And then there’s finishing.

Knit Wits

As with any printing process, soft signage requires finishing of some sort, which can involve sewing, either to hem the fabric sign, or to add things like pole pockets and other features to enable installation and hanging. If you are designing soft signage for outdoor display, pole pockets or other sewn installation methods must be strong enough to withstand wind.

A relatively new mounting technique for soft signage is called silicone edge graphics (SEG), where the textile sign is mounted in an extruded aluminum frame.

“That’s a very common application that we see in Europe,” said Barba. “You just install the frame [at your customer’s location] and then every week or month you send them a new print. It’s very elegant.”

“SEG is becoming one of the most popular products on the planet,” said Arkin. “It’s fairly low-cost to produce, extremely low-cost to ship, and can be installed by someone who doesn’t require a lot of training.” That’s one of the advantages of soft signage in general: it’s light enough to be installed by a retail store employee and doesn’t require a team of professional installers.

To enable SEG mounting, you need to add what are known as “keders” or gaskets. It’s a kind of flap or flange made of polyester, silicone, or a similar material that attaches to the edge of the fabric, and then attaches to the frame. The keder is sewn or welded to the edge of the fabric, or attached with an adhesive.

Sewing and finishing could be an entire feature unto itself (see our December 2016 issue), but investing in a good industrial strength sewing machine and a skilled seamster or seamstress may give you an edge when it comes to soft signage.

“It’s a very powerful tool to have to be able to do sewing,” said Barba. Although, he added, “I see a lot of companies that focus on sewing and they’re next door [to PSPs], so a lot of PSPs are outsourcing it.”

Next Wave offers automated sewing systems designed to apply the gasket to the fabric. “You have guys in finishing shop who are operating Zünd cutters or doing grommeting and other finishing processes, and this just becomes another one of those skill sets,” said Arkin.

You can avoid hemming polyesters by using a hot-knife cutter. The blade is heated beyond the melting point of the polyester and, as the fabric is cut, the edges melt and re-harden. This prevents fraying, like cauterizing a wound.

Don’t Get Burned

One of the value added services that signmakers can offer is a knowledge of the local and regional laws regarding signage. When it comes to soft signage, the same municipal sign codes may apply, depending where the sign is intended to be displayed. And specific to soft signage, there may be laws regarding fire retardance, and some states have very strict rules about fire-retardant coatings on fabric displays. It pays to do your homework before you get yourself—or worse, your client—in trouble.

It also pays to do your homework when it comes to investing in equipment to do soft signage. It’s tempting to buy something cheap to get your feet wet, and then upgrade if the additional volume allows it. But that may be a waste of resources. “Depending what you start with, you may throw it all away,” said Arkin. “You may buy a lot of less expensive, slower-speed, inferior-quality equipment when you would have been better off from the start buying the correct equipment that helped you grow your business, by providing high-quality, faster-turns, being more efficient with less scrap and waste, and ultimately more profitable establishing your place in the market.

“Ask yourself how serious you are about doing this,” he added. “You’re going to spend real money regardless. You’re either in it or you’re seeing if you want to be in it.”