What are the benefits of soft signage?

Nessan Cleary shares the advantages of soft signage (fabric-based printing for display graphics). Benefits include diverse applications (backlits, flags, promotional items, and furniture), sustainability (fabrics are often recyclable), reduced transportation carbon footprint (lighter materials), easier storage and reuse, simpler handling and installation, and flame retardancy.

The sign industry has long been accused of not being particularly environmentally-friendly, mainly because there are many plastic-based substrates and many display graphics end up in landfill sites when they are no longer needed. But soft signage - printing to fabric-based substrates - has many advantages, both for print service providers and their customers.

For starters, printing to textiles opens up a number of applications. There are the obvious uses such as backlits and flags. But textiles can also be used for printing promotional messages to umbrellas and awnings as well as other furniture such as cushions and covers for seating, even where intended for outdoor use.

The other big advantage is the overall sustainability of printing to fabric, which can help print service companies demonstrate their environmental credentials. More importantly this can also help end customers meet their obligations, which often gives them a good reason for choosing one print supplier over another.

A major consideration is that most fabrics are easily recycled so that there is no need to send any display graphics to landfill when they reach their end of life. The degree of recyclability will depend on the fabric itself and the inks used so you will have to think about the overall approach to print. There are many different certification schemes in place to help you ensure that the materials you choose have been produced in a sustainable way.

As an aside, Mimaki has demonstrated an interesting Neo-Chromato concept for recycling polyester signage by removing the ink so that the material can be printed to again for a completely new graphic. It’s still in development but the basic idea is that a combination of heat and a solvent liquid loosens the bonds holding the inks to the polyester so that the ink can be transferred to an easily recyclable cotton pad, leaving the polyester substrate free to be reused again.

Another advantage is that fabrics are much lighter, which significantly reduces the carbon footprint involved in transporting the printed graphics. In many cases the printed graphics can be rolled up and posted! Using a fabric base also makes it easier to store and to reuse those graphics, which can help customers cut down on the cost of graphics, particularly for things like pop-up stands or exhibition booths.

In addition, because most textiles are relatively light, they are easy to manhandle safely and to install without having to worry about the loading weight on the fixtures and fittings. Better still, most textiles can be easily treated for flame retardance, which ticks an important health and safety box, particularly for applications such as exhibition graphics.

Options for print

There are a number of options for printing soft signage. The most common material is polyester, or some type of blend based around polyester, which is lightweight and has good resistance to outdoor weather conditions so that it is particular suited to flags, banners and so on. There are a number of specialised materials that you can see demonstrated at Fespa trade shows, specifically for signage use.

Undoubtedly the best results for printing to polyester come from dye sublimation, which uses heat and pressure to force the pigments from teh inks into the fibres of the material to create a very strong bond between ink and substrate. Dye sublimation usually involves a two-stage process, starting with printing to transfer paper and then running the printed paper with the textile through a heat press or calendar t sublimate the inks into the fabric. This approach allows the inks to penetrate deeper into the material, leading to sharper images and a better feel to the material.

However, for many people working in soft signage it’s more cost effective to buy a direct sublimation printer that will print direct to the fabric. Most of these machines will give you an option to print direct to the fabric or to transfer paper so you can choose the best approach for any given job.

In order to print direct to the fabric these printers have built in heaters - usually infrared lamps - that will sublimate the ink into the fabric though most of the ink will sit close to the surface of the material. The feel of this is a bit too rough for apparel and other applications but more than adequate for display work. The print and sublimation is all done in a single process so it’s easier and quicker, which always adds up to cheaper with less skill involved. And of course you will save on not using transfer papers.

Another hallmark of dye sublimation is that the prints can exhibit very vibrant colours. Moreover, there’s no unpleasant odours associated with dye sublimation, an important consideration for any interior signage, particularly in retail environments.

However, there are plenty of print service providers who will pick up some soft signage work but not enough to justify the cost of a specialised printer. Luckily it’s perfectly possible to print to polyester-based textiles with standard printers, particularly those with water-based inksets such as latex or resin ink. As with any application, you will need to test individual materials as some will work better than others. Canon has also claimed some success in using its Colorado printers with their UVgel technology for soft signage work. 

Crossover to garments

Some vendors have tried to suggest that there is a cross over between soft signage and other textile applications such as furnishings or even apparel. However the opportunity is quite limited in terms of equipment because most applications require sublimation via transfer papers rather than the direct sublimation that’s typical of soft signage. Also, most apparel applications can easily be handled with a printer up to 1.6m wide, whereas anyone buying a dedicated dye sublimation machine for soft signage would be better off with a 3.2m wide model that can handle the demands of exhibition graphics.

That said, dye sublimation can be used for several different applications. There is a good argument that anyone who has the skills to run a 3.2m wide direct sublimation printer for signage, should be able to invest in a smaller printer and calendar combination. Such a set-up would be able to handle the smaller signage jobs but will also be able to print high quality textiles via transfer paper that would be suitable for furnishings and garments.

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