A thriving market
Soft signage encompasses everything from garments, banners, flags, lorry tension curtains, backlit displays, building wraps, and more. Encompassing such a wide range of applications, it’s no surprise that Mordor Intelligence predicts the printed signage market to achieve a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 0.52% from 2021 to 2026.
This figure is put down to the retail industry looking to expand its marketing and the events sector opening back up after the pandemic. The festive period also sees a range of events hosted each year, all of which need banners, flags and signage to promote the event and direct visitors to them.
Benefits of soft signage include its transportability and its ability to be folded and stored without damage. It can also be recycled easily and is light in weight so the cost of shipping is reduced.
A report by digital printing company, EFI, and IT Strategies also described the soft signage printing sector as experiencing “unprecedented growth”. With this in mind, what are some of the opportunities for growth and expansion in this creative area of the industry?
Bigger and better
SignComp Europe has been supplying high quality signage systems to the industry for decades. The company’s main offering since its inception in the early 90’s has been flex face. According to Tom Purton, business development manager of SignComp, ‘Black-Clip’ revolutionised the way flex face products were approached due to its lightweight properties, adaptability, and reliability. “Since then, SignComp has added to its portfolio by offering complimentary products like LED’s, wayfinding, and now soft signage systems,” he says.
Today, the company offers EASITEX, a textile signage system that doesn’t require any sewing of a silicone strip. This, Purton says, reduces lead times by 50% and lowers costs by 50%. “Not only this, but increasing reliability on site with no sizing issues will give peace of mind to many signage companies out there,” he says, adding: “Eradicating the need to sew also allows companies who are not currently involved in the soft signage space to get involved and start diversifying their offerings.
SignComp offers EASITEX, a textile signage system that doesn’t require any sewing of a silicone strip
“This is huge for small-to-medium sized businesses which are itching to take advantage of a vibrant and growing part of the industry.”
With sustainability a hot topic in the signage industry, EASITEX also provides an environmentally friendly option. Sign-makers can purchase the EASITEX system in bar lengths to manufacture themselves or pre-cut flat-packed kits. “For those who are after a more readymade solution, we have a network of trade-only converters who manufacture our products day-in day-out,” Purton adds.
Reflecting on the soft signage market as a whole, Purton agrees with EFI’s report in that the sector is only getting bigger. He says not only is the demand for textile signage growing, so is the size of the signage produced. “A decade ago, you would typically see smaller textile signs dotted around retail spaces and frankly, not too many of them. Now, not only do you see an increased number of these examples, we are seeing bigger applications too – this can be anything from larger point-of-sale signage, all the way up to huge wall coverings.
“Companies are realising going big with seamless signage is transformative to a large space and attractive to customers in-store. I expect this trend will continue.”
Not for the faint hearted
Venture Banners is another company which produces a range of soft signage solutions. The company is a trade-only large-format supplier with UV and dye-sublimation capabilities and offers all types of signage from flags and silicone edge graphics (SEG), to stretch stands, light boxes, and textile light box graphics.
“As trade-only suppliers, we are a high volume, low margin printer and the kit we have reflects this,” explains Scott Conway, managing director of Venture. To produce the soft signage, the company uses two VUTEk FabriVu 3.2m dye-sublimation machines, as well as an Mtex HS 3.2m with inline sublimation to print flags.
To produce soft signage, Venture Banners uses two VUTEk FabriVu machines
Venture also has a Zund machine dedicated to soft signage which has an additional textile tensioning system with a specialist textile cutting tool. “This is basically a very sharp twenty pence piece shaped tool that spins very fast whilst cutting,” Conway explains.
Venture Banner’s Zund machine is dedicated to producing soft signage
For finishing, the company also has a Klieveric GTC Calendar unit and numerous sewing machines and other supplementary finishing kit.
Whilst it may seem like a simple concept, Conway warns that printing onto textiles isn’t always fun and games. He says: “It’s not for the faint hearted. The material stretches and shrinks so accuracy is key during the entire process from setting up the artwork to cutting out the finished prints.
It’s not for the faint hearted. The material stretches and shrinks so accuracy is key during the entire process”
“There’s also a spectre of static. We print direct to the substrate because we believe this gives the best result for our customers, but printing direct creates static, so to combat that we had the entire factory floor humidity controlled. If you’ve ever been to Disney World in Florida and seen those fine mist sprays that cool you down, it’s like that but on an industrial level.”
As retail, hospitality and events shut down overnight during the pandemic, there were many sectors that felt the hit. This was the case with soft signage. “No one wanted high-end exhibition and point-of-sale graphics or event flags anymore,” Conway explains, adding: “We actually ended up moth-balling our FabriVu machines for about six months during 2020.” Despite this, Conway says the industry is making a strong recovery.
Your Print Partner (YPP) is another trade printer of fabric and has been producing up to 3.2m-wide dye-sublimation fabric prints for ten years. Applications include flags, banners, tablecloths, exhibition stands, and retail products. What’s more, YPP produces 93% of its products in the UK and aims to offer a one-stop-shop for fabrics.
Describing the company’s operations, Stuart McClaren, managing director of YPP, says: “The printers we have are water-based inks and mainly Mimaki and DGI. The printers play a key part in what we have to produce to make sure we get the best results for the clients.”
According to McClaren, the soft signage market is growing “without a doubt”. He says: “There are so many more options now for soft signage and also with the fabrics and results that you can achieve, making products stand out including having two images display when lights are on and off to show how the markets are going.
“The print on demand and home décor range is growing too so I think as a whole, the market demand is there.” In terms of current trends, McClaren adds: “At the moment there are a number of people using light boxes to bring a different feel to retail or even to offices.
“We are starting to see a large demand on recycled products which are perfect for soft signage as we have fabrics which are now 100% recycled and can be turned back on itself. Along with the fabric we have carbon offset where trees are planted based on the volume of fabric printed.”
Making the cut
A producer of laser systems for cutting and engraving non-metals, Eurolaser offers solutions that can be used to produce and finish soft signage. Over in the advertising industry, the company describes the use of soft signage as “slowly becoming the de facto standard”.
Eurolaser says the use of soft signage is slowly becoming the de facto standard in the advertising industry
As Conway has explained, producing signage onto polyester fabrics is not always an easy task and eurolaser mirrors this warning. To be used in stenter frames, textiles need to be cut accurately to the exact millimetre to avoid any unevenness on the surface. As the signage gets larger, there is more room for distortion when using mechanical cutting systems. Mechanically cut polyester fabrics need to also be sealed along the cut edges before further use to prevent fraying of material. To tackle these issues, eurolaser provides laser cutting systems as an alternative.
The company says: “Compared to knife-based methods, laser cutting with eurolaser systems does not cause any material distortion, even when cutting large-area soft signage products. Specified lengths and widths are precisely maintained to the millimetre and banners and tenter frames always fit perfectly together.
“At the same time, cutting with the laser beam generates such high temperatures that the synthetic fibres melt close to the surface and the edges are automatically and permanently sealed. This eliminates the need for post-processing of the blanks that would otherwise be necessary.”
Other benefits noted by eurolaser are high cutting speeds and repeat accuracy with the systems designed for 24/7 series production.
Recently, eurolaser, Epson and textile manufacturer, Georg + Otto Friedrich, all joined together to demonstrate the capabilities of laser cutting when integrated fully into the soft signage process. To do this, polyester fabric was automatically fed from the roll and printed using Epson dye-sublimation technology. During this process, the printer marks the material for the laser system’s camera to know where to cut. After printing is complete, the roll material is assembled by the eurolaser system’s automatic material feed.
Andreas Stephan, manager of business development at Epson Deutschland, comments: “If the laser system can cope with the material processed in the printer, there are no problems at all. Then all that’s needed is a brief coordination as to whether the job info is to be printed on the material as the barcode or in the form of special markings, and we’re ready to go.”
The argument of sustainability can also be raised here with laser cutting meaning that no more waste than necessary is produced. What’s more, Georg + Otto Friedrich uses recyclable polyester yarns and used PET bottles and other recyclable polyester products as base materials.
With all this in mind, it’s easy to see the potential for sign-makers to expand and benefit from the soft signage market. With such a wide range of products produced, the environmental benefits, and the sectors requiring soft signage opening back up, now is as good a time as ever to invest.
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