Walk any trade show floor today and you'll see Walk any trade show floor today and you’ll see what’s on the sharpest cutting edge of the specialty graphic imaging market—banners and signs, clothing and structures all made of imaged fabric. “Imaged fabric” refers to any fabric that has an image printed on it: inkjet, dye sublimation, and screen printing can all put images onto fabric. Moving well beyond soft signage, imaged fabric is starting to be widely used, particularly in trade show environments, but in a wide variety of other indoor and outdoor applications as well. SGIA News talked to various industry professionals about the status and future of imaged fabric, as well as its advantages and technical considerations.

Why Imaged Fabric?

In trade shows, imaged fabric is often used in place of hard signage or graphics on vinyl. Banners, hanging dividers, signs, flags, back drops and posters can all be done on fabric. Some advantages of it are obvious: fabric is soft and won’t crush, permanently wrinkle, bend, or break; instead, fabric can be washed or cleaned, ironed, and made to look as good as new over and over. Shipping fabric is cheaper and easier than shipping stiff substrates because it’s soft and it rolls. And fabric can be more affordable because it is so easily reusable.

By far the biggest reason to use imaged fabric, though, is its ambiance. “Fabric generally has a higher perceived value to the end user,” says Scott Fisher of Fisher Textiles. Neal Stone of Jacquard Ink Jet Fabric Systems agrees, “Fabric is friendlier, and more easily able to complement interiors with its softer presence. Because of the many different types of fabric available, you can get almost any look you want, not just through the image, but also through the fabric itself, its texture and opacity. It’s a whole new world of visualization—fabric provides depth because it isn’t a hard surface.”

This versatility makes imaged fabric an option with a lot of potential “Fabric is sexy and different,” says Lynn Krinski of Stella Color. “And everyone wants to differentiate themselves. It’s more versatile than traditional graphics applications, and has so many innovative uses,” she continues. “You can use it to upholster a chair, wrap around a pole, or create a hanging, see through room divider. Just as different types of paper produce different image effects, so do different types of fabric.”

“Fabrics evoke a lifestyle and fashion image that people like to associate with,” says Rick Johnson of the 3M Commercial Graphics Division. “Very much like the way department stores change the feel of an area by using wood on the floor, or carpeting, fabric can change the way people perceive products. We are seeing it used frequently in these more upscale applications such as fashion, jewelry, high end cars, and cosmetics.” Thomas Pötz of 3P Inkjet Textiles says. “Fabrics send a much more personal message.”

Structures are often used to display imaged fabric in a tradeshow environment: it can be hung from frames, suspended by wires, fitted over light boxes, or wrapped around poles. Marney Howden of SuperStructure Systems creates the frames that imaged fabric uses to make a statement. “The options for displaying these fabrics are endless,” she says. “Our framing system, for example, can be wall mounted, suspended, and freestanding or supported by display poles.” This covers almost every conceivable way of displaying imaged fabrics—short of upholstering furniture or making clothing with it.

© 2004 Special Graphic Imaging Association