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KEY TO SUCCESS

Company: Academy Awning   

Project: Digitally printed awnings   

Key to success: New fabrics, printing technology and inks mean more successful results when creating awnings.  

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For years, the awning production side of the sign industry has lagged behind the rest of the industry insofar as it has been difficult to create long-lasting, high-fidelity digital images as part of an awning project.

 

In recent years all that has changed, as companies like Cooley and Herculite that supply the awning business with materials have developed digital-print-ready media that meets the demanding requirements of outdoor awnings.

 

Plus, the awning business has benefitted from recent innovations in ink technology. Now, companies that produce awnings can rest easy that their digitally-printed awnings will maintain their luster after years in the great outdoors.

 

Expanded Opportunities

“Digital printing opened up a whole new way of doing things for us, especially when you work with creative designers who are providing us with more colorful and intricate designs,” says Al Gomez, vice president of Academy Awning in City of Commerce, Calif. “There were times in the past when we’ve given designers a blank fabric and they had artists paint the design, but the graphics didn’t last very long outdoors.”

 

Gomez says that though digital printing has obviously been around for a while, it wasn’t until the past few years that Academy really started using wide-format imaging as one of its primary methods, along with vinyl application, eradication and masked painting. Gomez cites the aforementioned innovations in ink and materials as the drivers behind making digital printing a viable option for them.

 

Natura fabric has all the commercial attributes of a vinyl (including printability) but has the look and feel of a woven fabric.

“If our client wants a specific PMS color stripe, now we can just have it printed. We just did a large job in a historic Mexican plaza area in downtown Los Angeles with Cooley Weathertyte where we had a half-dozen or so different stripe patterns printed on top and bottom. It looks like a Mexican serape with the bright colors, but it’s actually printed vinyl fabric,” says Gomez.

 

Moreover, the viability of digitally printing awnings has allowed Academy to delve into custom and one-off jobs that were difficult to do in the past. “To do any custom awning jobs you had to have a big job to justify the yardage. Now, we can print just one.”

 

The on-demand world of digital printing has finally caught up with awnings, giving print and sign shops another avenue to explore that they may not have bothered with in the past. Increased options means increased potential business and profits.

 

“I don’t store half the material I used to because of the advances in digital printing as it relates to awnings,” says Mike Catalano, CEO of Capitol Awning in Jamaica, N.Y. “We keep certain vinyl colors in stock, but not that many. It’s more effective to print and cut the color for specialty colors requested by the client. There’s a job going out the door right now with blue awnings and white valance. The customer didn’t like his logo on the center panel, so our graphics guy modified the logo and we swapped out the white panel on the awning for the new logo. The client loves it, and we were able to make more money on the project.”

 

Catalano says Capitol Awnings has benefitted from a raft of technological improvements in the fabrication side of the awning business as well. “With the woven acrylic materials, like Sunbrella, there was never a great way to heat seal them together, but now 3M is bringing out a heat-activated adhesive. Sewing and attachment methods have improved as well. And, with the higher-tech materials we have now, we’re seeing a properly built awning last longer in the field. We can get a 22-24 oz. material with the same warranty as we used to get with a 40-oz. material, and they have a softer hand so they’re easier to use,” adds Catalano.

 

Capitol Awning uses Roland print-and-cut machines to print awnings and the Sunbrella Graphics System to melt 3M high-performance vinyl into the material. 

 

“I could sure use a larger print-and-cut machine and a nine-foot printer. Unfortunately, I don’t have space for it yet. It’s not the cost of the machine that’s putting this purchase on hold; it’s the cost of renovation to my building,” says Catalano.

 

Catalano says he’s patiently waiting out the economic downturn to make a move. Capitol is busy, but the busyness comes in spurts. The uncertainty about the economy, coupled with the uncertainty about what the local, state and federal governments will do in terms of taxation and regulation has created a strange up-and-down volatility. “The economy has been a roller-coaster. We had more work than we could do in June, but July was very slow. We don’t see our clients doing a lot of long-term forecasting, so they tend to wait until the last minute, which creates a lot of rush jobs,” says Catalano.

 

Mike Yopp, president of Z3 Graphics in Greenville, S.C., sees a similar economic pattern, and like Capitol Awning, has benefitted from advances in printing technology. “It really started taking off in the last two or three years for us. Now we decorate about half of the awnings that require graphics with some form of a digital print. The inks are stronger and the laminates are better. If it’s a digital print, I try to put some form of a UV laminate on it. We use both a liquid laminate and cold film. If it’s a non-specified awning program, we usually roller-coat Clearstar’s liquid laminate. When we use a cold laminate, we tend to stick with a matte finish so the lights don’t reflect off of it too much.”

 

Yopp says an important consideration is compatibility. You have to make sure that the material is ink-receptive for digital printing and vinyl-receptive for vinyl application. It’s also crucial to take into account how backlighting the awning will affect anything printed.

 

“Color saturation is the most important thing when the awning needs to light up. With our VUTEk 3360 printers we can print on the back of the material in a perfect mirror image. Then, when lights are placed behind it, you don’t have to worry about the image washing out,” says Yopp. “With our process, the colors stay true; reds, for instance, don’t wash out to a pinkish color. It’s always been a challenge in the past to print, whether it’s an awning, a flex face or a box. Black in particular is difficult, but we’ve found a way around it. We also print a swatch and put it on a light table before we print the entire job to make sure we’re hitting the colors once it’s backlit.”

 

Craig Zola, Business Manager, Awning and Marine for Herculite Products Inc. in Emigsville, Pa., says that special attention needs to be paid to where the printed graphic is placed on the awning. “It’s most important to first determine what the client expects regarding the graphic life expectancy. Valance graphics (printed on the vertical part of the awning) usually last longer than graphic decoration placed on the top side, or face, of the awning. It’s always best to use the highest quality UV inks and cut vinyls available. These extra costs are always justified by the logistics involved with redoing awning graphics,” says Zola.

 

Herculite has recently introduced an awning vinyl called Natura that’s available nationally through Tri Vantage that has all the commercial attributes of vinyl, including the printability and the look and feel of a woven fabric.

 

“An awning project can be a great opportunity for a diversified revenue stream but with it comes construction challenges that become more complex as the size of the awning project increases. Many cities require awnings to be compliant with local building codes that can define structural integrity, fire retardancy/resistance, and even visual aesthetics. Many southern states require hurricane wind load engineering. A sign/print shop may consider an awning project using the staple-in fabric frame system. Steel Stitch of Atlanta, for instance, offers a comprehensive awning frame program and provides all the equipment and training required to get started in the awning market. If the size of the project seems too big there is also a great opportunity to partner your business with an awning manufacturing company in your area. These relationships benefit both companies long term as awning companies frequently need printing and graphic work done,” adds Zola.