The World of Trade Show Fabrics

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Today, I want to talk about World of Fabrics. Every month, year we come up with new concepts for the use of fabrics and why is that? Simply because they are easy to ship and easy to clean. The uses for these fabrics are in banner stands, table tops, portables, walls, overhead signs and graphics.

Let’s talk about the functionality of fabric material.

  • It is non-glare which serves excellent when you are filming with a backdrop behind with lights
  • It is also good for projection – if you have a white screen it is easy to project on
  • Sound absorption

Now let’s actually get into the world of fabrics to understand the good and the bad of using fabrics. When you use fabrics, it is a good idea to ask your supplier or your display house like Exhibit Edge about coatings. I was reading Exhibitor Online and they talked about nanotechnology and how you coat the graphics to protect from stain, dirt and mold especially. If you see bleeding in graphics in a very hot and dark environment, the fabrics will mold. Of course with all the different kinds of fabrics out there, let the experts decide which kind of fabric is best to use for which application respectively. However, it should be your responsibility to know the fabric, so just ask your supplier on the kind of fabric being used especially for re-ordering purposes. That is one of the downfall of fabrics as it is very hard to color match.

Let’s get into fabric stretchability. There are two basic types of fabrics

  • Woven fabric – this has little or no stretch, like a 90 degree interlocking weave – a good example would be bed sheets or classic trousers that have no stretch
  • Knit fabric – it is the interlacing looping yarn with stretch qualities

You just have to be careful in the exhibit industry to the kind of fabric being used. For example banner stands would have no stretch to them. SEG (silicon edge graphics) or tension graphics will need stretch to them. Now in the stretch knit world there is also stretch in one direction or in both direction. I am going to stop here and next week we will take a deep dive into the different kinds of fabric and what to use for what application. Stay tuned!

As always, please respond with your questions or comments and let others know about EXHIBITOR LOUNGE.COM. We will see you next week. Until then, I am your host Michael Gray telling you to RELAX in the Exhibitor Lounge.