You’re well aware of the high-impact results of a printed banner, be it at an indoor retail or trade show setting, or strung across Main Street to announce a summer music festival. Banner printing can be a lucrative business for even a small sign shop, with an endless variety of potential clients. But understanding the differences between banner materials and their uses – plus the variety of methods and costs of printing them correctly – suggests that you do a bit of research.
无论在室内零售或者贸易展览以及大街上成串的宣传广告，您都会看见横幅标识的身影。由此可知，横幅标识的影响力很广泛，进而推动了横幅打印业务的发展，就算一家小小的横幅打印店利润都十分可观。然而，面对许多潜在的客户，您还需要更加了解用于打印的横幅材料之间的差异和具体用途。
Sharon Roland, advertising and PR manager with Fisher Textiles in Indian Trail, North Carolina, says the world of banners neatly splits into two applications – hanging banners or banner stands – with durability being the biggest factor in choosing media for hanging banners used outdoors. For free-standing or roll-up banners used at stands, ease of finishing is an equal consideration when choosing the right media for the job.
北卡罗来纳州印第安特雷尔广告公司的公关经理Sharon Roland解释：“横幅广告可以分为两种：悬挂横幅和横着的幅架。客户选择横幅的时候，首先考虑的就是耐用性，其次是根据具体场地选择直筒或卷筒横幅织物，最后开始制作。”
“It’s always best to specify the intended end use first before choosing which fabric to use,” Roland says. “Fabric used for an outdoor hanging banner might not be the best media choice for a roll-up banner stand, and vice versa.”
Sharon Roland接着说：“所以在选择使用哪种织物之前，最好清楚具体的功能与差异，比如户外悬挂横幅就不能使用卷筒横幅织物打印。”
Picking the ideal material then moves into considerations of application, cost and your own equipment, or if it makes sense to upgrade to a latex printer to handle a wider variety of jobs.
在挑选织物之前，打印商还要考虑实际的应用以及现在拥有的设备，以及是否使用乳胶打印机制造，这些都是有意义的准备工作。
Mike Compton, product marketing manager for Top Value Fabrics in Carson, California, says the indoor/outdoor split in the banner world is mirrored in the two major products used: vinyl materials for long-lasting, weather-beating outdoor use, and a vast range of fabrics for indoor use. Each comes with its own printing considerations, and special requirements for finishing.
加利福尼亚州卡森市面料公司的产品营销经理Mike Compton说：“制作横幅标识的材质主要包括持久耐候的乙烯基材料和聚酯织物，每种材质都有自己打印的注意事项，以及对表面处理的特殊要求。”
“Traditionally, outdoor applications have mostly been vinyl products due to durability and the relative environment where those finished graphics are being utilized,” he says. “Indoor graphics have transitioned to fabric banner materials, primarily printed with dye-sublimation, heat transfer or direct-disperse inks, on polyester fabrics.”
他接着说：“由于乙烯基的耐用性好，而且比较符合室外的露天环境，所以乙烯基基本用于打印户外横幅。而室内横幅图像标识，主要是使用染料升华、热传递以及分散油墨打印在聚酯织物上。”
Vinyl banner materials, which can be processed more easily on inkjet equipment most shops already own, are an easy choice, but Compton cautions signmakers to consider the limitations of product quality before making what sounds like a too-good-to-be-true material purchase, especially in bulk.
大多数打印商拥有的设备更容易打印乙烯基横幅材料，所以选择乙烯基横幅材料的客户也较多。但是Mike Compton想要提醒打印服务商，在购买横幅材料之前，一定要考虑清楚材料质量的缺陷，特别是在批量购买之前。
“It’s critical to keep in mind that when it comes to cost in banner fabrics, you typically get what you pay for,” he says. “While inexpensive fabrics may seem more attractive based on cost alone, print service providers will often find more defects in those rolls, adding to waste and overall cost.”
Mike Compton解释：“当涉及横幅织物成本的时候，您需要知道，您支付的价格就是您购买到的材料品质。虽然从成本上来说，廉价织物似乎更具吸引力，但是打印刷服务提供商往往会发现这些廉价材质缺陷很多，从而增加总体成本。”
Bill Foster, national sales manager for graphics with Emigsville, Pennsylvania-based Herculite, Inc., makers of Bantex Digital Media, also warns that imported vinyl often underperforms, producing less-desirable results for your customers.
宾夕法尼亚州埃米格斯维尔市大力神数码媒体有限公司，图形产品全国销售经理Bill Foster也提醒说，有些进口的乙烯基打印质量不佳，会给客户带来了不理想的效果。
“During the past few years, there has been an influx of imported, low-cost materials for banners and signs,” he says. “While these materials are lower cost at purchase, their true cost is much higher because they do not allow sign shops to gain full advantage of their digital inkjet printers – lower-cost materials typically cannot run at maximum speeds and frequently result in wasted materials due to jams during production.
Bill Foster也表示：“最近几年，大量廉价织物材质涌入市场，用于制作横幅标识。虽然这些材料购买成本低，但是标识制作商使用数码喷墨打印这些材料时，运行速度较慢，而且生产过程中经常由于堵塞导致材料浪费，所以这些廉价材料实际成本很高。”
“More importantly, these materials cannot deliver high-quality results, resulting in customers refusing the finished jobs and asking for reprints,” he adds. “After only one poor print job, those customers typically seek out other resources.”
Bill Foster接着补充：“更重要的是，这些廉价材料打印的标识质量不佳，客户就会拒接打印成品，要求重新打印。而且只要客户感觉您打印的成品不佳，就会寻找其他资源。”
Not surprisingly, material manufacturers encourage sign shops to do their due diligence and explore some higher-quality options, which include a variety of American-made products. Herculite’s Bantex Digital Media, a flexible composite textile designed and manufactured in the U.S., has been certified by HP for use most of its commonly used forms of ink, run with digital inkjet printers. There are curl-free Bantex products, great for retractable banners, plus black-backed materials for complete opacity, as well as double-sided materials created to provide extended life in outdoor settings.
因此，材料制造商鼓励标识商家多做调查，包括各种美国制造的产品，进而探索一些更高质量的打印选择。比如，大力神的Bantex数码打印，在打印柔性复合纺织品方面已经通过了美国认证，它可以使用大多数常用的油墨，也可以和数码喷墨一起打印。其中不卷边的Bantex产品，非常适合可伸缩的横幅，还会使用完全不透明的黑色织物做背衬材料，此类标识在户外环境中使用的寿命会更长。
Top Value Fabrics offers its own line of latex performance products with a proprietary coating that provides the same rub-fastness as dye sublimation printing. And Fisher Textiles’ latex-optimized Bannyl fabrics cover much of the same territory, with products that are up to 197 inches wide.
费希尔纺织公司提供了拥有专有涂层的乳胶性能系列产品，并且与染料升华印花的橡胶牢度相同。还使用了优化的乳胶班尼尔织物覆盖在同一织物的大部分区域，覆盖产品的宽度可达197英寸。
On the fabric side, an example is Fisher Textiles’ Nirvana BOB, designed for roll-up banner stands, is also a unique product, a printable, soft-knit fabric with a coated black back, which provides a built-in liner for finished applications. Roland says the fabric can also be cold cut with a razor or circular cutter, providing a finished edge that does not need to be sewn together.
一个典型的例子就是，费希尔纺织公司利用织物，为卷筒横幅架设计的Nirvana BOB标识。Nirvana BOB标识的材料是软针织面料，制作时，还在织物背面涂了一成黑色作为内置内衬，此外，软针织面料还可以用剃刀或圆形刀具进行冷切，这样就不需要缝合了。
Compton says there are a variety of other innovations which help eliminate the need for sewing or adding silicone edge for framed graphics, as well as easier ways to add grommets, banner pole loops or other accessories for hanging and displaying banners.
Mike Compton还说：“还有很多有创新且容易的方法，解决缝纫或添加硅胶边缘时框架图形安装的问题，比如添加索环，旗杆环或其他配件悬挂和展示横幅。”
“You can now get pole loops where high-strength adhesive tapes can be utilized, as opposed to sewing or welding banner print media. High-strength grommet tabs are also available for banners that need to be suspended by rope or wire between posts.”
“您现在就可以用高强度的胶带来制作杆环，而不是用缝制或焊接横幅打印品。此外，高强度的胶带还可以代替，用于需要悬挂在柱子之间的绳子或电线。”
Now that you have the materials down, where do you start? Compton suggests your existing solvent or eco-solvent printer will be great for many banner projects, but a latex printer will definitely give you more flexibility.
如果您拥有了这些较好的材料，您会从哪里开始呢？Mike Compton建议说，您现在拥有的溶剂喷墨打印可以为您打印大型横幅标识，但是乳胶喷打印会给您的打印带来更多的灵活性。
“Over the past few years, the adoption of small-format latex printers has increased dramatically – latex inks can be utilized on a wide variety of banner materials and other substrates, offering more diversity,” he says. “The relative ease of printing, with little finishing necessary, has made them popular – since the fabrics are cured with onboard printer heating elements.”
Mike Compton解释：“最近几年，小型胶乳打印机的应用显著增加，因为乳胶墨水可以打印多种织物材料和其他材料，具有多样性。而且乳胶喷墨打印相对容易，也不需要整理。更重要的一点就是，打印织物是用内置打印机加热元件固化，这就是乳胶打印如此受欢迎的原因。”
What’s more, Roland adds, latex printers can also handle laminates and paper, in addition to fabric media, so the same equipment can be used for not only banners and signage but also producing vehicle wraps or P.O.P. posters.
此外，Sharon Roland补充道：“除了织物介质，乳胶打印机还可以处理层压板和纸张，所以同样的设备不仅可以用于横幅和标牌，还可以生产车辆包装或POP海报。”
Dye-sublimation or direct disperse printing processes allow print service providers to create brilliant fabric banner graphics, and still remain the predominant form of printing worldwide, Compton adds.
Mike Compton也补充道，染料升华或直接分散油墨打印，可以让打印商制作出更精美的横幅标识，在现在的世界市场内仍然是主要的打印方式。
“A small shop would need to take into consideration the overall cost and their budget, plus the need of adding a heat press as well as transfer paper if they choose these methods of printing,” Compton says.
Mike Compton最后解释道，就算是一个很小的打印商店也需要考虑制作的整体陈本和预算，如果他们还选择上述的打印方法，那么他们就需要额外增加一台热压机和转印纸。
Even high-impact images such as this glossy indoor display can be rendered using relatively inexpensive latex printing equipment, and media such as Top Value Fabrics’ Supernova Latex.
因为即使是高冲击力的室内标识，也可以使用相对便宜的乳胶打印设备，以及使用诸如织物中的乳胶媒介来渲染图像。
