Back Talk: Working with Backlit Fabrics

If you walk through retail locations, convention centers, hotels, airports and other public spaces, you may notice that backlit fabrics are an increasingly popular, effective and aesthetic form of display graphics. If you’re new to printing on fabrics — or only have experience with traditional soft signage — getting high-quality backlit textile displays can be a challenge, from choosing the right fabric for the right application, to printing, to finishing and installation.

Top Value Fabrics’ (Booth 2155) Michael Compton demystifies the process in the session “Selecting, Printing, Finishing & Installing Backlit Fabrics.” Today, from 9 to 10:15 am, in Room 333, Compton will tell attendees everything they need to know and best practices to get the best results.

Specific topics include:

• Selecting backlit fabrics appropriate to the application and the optimum finished results the print service provider is looking to achieve
• Determining if the fabric should be knit or woven, coated or uncoated — the pros and cons of both
• Applications for backlit fabrics with high-resolution photos
• The importance of color profiling
• Utilizing the correct ink, as well as heat settings and dwell time on heat presses to provide optimal finished graphics.
• Finishing equipment and processes from standard sewing machines to highly automated equipment for attaching silicone edges or keders to the graphics
• Silicone edge installation, with information on the various frame systems available in the industry
• Best practices for shipping, handling and installing backlit fabric graphics

“This in-depth seminar is critical for anyone who is already working with backlit fabric graphics, and any print service providers who are seeking information on best practices producing premium backlit fabric graphics in this continued growth market,” says Compton.

He is the Product Marketing Manager for Top Value Fabrics. As an industry veteran, Compton has a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of digital textile printing. He has experienced the dynamics of digital textile printing throughout its history, and his expertise proves helpful both to customers who are learning the technology and to those with advanced capabilities. With a track record of more than 17 years of success working in all aspects of digital printing on textiles, Compton’s areas of influence have included North America, South America and Europe. He is an innovative leader who enjoys new challenges and working to identify the total solution that will work best for the specific needs of his customers. He appreciates both the progressive nature of the graphics communications industry and the opportunity to share developments with his customers. As a result of his interest and experience, Compton was selected for SGIA’s Sustainability Committee, and he was elected to serve as Secretary of the committee as well as Editorial Advisor for the SGIA Journal.