Flag Printing is now the normal and accepted method of manufacturing flags. The process has evolved over the last 40 years to such a level that the quality bears no comparison to standard of production in those early days. The fabric that was first printed on was a woven, spun, nylon and wool mixture which allowed longer runs to be produced quicker and more efficiently.
The traditional method up to this point had been for flags to be cut and sewn together and for more complex designs to be appliquéd onto the base fabric. This certainly had, for hundreds of years, produced a high quality flag and this method of production is still carried out today using woven, spun polyester fabrics, which allows the customer to have a long lasting, high quality flag.
When Flag Printing began to grow rapidly in the 1970’s it was mainly due to the increasing demand for corporate and advertising flags. Suddenly the marketing world awoke to the potential of using flags to promote their business and products. Once the larger companies realised this, the demand grew even faster. Production runs got bigger and this began to put stresses on Flag Printing production lines.
At this stage the fabric being printed on was woven and made from a 100% polyester spun staple yarn. The spun yarn made it difficult to obtain a perfect mirror image on the reverse side of the printed face. Flag Printing production lines were having to run below their optimum speed to ensure a good reproduction on the back of the fabric.
One large printer in the late 70’s ran out of woven fabric to complete a large order and discovered a knitted fabric made from 100% polyester but with a filament yarn. He took it back to his printing machine and discovered he could get a very good print on the reverse side and run the machine far quicker. This was the birth of knitted fabric within the flag industry.
With the growth of Flag Printing for the commercial market it became inevitable that larger companies with professional buyers started to push for lower prices and the knitted fabrics gave them this option. This has lead to the large growth of knitted fabrics in the Flag Printing sector. Although this fabric and print method produces a good image front and back and is relatively easy to manufacture are we really giving the end customer value for money? Yes, the knitted fabric is less expensive compared with the woven option but the flag does not last as long because the knitted fabric is about 25% - 30% weaker / durable than the woven alternative.
Production techniques in screen-printing now enable long runs of woven spun polyester to be produced as efficiently as knitted filament polyester. This, potentially, means that we are producing more flags in knitted polyester fabric whereas we could be producing less in woven spun fabric.
If we were to assume that in a one year period 4 knitted flags would be used compared with 3 woven then the value for money in using knitted polyester fabrics, for Flag Printing, becomes less clear, and perhaps arguably less environmentally friendly as more inks and fabric is used.
We could conclude that the advent of Flag Printing has therefore given us knitted fabrics, where we have a cheaper raw material but potentially a bigger overall cost that may not be giving us value for money, in terms of durability, compared to woven spun fabrics. The reality is that there is a market for both and the buyers will make the ultimate decision based on the facts as they see it and the budget they have available.
Article by Tim Egerton
