Can you ignore the change to Exhibition Fabrics?

For many years before the availability of exhibition fabrics the standard design of most exhibition stands was bland and uninspiring to both visitors and exhibitors alike.  This was a direct result of the limited amount of available rigid media.  The advent of a wide variety of textile media that can be printed then easily fabricated now means that stands have become more interesting, are bright and colourful and attract far greater interest from visitors.  Take a walk around most shows or fairs and you can easily see the wide range of exhibition fabrics being used.

The recent Euroshop exhibition in Germany again showcased the opportunities for stand builders to use fabrics to produce stands in a wide variety of creative shapes and sizes that perfectly illustrated the considerable benefits of using fabric as the preferred media. This was perfectly illustrated for the benefit of their trade customers coming from such diverse areas as retail, shop and bank fitting, through to home, office and store designers.

As an ever increasing number of companies see exhibitions and fairs as one of the main ways to promote their products and services the demand is now for exhibition fabrics to provide functions that rigid media cannot hope to achieve.  In an attempt to entice interest from more visitors the stand builders and exhibitors need fabrics to be capable of being fabricated into eye-catching shapes and sizes with the ability to provide total or partial blockout whilst providing strong and vibrant colours.

Because of the many fabrics that are now available exhibitors and stand builders can choose whether to use fabrics as a backdrop or as a shaped feature suspended over their stand or even as a drape.  Fabric is also less likely to suffer damage whilst on the stand or in transit and has the potential for being re-used.

With safety issues at indoor events becoming more evident there is also now an increasing need for the media to conform to the fire regulations ruling in each country and here again fabrics provide the answer over rigid media.  Most exhibition fabrics will now achieve conformance to either BS.5867 TypeB or DIN.4102.B1.

Today most exhibition fabrics are available with various pre-treatments ensuring that the results they achieve are of a consistently high standard whether produced by dye-sublimation, UV or Latex printing all of which have opened a whole new supply line for printers using any of these print technologies.

Article by Chris Drury