Del Williams, a technical writer based in Torrance, California who writes about health, business, technology and education, has some wide-format news for you. If you’re a fan of NFL football and will be watching the playoffs on CBS right up to Superbowl Sunday (February 7), then you’ve likely already seen them – during half-time comment segments!
We’re talking about custom, digitally printed carpets – an emerging trend in wide-format printing and textile printing applications. In this case, it’s a stunning, promotional CBS football field carpet lined and numbered like an actual gridiron. Designers and marketers looking to visually brand or promote a product are now transforming floor space using customized, digitally printed, dye-sublimated carpets. Here, Del guides you through the new technology. As a commercial printer looking to add wide-format services or textile printing, this might be an area worth investigating. Oh, and enjoy the game!
Traditional interior wall space is often cluttered with structural elements, such as doors, windows, light switches and other “distractions.” In contrast, interior floor space is basically uncluttered. “The floor is a huge empty space that can be transformed into your personal advertising medium with custom digitally printed carpets, which represent an exciting new promotional channel,” said Ilene Haber, Creative Director at the Marketing Project, a New-York-City-based marketing specialist. “Customers interact with your visual brand – your logo, your message, your mascot – because in this novel format it draws the eye in. They walk over it and they touch it. The surface becomes an event in itself!”
Possible applications
Tradeshows, convention centres, schools, colleges, universities, museums, corporate offices, retail spaces, and concert tours are some of the venues where custom, digitally printed carpets have been used for branding, marketing and promotion. “Today, digital dye-sublimation-printed carpets can be printed in the full-colour spectrum from any electronic image in sizes and shapes limited only by the designer’s imagination,” said Jim O’Connor, CEO of Enhance a Colour based in Danbury, CT. “If a designer can create an image on the computer screen, we can create and colour-match it perfectly on a wide variety of carpet grades.”
For instance, the company’s promotional-grade carpet for tradeshows and short-term events is available in up to 10’ x 50’ lengths, and can be laser cut into smaller-size “tiles” which can then be put together to create any size of visual display required. Circles and irregular shapes are also possible. Heavier, ultra carpet designed for corporate settings, museums, schools, retail spaces and anywhere requiring longer-term use, can be created in 10’ x 12’ sections and “tiled” for larger displays.
About the technology
During dye-sublimation printing, the ink is applied directly to the carpet at a temperature of about 400 degrees with intense pressure. The ink actually becomes part of the carpet! The finished piece can capture the entire spectrum of colours – including black, which is almost impossible to create using traditional solvent methods. The dye-sublimation process can accurately match colours that any client desires. While promotional carpet has been available to designers previously, it was limited in size, function and colour-matching capabilities. In the past, some used solvent inks, which couldn’t be walked on and were not colour-fast or washable. UV inks were better, but still not washable. Enhance a Colour pioneered and refined its dye-sublimation process by designing and building its own custom machinery. Basically, this means that its carpet colours are colour-fast – in other words, they an be shampooed, machine washed or steam cleaned and still look excellent, even in high-use areas.
Custom inlay carpets
When looking to transform a blank floor into a dramatic branding statement, custom inlay carpets are another excellent option, said O’Connor. They currently appear in everything from red carpet Hollywood events and Broadway theatre to architectural and design settings and beyond. Yet, traditional carpet inlay that was sewn together in several pieces seldom matched colours well. In contrast, carpet inlays today that use dye-sublimated printing can colour match even a one-of-a-kind logo, mascot or insignia.
