Photo courtesy Mutoh America
By Peter Saunders
Dye sublimation printing may be a niche business, but it has caught the eye of signmakers looking for ways to expand upon their services with higher-margin product lines—particularly if this move can yield new revenue streams from an existing customer base.
“With dye-sublimation technology, printed graphics will really ‘pop’ on fabric for banners, soft signage, trade show graphics and drapery,” says Randy Anderson, a product manager for printer manufacturer Mutoh America, “but you can also move into polyester-coated hard substrates to produce smaller-format and promotional items, such as mugs, awards and keychains. So, if you have helped your clients brand their environments with solvent- or eco-solvent inkjet-printed graphics, now you can provide the rest.”
Outside the sign industry, some shops with dye sublimation systems only use them to produce customized clothing, from T-shirts to bikinis. If this market becomes too crowded in a given region, local signmakers may prefer to continue to focus on wide-format output, though this can mean higher startup costs for dye sublimation equipment.
“The systems have become available to a much wider base of users, but you need to look for your own market entry point,” says David Conrad, marketing manager for Mutoh. “How much do you want to invest in equipment and training? What space do you have available for more machines? What resources are you willing to dedicate to dye-sub and what level of production do you anticipate? These are the factors you need to consider.”
Some large sign shops, for example, choose to invest in large, high-production heat presses. While these are more expensive than the printers themselves, a single heat press can easily handle all of the work coming from two printers. So, it is important to have a regular stream of projects coming through.
One reason for optimism among new adopters of dye sublimation systems is the growing demand for personalized items, both among consumers and businesses. Even with a lower-end, inexpensive system, the permanence of dye sublimation prints offers a different type of appeal than sign shops’ typical commercial graphics.
“The same shop might use latex or eco-solvent inkjet printing for shorter-term items, like point-of-purchase (POP) displays, and then turn to dye sublimation for longer-term ‘ownership’ products, like upholstery and flags,” says Anderson. “I think everyone should look at the permanent market for fabric graphics. You can wad up polyester, stretch it out and iron it and it’s still fine. Although there are a lot of other good fabrics coming out for eco-solvent and latex printing, they still don’t have the same properties as polyester.”
With files from Mutoh America. For more information, visit www.mutoh.com.
