Fabric or Cloth Banners are not generally measured by the thickness of the material like many graphic substrates are, such as polyethylene, paper, or corrugated plastic. Rather, it is measured either by weight per square yard or square meter.
You will commonly hear or read when researching cloth banners that it is a 9 oz. or a 250 gsm material. This refers to the weight of the fabric only, and thickness isn't factored because fabric is variegated in thickness naturally.
Various fabrics are different weights, and start in the neighborhood of 60 gsm and go up to 350 gsm for some of the heavier knits. The fabrics include poplins, velvets, knits, sheers, oxfords, and satins, to name some of the more popular fabrics, and virtually all of the cloth banners are made from polyester fabrics for dye sublimation printing.
What are some standard dye sublimation cloth banner sizes?
Because cloth banners have such varied usage, not the least of which is being used as banners, there is really no such thing as a standard banner sizing, although, in our experience, some of the most common banner sizes are 4' x 8', 3' x 10', and 4' x 12'.
Again, though, fabric banners are often used as part of a display at trade shows, or as hanging "fabric banner posters" in retail environments, so defining popular sizing for these banners is difficult to do, so much so that if we were to say what is the most popular or commons size.
How do I hang my dye sub fabric banners?
Of course, this will depend on what you trying to accomplish. If you are using it as a banner solely, say, in a trade show or in your retail store, the most common ways to hang banners are from metal eyelets called grommets, or using a pole which slides through a "pole pocket" and is then hung from the ceiling.
Other methods include simply tacking the banner to the wall or using Velcro tabs on the wall and on the banner to hang it quickly, allowing it to be changed out frequently and easily.
If you have a trade show booth, however, that has a frame that you need to attach your banner to or stretch it around, you will typically need to use Velcro tabs sewn to the banner, hook onto the side and loop on the other if it wraps around something, or loop only if it is going to attach to something. Adhesive hook Velcro would be used on whatever you were attaching to.
There is one establishment I know that annually puts up a big display and uses new graphics each year as well. They have some "pillars" as part of their display that they wrap a lightly stretch fabric around. On the front of the left side of the banner, we sew a strip of loop Velcro, and on the BACK of the right side is a sewed strip of hook Velcro, so that it wraps the "pillar" entirely without actually attaching to the pillar. It makes a very attractive display.
Why use fabric banners?
Because they just look better. Period.
The printing method used for fabric banners is almost always, now, dye sublimation printing, which is a continuous tone printing method used to transfer dye to fabric using a transfer paper, heat and pressure.
Vinyl banners not only look plasticky, they are printed using a digital inkjet printer which cannot match the colors and vibrancy of cloth banners.
In our opinion, there is no comparison to the visual quality of fabric versus vinyl banners. Subliminally, I believe that a person viewing your company's offerings of products or services will see your company as cheap and plasticky if you use cheap vinyl banner graphics.
Conversely, using rich tones and colors on a fabric dye sublimation printed banners will subliminally send the message that you care enough to purchase high quality materials for your product, or that your services will be superior to your competitors.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barry K. Brown has been in the Sign, Banner, Decal and Display Business for over 20 years. It isn't what he thought he'd do with his life, but he says he knows too much now to do anything else! He has been marketing these products online since 1998, and the company he was general manager of in 1998 was the first sign company to be listed on Yahoo!
He invites you to check this out for wholesale dye sublimated polyester fabric banners. You can also get a FREE Quote.
