As the demand for more versatile, printable fabrics increases, textile companies are devising new fabric coatings that meet that need, from adhesive and fire-resistant coatings to coatings that allow shops to print on the fabric with any type of digital printer, including latex.
随着对更加多样化可喷印织物需求的不断增长，纺织企业正在开发满足需求的新型织物涂层，从粘附性和耐火性材料，到适用于所有数码喷印机的材料，包括乳胶型喷印机。
Wall coverings, soft signage and trade show exhibits are just a few of the markets driving the demand for better printable fabrics.
墙纸、软性标识和贸易展览只是推动市场对更优质可喷印织物需求的几个领域。
ADHESIVE FABRIC
粘附性织物
Photo Tex Group, Inc. takes credit for starting the removable polyester fabric industry.
Photo Tex Group公司开启了可擦除聚酯织物市场。
“We came out with it. It revolutionized getting away from the vinyl,” says Walter Gierlach Jr., president of Photo Tex Group.
Photo Tex Group公司总裁小沃尔特·杰拉茨说：“我们将可擦除聚酯织物投入标识市场后，彻底改变了以贴膜为主的行业发展形势。”
He says it all started when he was searching the Internet in 2004 and found a self-adhesive printable fabric on an import/export website. The inventor of the material was in South Korea. Gierlach purchased one roll of the material and after handing out samples of it at an equipment show in Canada, he realized the market for it was unlimited.
他说这一切都始于2004年，那时他上网搜索，在进出口网站上发现了一种自粘式喷印织物，这种材料是在韩国生产的。杰拉茨购买了一卷这样的材料，将其放进加拿大的一台设备中后，他意识到这将是一个潜力无限的市场。
One man bought the entire roll and then kept coming back for more. Gierlach realized he was onto something and flew out to the factory in South Korea where he signed a one-year contract for the U.S. distribution rights for the product. He purchased a full container of the material. That container sold within a month and Gierlach has not looked back since.
一位顾客买了整卷这样的材料后，又回来采购了更多的材料。杰拉茨意识到他的想法是对的，然后亲自飞到韩国的工厂，与其签订了为期一年的合约，作为该材料在美国的分销商。他购买了一集装箱的材料，一个月之内就卖完了。
The material revolutionized the peel-and-stick fabric industry because you can’t rip or wrinkle it and it doesn’t shrink at any temperature, he says. “That’s been one of the major selling points. It doesn’t matter if it is indoors or outdoors or air conditioned or [is put] through seasonal changes, it doesn’t ever shrink. That’s why a lot of people switched out of vinyl.”
他说，这种材料彻底改变了即剥即贴织物行业，因为它不会被撕裂或弄皱，并且在任何温度下都不会缩水。这成了该材料的主要卖点之一，无论是用在室内、户外、空调房间，还是处于换季期间，它都不会缩水。这就是很多人都不用贴膜的原因了。
The adhesive also won’t peel off the paint beneath it when it is removed and it doesn’t leave a sticky residue.
在对材料进行擦除过程中，胶黏剂也不会将下面的涂层剥掉，不会留下任何残留物。
“They can leave it up for a day or a decade,” he says. Photo Tex trademarked the word StikAbility to apply to the fabric’s ability to stick and be removed with no mess.
他说：“它们的使用期限可以是一天或是十年。”Photo Tex公司注册了商标StikAbility，代表该材料的粘附性和无残留擦除性。
The company has two patents on the adhesive in the U.S., and it is non-toxic. The material is biodegradable and is fire-resistant.
该公司在美国为材料的粘附性申请了两项专利，且材料无毒、可生物降解以及耐火。
“It keeps reinventing itself into new markets,” Gierlach says.
杰拉茨说：“我们将这种材料彻底改变后投入了新市场。”
He still isn’t sure why the inventor of the material gave him a chance.
他还是不确定为什么这种材料的开发者给了他这个机会。
“He could have gone to Fuji or Canon or HP or whatever, but he chose little old me. He knew my passion would be to take this 24/7. I was the first American to go over physically to meet him; the first American in the door,” Gierlach says. “They print polyester textile for shirts and pants. He invented the coating to print on top and the adhesive to stick with. The whole thing was timing. I call it a blessing though.”
杰拉茨说：“他可以找富士、佳能、惠普等企业合作，但是他选择与不起眼的我合作。他相信以我对这种材料的热情，一定会做成更大的推广。我是第一个亲自拜访他的美国人，第一个了解这种材料的美国人。他们公司主要喷印聚酯纺织面料的衬衫和裤子，他发明出上面喷印涂层，下面用胶黏剂粘合的制作方式。这一整个事件对我来说都是契机，我称它为赐福。”
Photo Tex Group now has lifetime exclusivity contracts for the Americas, Europe and Australia.
Photo Tex Group公司现在已经成为该材料在美国、欧洲和澳大利亚的终生专属供应商。
LexJet, based in Sarasota, Fla., also offers a self-adhesive printable fabric called LexJet Solvent Print-N-Stick Fabric. The product is aqueous and compatible with UV and latex printers. Supermarkets, office buildings and other built spaces are using wall murals to change the environment people are walking into. The company also offers Photo Tex fabric.
佛罗里达州萨拉索塔LexJet公司也供应一种自粘式可喷印织物，叫做LexJet溶剂型Print-N-Stick织物。这种材料是水性的，可与UV和乳胶喷印机相容。超市、写字楼和其他建筑空间都采用壁画来改变内部环境。该公司也供应Photo Tex织物。
“The difference between the two is Photo Tex has more of a wider weave vs. the LexJet Print-N-Stick product having a tighter weave. So the tighter weave gives better image quality,” says Jaimie Mask, product specialist, digital creative at LexJet. There are markets for both products, she adds.
LexJet公司数码创意部门产品专家杰米·马斯克说：“这两种材料之间的区别在于，Photo Tex材料的编织纹路较稀疏，而LexJet Print-N-Stick产品的编织纹路更细密。因此更细密的纹路可以做出图像质量更高的产品。”这两种材料都大有市场。
Fisher Textiles does not have a self-adhesive fabric yet, but it has one in development.
Fisher Textiles公司虽没有自粘式织物产品，但是他们正在开发一种新产品。
“We would like to come out with one for dye-sub printing so you can still give the same vibrant colors you get with sublimation but have the adhesive attribute in that fabric. You might see that in 2017,” says Scott Fisher, president of Indian Trail, N.C.-based Fisher Textiles.
北卡罗莱纳州印第安路Fisher Textiles公司总裁斯科特·费舍尔说：“我们将推出一种适用于染色升华喷印的织物材料，你可以用它做出和用升华技术做成的织物颜色相同，同时该织物还具有黏附性。2017年你可能就会看到了。”
He adds that it is really advances in printer and ink technology that have driven demand for printable textiles.
他补充道，这种材料真的是喷印机和油墨技术领域的进步，它推动了市场对可喷印织物的需求发展。
“It is not so much what we have done to the fabric but what printers have done to print those same fabrics,” he says.
他说：“与其说我们对织物进行了怎样的改进，不如说喷印机是如何喷印那些相同的织物的。”
The industry has tried to provide fabrics that can be printed on multiple output devices. Many of them can be used with dye sublimation, latex and UV printers.
喷印行业已经尝试开发适用于多个输出设备上的织物类型，并且很多都可以用于染色升华、乳胶和UV喷印机。
Being printer-friendly means “trying to reduce or eliminate as many defects as possible given roll sizes and the presentation of the roll so that they are able to put it right on the machine without having issues with the edges interfering with printheads,” Fisher says.
费舍尔说：“友好型喷印机的意思是，试着尽可能多的减少或消除给定卷轴尺寸和显示方面的缺陷，这样它们就能够完美地放置在喷印机上，无需担心喷咀会干扰到卷轴边缘。”
ARCHITECTURAL USES
建筑用途
The industry is seeing more architectural uses for printable fabrics, especially in the last two years. That means end users are paying more attention to whether the fabric stretches or doesn’t stretch, if it is matte or satin finish and the different opacity levels.
行业中的可喷印织物越来越广泛地用在了建筑领域，特别是在过去的两年里。这意味着终端用户会更加关注织物是否具有拉伸性、光泽度和不同水平的透明度。
Silicon edge graphic frames are a big part of the architectural movement.
硅边缘图文框架是建筑标识应用中重要的组成部分。
“Those are getting placed on walls where maybe paintings were being put before,” Fisher says.
费舍尔说：“那些在墙上安装建筑标识的位置，之前可能放的是画作。”
Some companies will use large SEG frames as walls between rooms. They want to be able to put fabric on both sides of the wall and light them from the front. That’s where the opacity and texture of the fabric really comes into play, he says.
他说，一些公司用大型SEG框架作为两个房间之间的墙壁，他们想在这面墙的两面都装上织物，然后从前面将其照亮。这就是织物不透明度和纹理真正发挥作用的地方。
Fisher Textiles is also seeing some need for anti-microbial coatings for textiles because many of them end up on the walls of restaurants or the fabric is made into shower curtains.
Fisher Textiles公司也看到了市场对抗菌涂层型织物的需求，因为很多用在餐厅墙壁上的织物都被制成了浴帘。
LATEX PRINTING
乳胶喷印性能
LexJet’s Mask says that the trends for soft signage for digital are starting to shift. Trade show graphics have shifted to fabric. In the past, people printed the graphics with dye sublimation, UV curable and direct to textile.
LexJet公司马斯克说，数码化软性标识的发展有开始转变的趋势，贸易展示图文已经转变成了织物。过去人们都是用染色升华、UV固化和直接喷印技术来喷印图文的。
“One of the major downfalls in the latex market was durability, compared to dye sublimation,” she says. LexJet offers a new material called EnduraFab Frontlit Premier, which was designed specifically for use with third-generation HP latex inks.
她说：“与染色升华技术相比，耐用性是乳胶喷印市场败落的主要原因之一。”LexJet公司供应一种叫做EnduraFab Frontlit Premier的新型材料，是专门为使用第三代惠普乳胶油墨设计的。
“You can get that look of and feel of other competing products with different technologies with a latex printer now,” she says.
她说：“有了这种材料，你可以获得与在乳胶喷印机上用不同技术喷印出相同外观和触感的织物。”
In the past, materials printed with latex inks would show scratches or white breaks where the material was folded.
在过去，用乳胶油墨喷印的材料会出现划痕或在折叠时出现白色裂纹。
“This technology allows the ink to adhere with the fabric material and you don’t have a scratching issue at all. You can fold and do everything you do with dye sub fabric,” she said. It also has a nice hand and excellent drape capabilities.
她说：“这项技术使得油墨依附在织物材料上，你根本无需担心出现划痕。你可以将染色升华织物进行折叠或做出随意的处理。”它还有极好的手工褶皱性能。
The material also passed a wash cycle test, meaning it didn’t fade after five washings.
这种材料也通过了循环清洗测试，意味着将它清洗五遍之后也不会褪色。
Typically, a fabric that was printed on a latex printer would have to be run through a heat press before it could be washed. “You have to affix the inks to the material. With this specific product, you don’t necessarily need to do that,” Mask says.
马斯克说，通常情况下，用乳胶喷印机喷印的织物需要经过热压过程后才能清洗，而且你需要将油墨粘附在织物上，但有了这种特制材料，就无需再做那个过程了。
The reason this technology is important is that print runs on a latex printer are shorter and don’t take as much labor to complete. Dye sublimation requires transfer paper, a heat press and printer.
这项技术如此重要的原因是，它在乳胶喷印机上运行时间短，无需大量的劳力就能完成。然而染色升华技术需要纸张、热压过程和喷印机才能完成。
“This is a game changer for our latex users,” she says. “In our signage world, you can produce a lot more on latex than on a dye sub printer. There’s still room for dye sub too. It depends on where your focus is coming up in the next few years and what choice you are going to make as a business owner.”
她说：“这对我们的乳胶喷印机用户来说是一个优势。在标识行业，用乳胶喷印机比用染色升华喷印机的产量大。对染色升华来说仍然还有发展空间，而这取决于你未来几年的关注点以及作为企业主你会做出怎样的选择。”
SCRATCH RESISTENCE
耐刮性
Top Value Fabrics, Inc. is also working on coatings for fabric that make latex ink more scratch-resistant and more durable. The company has a commercial product on the way. It will be a little stiffer but similar to dye-sublimation, says Mike Compton, product marketing manager for Top Value Fabrics in Carmel, Ind.
Top Value Fabrics公司也在开发使得乳胶油墨更耐刮、更耐用的织物涂层，他们正要将一种商业产品投入市场。该公司产品营销经理迈克·康普顿说，这种产品与染色升华产品很相似，但更硬一些。
“Where you get an advantage with latex is it is such a media-friendly product and totally environmentally safe. It does away with eco-solvent and solvent that are not environmentally friendly,” he adds.
他补充道：“乳胶喷印产品的优势是媒介友好、环境安全。它与不环保的弱溶剂型和溶剂型产品不同。”
The coating helps the ink adhere to the fabric better and makes the ink scratch and scuff-resistant.
这种涂层使得油墨更好地粘附在织物上，且耐刮和耐磨。
“We’ve made many of our fabrics, the majority of our fabrics, friendly for any type of ink set. That’s what customers are looking for. At the end of the day, a customer wants less SKUs in the inventory,” Compton says.
康普顿说：“我们已经将大多数织物做成适用于任何类型油墨的形式，这就是客户想要的产品，他们想要在一天结束的时候，库存所剩无几。”
LexJet also offers an aqueous product. It is a water-resistant satin cloth. It has a satin back and an inkjet-receptive coating on the matte side. This is good for stiff, hanging displays.
LexJet公司也供应水性产品，它是一种防水缎布，背面光滑，粗糙面有一层油墨涂层，适用于坚硬的悬挂式显示屏。
FLAME RESISTENCE
耐高温性
Fire resistance has also become more important for the printers because their customers are demanding fire retardancy. That’s in large part because these products are being used more and more in venues that have fire codes, like trade show venues, shopping malls and retail stores.
喷印机的耐高温性也变得更加重要，这在很大程度上是因为这些产品越来越多的用于符合消防规范的场馆，比如贸易展览馆、购物中心和零售商铺。
“We have expanded our fire-resistant testing as a result of the new environments the fabrics are going into,” he says.
他说：“为了使得织物能够适应新环境，我们扩大了对织物进行耐高温性能测试的规模。”
The majority of Top Value Fabrics Inc.’s offerings are fire resistant because they are widely used in high-end retail environments and trade shows. Many of them are also EU REACH certified, which means they use a limited amount of chemicals to make sure they are safe for the environment.
Top Value Fabrics公司供应的大多数织物产品都是耐高温的，因为它们广泛地用于高端零售环境和贸易展，并且很多都已经获得了EU REACH认证，这意味着它们的化学成分是受限制的，这样就能确保它们对环境是安全的。
“We expect the U.S. to do something similar. They have not yet,” says Compton. “When you are REACH-certified, you are ahead of the game.”
康普顿说：“我们希望美国也能做出类似的产品，目前他们还没有开发出来。当你已经获得了REACH认证，那么你就处于行业领先地位了。”
BACKLIGHTING
背部照明
Top Value Fabrics also offers a product called Midnight Blockout, which has a dye sub fabric on the front and an acrylic base on the back. It works well for displays where the customer doesn’t want light to pass through it. It is great for banner stands and roll up banner stands.
Top Value Fabrics公司还供应一种叫做Midnight Blockout的产品，其正面是染色升华织物，背面是亚克力板材。它适用于光线无法穿透的显示屏、横幅及卷幅。
“One of the biggest growth areas is backlit fabric,” he says.
他说：“标识行业增长最快的其中一个领域就是背部照明织物。”
Compton adds that, “we’re going to continue to look at new fabrics and coatings that will improve the overall look of the fabric as well as what we offer to end users.”
康普顿补充道：“我们会继续研发出改善整体外观的新型织物和涂层。”
