- What it is
- A printed panel of woven polyester with a thin silicone strip sewn around its perimeter. The strip seats into a groove running the inside face of an aluminium frame, and the panel is pushed in by hand until the whole surface is under even tension. The frame is the structure; the graphic is a skin that comes off it, folds into a bag and goes back on. Changing the message changes the skin, not the stand.
- What it is printed on
Woven polyester, printed by dye sublimation — the colour is gassed into the fibre under heat rather than laid on top of it, so there is no ink film to crack along a fold. The cloth is dimensionally stable enough to be pulled tight and elastic enough to be pulled tight without ripping, which is the whole trick. It is not a sheet, so it carries no caliper in the materials library; the specification that matters is the weave and the finished panel size.
- How it feels
- Light, dry and slightly matt, closer to a shirt than to a banner. Under a fingertip the surface has a faint grain from the weave. Because the colour is in the fibre, the face has no plastic sheen and photographs without the hot spot a vinyl backdrop throws back at a flash.
- What it suits
- Exhibition walls, stage and step-and-repeat backdrops, roadshow modules and anything that will be photographed. It suits a graphic that has to travel and be rebuilt by whoever is on shift. It does not suit an outdoor site with wind loading, and it is the wrong choice where the design depends on a mirror-flat gloss — fabric has no gloss to give.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Installation, where it applies, is scheduled on top of that.
- The common mistake
- Designing to the frame size instead of to the visible aperture. The panel is made oversize because its edge disappears into the channel, so a logo or a line of type set close to the trim is swallowed by the extrusion and nobody sees it until the stand is up. Keep the message inside the aperture and let the background run out to the bead.
Print idea
Tensioned fabric backdrop
A woven polyester graphic sewn with a silicone bead and tensioned into an aluminium frame, so the printed surface is flat, seamless across its width and free of glare under a camera.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What tensioned fabric backdrop is
A printed panel of woven polyester with a thin silicone strip sewn around its perimeter. The strip seats into a groove running the inside face of an aluminium frame, and the panel is pushed in by hand until the whole surface is under even tension. The frame is the structure; the graphic is a skin that comes off it, folds into a bag and goes back on. Changing the message changes the skin, not the stand.
Woven polyester, printed by dye sublimation — the colour is gassed into the fibre under heat rather than laid on top of it, so there is no ink film to crack along a fold. The cloth is dimensionally stable enough to be pulled tight and elastic enough to be pulled tight without ripping, which is the whole trick. It is not a sheet, so it carries no caliper in the materials library; the specification that matters is the weave and the finished panel size.
- The panel, drawn to its finished proportion.
- The aperture — what is still visible once the frame is closed. The standard silicone-edge profile takes 25 mm off every edge, drawn at the panel’s own scale.
- The silicone bead, sewn around the whole perimeter.
- The frame channel, in section. The bead seats in it and the edge of the print disappears.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- SEG fabric lightboxStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Modular backdrop wallStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Curved and straight pop-up displayStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- ApparelThe specification, and how it is quoted
- BackdropsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.