Fabric and DSG "Banner Walls" – PLUS, How Can I Get a Long Life From My Banners?

LAST UPDATED ON: August 7, 2018Can I make a “wall” out of the banners? Will the pictures connect?

Sort of. And sort of. There are several styles of banner stands that can help you create a sort of wall with your banners. Some of you might be wondering why you would even want a “banner wall,” but in reality, it can be a very professional looking backdrop to your stage or tradeshow booth.

There are several styles of banner stands that will accomplish your wall o’banners. There are what is termed an X banner stand which is a tension frame in the shape of, you guessed it, an X!

Retractable banners are also popular for creating banner walls, albeit they are a bit more costly.

There are also “I” shaped stands that work similar to the X stands. They are less costly than the retractable banners stands also.

Typically, at least for the present, most of these stands sport either a curl-free digitally printed DSG graphic – DSG stands for “direct-to-substrate-graphic” – or a dye sublimation printed fabric banner.

The second part of the question, “do the pictures connect?” – sort of. They are pushed together and more or less form a contiguous graphic. There are clips available to attach DSG graphics together, but in my opinion, the wall looks better without them. More natural.

How can I achieve a longer banner lifespan?

There a few ways that you can make a banner last longer.

First, let’s delineate between a couple types of banners. There are PVC or “vinyl” banners, then there are fabric banners, of which the most common material is polyester, which makes a great dye sub printed fabric banner.

For Vinyl Banners

Vinyl banners are generally used out-of-doors, which means it takes a pretty good beating for the span of its life, but there are ways to make them last longer as well. Some companies actually use vinyl banners for there booths at tradeshows (I disapprove heartily as I think then look plasticky at close viewing range, such as at a tradeshow, and plastic looks cheap, like your company is going to cut corners on whatever you offer).

So, if you’re one of those companies, you can make your banner last longer by NEVER folding it. It drives me crazy when I tell clients to ROLL up the banner for shipping or storage, and they fold it, then get upset because it doesn’t look as good as it used to. Really?!

If you ‘re hanging a vinyl banner outside, the less wind flap it takes, the better. More than the sun, the wind can literally destroy a banner in days. Banners hung across a street should be hung using pole pockets encasing a plastic covered cable (preferably). If a banner is affixed to a wall, make sure that it is securely fastened at least every four feet. This will reduce the opportunity for the wind to get behind the banner and begin to destroy it.

If possible, hang the banner on the North, East, or West side of the building to reduce the amount of sun it has to be abused by on a daily basis. If you can’t, just make sure it is securely fixed. We’ve seen banners last 10+ years on the South side of a building because it was stretched tight and grommeted every 12 inches and pinned to the wall on each grommet.

For Cloth Banners

As far as dye sub cloth banners goes, they are used indoors for the most part, so they don’t get the wind and the rain and the sun beating on them daily, but they do get dirty over time. They can be either hand-washed or machine washed, and dried in a dryer on a low heat setting or hung out to dry.