Nimlok has textile printing off to a fine art and dye sublimation is its stock in trade textile printing technique. The company is the premier exhibition stand designer and manufacturer in the UK and the US, powering innovation as its route forward to not only keep ahead of the competition but also to trail blaze and engineer new concepts and solutions in design and manufacturing, delivering stunning printed fabric structures on inviting exhibition stands and displays. Nimlok was launched in 1970 especially to manufacture display and exhibition solutions. It has over 200 authorised distributors in 52 countries worldwide, manufacturing principally in the UK, USA and Canada. Turnkey and standalone custom modular exhibition stands, portable displays, pop-up displays, modular, low volume PoP units and promotional banner systems are certainly its field of expertise with services including stand design, in-house graphic design and production, installation and dismantling, rental programmes, stand storage and full exhibition management services. Crucial and indeed central to its activities are graphics which are produced digitally at each of the sites from graphic design originated in house or from the customers own agency. Output is by inkjet on fabric and/or polyester substrate. Notably the company is now producing dye sublimation printed exhibition stand carpeting and mats.

The Nimlok Experience at The Exhibiting Show this year

Nimlok sees itself certainly in the exhibition stand business as unique in its production techniques. The company doesn’t print stand graphics on paper because, it says, the layers can separate if the graphic is mishandled. In the exhibition world a graphic can be put up and down dozens of times and transported around the world in between. Specially developed coated polyester is used to greatly reduce the chance of damage and in conjunction with a protective over-laminate with the same expansion and shrinkage properties, the result is reckoned to be incredibly durable.

Nimlok’s dye sublimation venture began as a development project with a view to provide stunning alternatives for use in stand design and graphics displays. The US MD spotted a trend in fabric structures using an alloy frame with a stretched fabric covering. Print on these was limited with the technology available at the time and it was recognised that being able to produce full colour graphics across 100% of the surface area of these elastane fabrics would be a huge contributor to its success. UK Graphics Director Garry Clement-Boggis believed he had a solution to this requirement with a digital dye sublimation process that he had been working on with a specialist.

Nimlok’s kit, supplied by Lutterworth based dye sublimation printing specialist I-Sub revolves around a modified 2.6m wide Roland SJ1000 inkjet printer and Monti Antonio callender heat presses. The company boasts one of the largest roller callender presses in the UK, backed up by a flatbed version for more rigid substrates.

Designs are printed on a carrier that is then processed in a heat transfer press with the receiver fabric. Under heat and pressure, the inks in the carrier change directly from solids to gases without an intermediate liquid state, thus sublimating the inks into the receiver fabric rather than on top as in normal print processes.

“Our dye sublimation capabilities are built on images printed into the fabric,” says Garry Clement-Boggis, “rather than artwork images printed on fabric as competitors might offer. “And the only way to rub our print off one of our displays is to destroy the structure of the fabric itself!” Thus durability, colour vibrancy and quality of resolution on fabric and textiles are reckoned to be unsurpassed.

Furthermore, Nimlok can readily print on very fine voiles and elastane fabrics to maximise creative input to stunning visual effect with the big added bonus of fire rated displays where the fire rating properties definitely do not detract or impede print vibrancy. The fabrics maintain every bit of flexibility just as if no printing had been applied, unlike other processes which stiffen the textile.

Nimlok exhibition displays are designed around lightweight frames with the printed fabric essentially comprising a sock or pillow case that snugly fits taut and uncreased over the frame. The frame assembles and breaks down easily for no transport problem or fuss and the sock just pulls or zips, if required, into place. Socks are interchangeable and lightweight too and can be packed in small spaces making transport and delivery of new socks simple and uncomplicated.

With the installation of the 2.5m Roland, the exhibition stand company can output large projects without having to join and fit them to the extensive modular framework systems. “We produce extremely well built, good looking and sturdy modular frames,” says Garry Clement-Boggis, “and the wider print capability of the Roland with its superb quality has extended our capability.”

“Dye sublimation opens up the use of fabrics,” says Garry Clement-Boggis. The company uses a host of different polyester based materials in its automated transfer process. And in discussing that we discover a further huge benefit of the dye sublimation printed fabrics – they are washable. The inks penetrate deep into the fabric at high temperature rather than sit on the surface and as a result are fast and stable. “Our graphics on fabric,” says Garry Clement- Boggis, can withstand 150 or more industrial machine washes and are also lightfast outdoors for two years or more.”

The effects of printing on fabrics are stunning too. Meshes and voiles are amazing quality and through the process’s colour saturation, these give a double sided effect with the image ‘soaking’ through to the reverse, looking just as stunning from the back as from the front. “These can make beautiful banners and drapes,” says Garry, “and using elastane fabrics too, the printed socks stretch easily over the framework structures which are ideal for pop-up displays and other frames, making our solutions very easy and cost effective.”

Nimlok has developed its own sewing and mounting systems, providing a complete systems approach to any display or stand. Notably all strategic print development for the company is carried out in its UK base however, the US continues to make the most use of the developments, serving the huge market there.

In the States, Nimlok has two Mimaki JV3s and a JV4 for dye sublimation printing but, according to the company’s US based Graphics Manager Paul Person, the US will follow the lead of the UK and install a Roland too. “Dye sublimation is more accepted in the US,” he says, with volumes around three times that of the UK.” For both countries dye sublimation is growing. The US company began dye sublimation three years ago for its exhibition booths which are different in concept to UK stands where restrictions on height, for example, are less controlled. In the US, height is limited and so designs have evolved there with lots of hanging structures and by definition, lots of standardisation. “Without restriction, says Garry Clement Boggis, “UK stand designs are very much more bespoke.”

Aluminium frames, ready for material coverage

Trends in the US for stand design centre around a frame draped with textile graphics whereas UK designs are far more involved and thus more expensive. However, in saying that, the UK does not have to face drayage costs on exhibition build-up and breakdown which mightily add to US exhibitor costs especially as weight and size increase! So with restriction and logistics very much to the fore in the US, dye sublimation printed graphics have become a major part of stand design. Uptake in using dye sublimation printed textiles has thus grown. Nimlok in the US began with one printer, one small heat press and one tailor. Now it has the three Mimakis, three heat presses and six tailors, with the need to take on the new Roland. With a more formularised approach to stand design as in the US, stand dressing and finishing can be worked on and even completed before the structures arrive, In the UK with custom designs, they can’t, the process is longer drawn out with finishing having to wait till customised and bespoke stands are complete.

That said, with different problems faced by UK and US companies on exhibition stand design, the technology involved is the same, hence Nimlok sources its textiles for worldwide production. According to Paul Person, this printing black art is becoming simpler and more widespread, with Nimlok at the font of all dye sublimation knowledge: the company has even been approached by trade suppliers for training.

Paul Person sources textiles in volume for Nimlok worldwide and the company now uses Manoukian inks both in the US and the UK which are constantly improving in a competitive market that is driving prices down. “Ink is a quarter of the price it was three years ago” explains Paul. In the same vein, transfer papers too have improved and now there is a good stock availability for dye sublimation printing.

Taking a view on the dye sublimation textile printing market for exhibition stands, “It’s the epitome of a niche market,” says Paul Person. “There are not many doing it and so getting the right materials at the right price is tough as you are not using much in comparison to larger high street companies buying textiles.”

Textile width has dictated the limitation of dye sublimation print with most textiles 1.5m wide and more and more now becoming available at 2.5m. “2.5m print width is ideal for our purposes,” says Garry Clement-Boggis, “which also ties in with all the other necessary capabilities to support print such as sewing.

Pioneering dye sublimation in its field, Nimlok has continued to develop and streamline its process. The much vaunted direct print for textiles has too been tried and tested by Nimlok and enforces the reasoning behind its preference for dye sublimation with a transfer paper. “Direct printing for textiles is a wonderful solution, saving paper and the transfer process,” says Garry Clement-Boggis. “But it is not the saviour for us that was first thought- you can’t get an elastane fabric through the printer for instance. You need to print on elastanes to fit neatly and tightly over the stand structures. Direct sublimation is great for flags and such - it can be a big time saver. All in all, for our purposes, direct printing is not a good direction to progress in.”

Paul Person noted a 4m, direct print textile machine that has been in the pipeline for some time and was due for launch at Fespa. “Whatever happened to it, he says?” For the future in exhibition stand textile displays, Nimlok sees fire rating forcing an entry into the swing of things with a penalty of doubling the price of textiles. The good news though is that it has no effect on print colour and vibrancy but is just rather smelly to process. “It’s harmless but horrible,” says Garry Clement-Boggis! As Health & Safety issues take more and more of a hold, exhibition venues will demand fire ratings as a matter of course. Paul Person points out that all US used textiles have to be fire rated, with the ‘protection’ added to the textile as a secondary process after weaving.

In stand designs, textiles started off by replacing Foamex graphics and such, and then moved into structures and sculptures. “Textiles have bloomed in experiential design,” says Garry Clement-Boggis, “where the stand design creates an environment of its own.” He sees the future in stand design as incorporating an environment in which to “Experience the Brand”, and fabrics can help to make this happen.

The Exhibiting show recently saw Nimlok’s new concept in stand design, with the overhead ‘box’ effect and textiles abundant on enticing stand design. “The stand created its own environment,” says Garry Clement-Boggis, “with hanging voiles and a giant cube raised up to create the centrepiece and seen from across the halls. It looks expensive but in effect is cost effective, based on a light aluminium structure. Inside, the stand was loaded with high resolution, full colour graphics on textiles. Stunning! It simply enticed visitors on to the stand with its architectural presence.

In the US, “You just could not do that,” says Paul Person. The trend for effectively graphic hangers on skeletal stands will continue with more and more clever ways to hang or hold textile graphics evolving. “But,” he stresses, “it’s not just about putting up fabric. It’s about the whole thing, the whole gamut of processes involved including sewing, the way stands are designed and the way they are put together.

Metal fabrication and engineering are essential constituents that you just cannot do without.” But on working themes, Nimlok UK’s new concept of a large fabric structure will continue, set high with a simple stand design beneath. For the US, the same concepts and designs remain, with the top part of the UK design used as floor standing structure.

In that, the States has undergone a change in philosophy as far as Nimlok is concerned, moving to exhibition stands as tubes that hold graphics. “Now that’s a big change in philosophy to take in,” says Paul Person. But you can’t do one process without the other, if you can’t build the frame, how do you do the fabric?” The result though is the philosophy has taken hold and now the company rents out frames and supplies printed and finished socks and drapes to suit.

Fabric may be the future, but for Nimlok it will always be as part of their huge modular system that ensures versatility, value and dynamic impact whilst observing reusable values.

W: www.nimlok.com
W: www.rolanddg.co.uk
W: www.i-sub.co.uk