Part 3 of 3
One of the biggest segments of the graphic arts utilizing dye-sublimation (dye-sub) technology is the events space, where canopies and tents are often created for both indoor and outdoor environments.
North Washington, CO-based KD Canopy is a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of industrial strength commercial custom canopies, tension tents, and digital signage. Its products are used in the events, promotion, and military sectors, with beverage promotion accounting for 40 percent of its sales.
KD Kanopy was acquired by AEC, Inc. in 2010. At the time of the acquisition, it moved away from screen printing and towards digital with the purchase of two EFI VUTEk dedicated roll-to-roll UV printers, one 126 inches and the other 199 inches in width. Dye-sub was added in 2019 when the company purchased two EFI VUTEk 340i printers to handle increasing demand for silicone edge graphics work and address interest in the tenting world.
“We wanted to go more dye-sub as it’s just an easier process—the colors really pop, and there’s just an overall uplift in the tents and canopies,” says Matt Kayser, president and owner, KD Kanopy.
New Material
In April 2023, the company decided to implement UFabrik Tent Textile for its dye-sub work. In its planning, it hopes to print 40,000 yards of the material per annum—representing 25 percent of its total output.
UFabrik Tent Textile’s important characteristic is water resistance and ink adhesion, which are two essential properties for materials used in printed tents and canopies. In addition, the heavyweight woven polyester-based material is airtight and holds EN13501 and NFPA-701 fire certification. It features a lotus effect print face and 80 percent opacity, making it ideal for gazebos, marquees, canopies, tents, and outdoor event graphics. It is designed for direct or paper transfer sublimation.
“UFabrik Tent Textile offers super vibrant colors. It prints, cuts, and sews wonderfully, and I liked its pricing. I’m really impressed with the quality, and I like the size because of the panels that go on the back of a frame. When I was buying 63-inch lengths I had to put a seam in, which could make really good-looking graphics appear wonky,” says Kayser.
With fade resistance also important, KD Kanopy has tested UFabrik Tent Textile to the max. It manufactured a tent using dye-sub printed to UFabrik Tent Textile last October. “It’s seen 15 snowstorms and been exposed to the sun, which is very penetrating here as we’re a mile high. CO gets 300 days of sun a year; you’d think with all the snow it would be something like 200 days, but we have more sun than HI. Only now after six months of battling extreme weather, the tent is beginning to fade,” admits Kayser.
Collaborative Effort
Making the transition to UFabrik Tent Textile was made easier with the help of EFI. UFabrik collaborated with EFI to ensure all of its color profiles are available on the Fiery XF RIP. The UFabrik team also produced a settings guide for the EFI FabriVU that includes data for specific printer speeds, inline fixation temperatures, and material tension controls to achieve ultimate color reproduction and textile stability for its textiles that are output through this printer family.
“UFabrik really did a great deal of legwork. Giving us profiles for our EFI FabriVU printers has really helped us. It’s only taken us two tents to figure out shrink and stretch, just because so much background work has already been done by them,” explains Kayser.
The minimal learning curve for figuring out the shrink and stretch of the fabric also enabled KD Kanopy to adopt a more efficient workflow. “We can finally use our Zund America, Inc. digital cutter to cut dye-sub because our previous material would shrink and stretch so much that getting the right template to the cutter didn’t happen and we had to cut by hand. Now we can go from the printer to the cutter and then the sewing seamlessly, we’re now 60 percent faster,” notes Kayser.
Digital Efficiency
KD Kanopy is efficient from its printers to finishers and the fabric in between thanks to its recent commitment to UFabrik Tent Textile.
Aug23, Digital Output
