Printed fabrics cover a wide spread of products: self-adhesive wall fabrics, display textiles, flags, tension-frame graphics, backdrops and décor. They are chosen because they look and feel softer than vinyl or paper, fold without creasing badly, and often hang more naturally. Protecting them means keeping those qualities intact.
Phototex: a fabric built for walls
Phototex is our printable self-adhesive woven fabric. It is designed for wall graphics, murals, portraits and décor that may need to come down again. Its main strengths are practical:
- It removes in one piece without damaging the surface underneath.
- It can be repositioned during installation and reused afterwards.
- There is no edge curl, weakened adhesive or peeling.
- It works with pigment, latex, UV and eco-solvent printers.
That makes it popular for retail and hospitality interiors, rented spaces, exhibitions and homes where tenants or owners want to change a look without redecorating. Full details are on the Phototex section.
Should you coat a printed fabric?
For a fabric applied flat to a wall, such as Phototex, a coating can add resistance to water, cleaning and scuffing, plus UV protection in sunlit spaces. Test first to make sure the coating does not stiffen the fabric more than you would like, and check that removability is unaffected.
For fabrics that need to drape, fold or stretch, such as flags, backdrops and tension-frame graphics, a surface coating may change how the fabric handles. It can also affect how light passes through backlit textiles. In many of these cases the fabric is best left uncoated, or protected only in specific areas. Talk to us before coating them.
Ink and process notes
- Eco-solvent and latex fabrics: allow prints to dry and outgas or cure fully before coating.
- UV-printed fabrics: check that the cured ink stays flexible and that a coating bonds well.
- Dye-sublimated polyester: a different process entirely. A surface coating is not usually part of this workflow, so please ask before trying one.
- Uncoated textiles: may absorb a coating unevenly. Test on an offcut.
See our applications for examples of printed fabric in use.
Interested in trying Phototex or protecting a printed fabric? Ask us for a sample or call 01252 624 411, and we can talk through your printer and the space it is going into.