“Every time I go to the airport I’m really shocked at how much retrograding and updating they’ve been doing to fabric graphics,” said Mark Baldwin, founder and principal of Tempe’ Ariz.’s Next Level Signs. “They’re mostly the LED SEGs [silicone edge graphics], but you’re still seeing a lot of floor stands.” Indeed, if you have been out and about in the world lately, you have seen soft signage proliferate, especially in retail environments. “I haven’t seen a vinyl banner in a mall in several years,” added Baldwin. “It’s all fabric. It’s nice to see fabric continuing to take over in certain areas.”

Next Level Signs, which Baldwin founded in 2001, offers a wide variety of indoor and outdoor signs, with an emphasis on various kinds of textile-based (or “soft”) signage. And a lot of soft signage is today replacing older non-soft signage. “We’ve been doing more retail stores lately,” said Baldwin. “We've been doing a lot more retrofitting, as well as building out of new stores. We have a contract with a firearms store and they’ll do 10 SEG light panels in one of their stores. Every time they build a new location, we’re putting in 10 or 12 frames and it lightens up the whole interior of the building.”

(In silicone edge graphics [SEG], a silicone gasket is sewn onto the edge of the printed fabric graphic, which then snaps into an aluminum frame. The graphic is pulled taut and looks identical to rigid signage. LED lighting can be added to side- or backlight the graphic.)