Lee Egan (L) and Andy Lambert, Directors, Manchester Print Services

UFabrik, Bracknell: Manchester Print Services has chosen UFabrik Soft Backlit Textile as its exclusive material of choice when printing backlit on its HP Stitch S1000 super-wide dye sublimation printer.

Situated in the heart of Manchester, the business has been operating since 2010 and services a wide range of clients within retail, POS, and exhibitions leading its applications roster. It was the first company in the UK to install the HP Stitch, purchased in August 2019, to handle a major new account with a need for dye sublimated backlit tension frame graphics.

Since installing the HP Stitch, the business has trialled a number of backlit dye sublimation materials that were either good quality and expensive, or a favourable price but with some performance compromises.

“Initially when printing on the HP Stitch, it was difficult not to get ink stamping on the back of the fabric. We trialled several materials and ended up using one that gave great results but was expensive. Further down the line we went for a different material, it worked well enough but there was a slight problem of starring as light from the LED lightboxes were penetrating the fabric which was lighter and less dense,” says Lee Egan, Director, MPS.

After extensively trialling UFabrik Soft Backlit Textile, MPS has found a material that squares the circle – finely equating super quality performance at an excellent price point. Profiling the material using the Ergosoft Pro RIP was carried out by R A Smart – a straight forward process that yielded impeccable results – so much so, that UFabrik has become MPS’ material of choice for all its backlit work.

UFabrik Soft Backlit Textile is a recyclable high quality, dense 5.6 oz/yd 100% woven polyester textile. It was developed with an uncompromising agenda – to be the ultimate direct and transfer dye-sublimation backlit material available in the market. A unique weaving process in its production ensures no pin holes and no need for a top coating. UFabrik Soft Backlit has an unrivalled white point with a soft and natural handle offering unparalleled image output. It is foldable, crease and bruise-free with flame protection: B1, EN13501-1 and NFPA 701.

“Once the UFabrik came in we tested it thoroughly, it’s really good quality, nice and dense with no starring. It’s also got a really nice 4-way stretch so we carried on from there. The colour reproduction is very good, sometimes you can struggle with dye sublimated backlit but the UFabrik gives us a really nice deep black and rich vibrant colours,” says Lee.

Finishing too, is made simple with the material. “We sew it, attach the silicon bead and then we can just fold it and despatch it in boxes – as it doesn’t bruise, we don’t need to send it out on a roll,” he says.

Currently the business is outputting around 400 linear meters of UFabrik on the HP Stitch per month. Says Lee, “The HP Stitch and UFabrik are a really impressive combination, which I’m sure our customers would certainly agree with.”