What's New

While we've been keeping an eye on new and improved products as always, it seems most of the products we've found are not particular new or interesting, but instead are designed to be cheap alternatives to better products. We've tried some of these, and as you might expect, they didn't work well and had nothing to offer but a lower price, and while a lower price is always welcome, not when it's a poor quality product, Because of this, we don't have many new products to announce at this time, but there a few and we continue to look and evaluate those that we find.

One new material we did test and found very impressive is the Asphalt Art sidewalk decal material. This unique product is a metal foil base material with textured glass bead surface that give it some special properties. The textured surface is slip resistant, even when wet, without requiring a protective overlaminate, and the foil base material gives it the ability to conform to the contours of the surface it's being applied to. This means it can be used on surfaces such as concrete, asphalt, cobblestones, brick, etc. and conform to each surface to give a painted on look that lasts far longer than other outdoor floor decals. It can hold up to both vehicle and foot traffic and keep looking good. Because of the wide variety of surfaces Asphalt Art can be used on, it's difficult to guarantee a particular lifespan, but it was designed to last a year in most situations, with many installations actually lasting much longer. It's also designed to be easy to remove without leaving adhesive residue, although again there isn't a guarantee from the manufacturer on this because of the wide variety of surfaces it can be used on. Unlike some other products, Asphalt Art can be peeled off the ground when it's time to remove it, often in a single piece. This makes it excellent for uses such as race or parade route street markings, sporting events, promotional sidewalk graphics, parking lot advertising or wayfinding, and any temporary outdoor floor graphic application. This is an expensive material, but when you factor in the longevity, it can be much more cost effective than other solutions, and because it can be used on surfaces that other products cannot, and in situations like those with vehicle traffic, it's a great option to have and we're excited to make it available for our customers. You can find more information on this new material on our Floor Decals page.

Another new material is the Metallic Photo Gloss. This resin coated metallic high gloss photo paper results in prints that are sharp, vibrant, and exceptionally rich-looking. The metallic finish adds a distinctive look and is the perfect way to make portraits, commercial display prints, and competition prints that stand out from the others. It is also adds a distinctive look to black and white photography. This new paper can be found on most of our fine art and photo printing pages, such as our pages for Fine Art Printing, Giclee Photo Printing, Canvas Creations, and Digital Photo Printing pages.

Canvas Updates

Our Matte Decor canvas, which is the least expensive canvas we offer, has been upgraded to higher quality Fredrix product. Printed with eco-friendly latex inks, this 18 mil canvas offers very good color and print quality at very reasonable price. As a bonus, it is also available in sizes up to 73" wide for those who want to do oversized canvas prints.

We have also added a new Satin Decor Canvas that comes in sizes up to 104" wide for super-sized canvas prints. We've often had requests for large canvas prints, and while we've always had the ability to print in large sizes at high quality, we couldn't find any canvas products that produced acceptable results. But, this new canvas is a satin finished version of our Matte Decor canvas and offers very good color and image quality, and now very big sizes as well.

It took a lot of testing, but our newest version of the Premium canvas is now printed on OBA free, certified archival gloss water resistant canvas and finished with a water based protective coating that comes in gloss, satin and matte, so we are still able to offer all three finishes. This is still our highest quality and more durable canvas, and it's printed at 2880 dpi in 9 colors with water based inks. It also our heaviest canvas and the most flexible. While none of our canvas products should crack, when canvas is stretched over the edge of stretcher bars, you will sometimes see the canvas through the separation in the print as a result of the image being stretched or bent an extreme amount. Since this is never on the face of the canvas, it's not typically a concern, but there are situations where this is not ideal. Our Premium canvas is so flexible that even in these types of extreme situations, the print won't separate and allow the canvas to show through the image. This makes it ideal for the finest quality gallery wraps or specialty applications, as well as for anyone who still wants the best canvas print you can buy with the best longevity and durability.

You can read more about our canvas materials, or order them from either our Fine Art Printing, Canvas Creations or Photo Reproduction pages.

 

Some new things that are on our agenda for testing are some interesting new fabrics, including one that is made from recycled plastic water bottles. It seems that fabrics are one area where we are constantly testing new materials since so many new ones come on the market all the time. As always, if we find any that are better than our current products, we will upgrade them to the better versions, or if they offer new or different qualities, we'll add them to the line up. Check back here for more updates as our testing continues.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you have related to any of these new products.

We are always looking at new materials, so check back here frequently for the latest news on printing materials.

We are continuing to look for ways to improve our display hardware offerings, and in that regard, we have some new and improved products in our Retractable Banner Stands.

The Wave is an exiting new indoor/outdoor retractable banner stand. This attractive stand has a design that is similar in concept to the popular MediaScreen 2 Outdoor stand. It's a retractable stand with detachable legs that give the stand stability in the wind, and a support pole with an integrated heavy duty spring so the banners can flex in the wind. When used without the legs, it looks like an attractive indoor stand, so unlike most outdoor stands, it looks right at home in either environment. In our testing, we found the stand to be very stable, although not as stable as the MediaScreen 2 Outdoor stand. In heavy winds, or with sudden heavy gusts, it was possible to tip the stand over, but we found that weighting the legs with small sand bags was sufficient to keep it stable in any wind conditions, and the legs are designed so that stakes can be used to provide extra stability when the stand is used on a soft surface such as grass or sand.

We think this new stand will satisfy a need that many of our customers have expressed, so we're happy to have it available, and we've featured it throughout the site in our Product Spotlight. Click the Wave link to find out more about this exiting new product.

The Metro line of retractable banner stands are a familiar design that can be seen almost anywhere, including our own Budget Roll Up and Econo Stand products. Unfortunately, many stands with this design are light weight, flimsy products that are cheaply made, and while the Metro may look similar to some of these products, it is in fact a high quality product with a lifetime warranty. This stand features heavy duty construction and comes in both silver and black finishes in a range of sizes from 22" wide up to 60" wide. It also comes in a 34" wide double sided version. For those customers who need a compact style banner stand that is both affordable and well made, this stand is a great option, so click the link above to find out more about this new stand.

In addition to the double sided Metro mentioned above, we have a few other new double sided stands. The new Executive Double Sided stand is a quality stand with a lifetime warranty that comes in both silver and black finishes. This is a quality stand without a lot extra features for those who need a good looking reliable stand that is still reasonably priced. It holds 2 31.5 x 78.75 banners and offers a lifetime warranty. The other new double sided stand is the Sterling 2. This double sided version of the popular single sided Sterling retractable banner stands has the same features as the single sided version, including a removable roller with both a snap rail and panel strip banner mounting options, telescopic pole with lever locks that allow it to be used at any height from 35" to 86", and a deluxe suitcase style carry bag. This stand is currently available in a 23.6" width, since that was a size that was frequently requested, but a 33.4" wide version will be available as well before the end of the year. Since most double sided stands can also be used a single sided displays, they are a versatile option for anyone who may need to display their message in more than one direction at a time.

We've offered table top retractable banner stands from quite some time now, and they are very popular items. The larger sizes, from 24" to 60", are full size banner stands that adjust down to heights that are suitable for use on a table, and these are high quality products that work well for this application. However, in the small sizes, products such as the Nimbus, are lightweight inexpensive products that are fine for light or occasional use, but they aren't heavy duty enough to hold up repeated use or rough handling that is common during shipping, and the banners cannot easily be changed. This is fine for many customers, but for those who need small size displays but want a higher quality product where the graphic can be changed, there wasn't a product available on the market. So, we worked with our manufacturing partners to develop a table top banner stand to fit this need, and the result is the Executive Table Top. This 15" wide retractable banner stand is a smaller version of full size stand, so it offers the same quality and features such as a padded travel bag, snap style top rail, adjustable height pole with lever locks, rubberized end caps that are virtually unbreakable, and a lifetime warranty. To make it suitable for the greatest number of customers, it's designed so the adjustable pole can support a banner height of 13" to 23", and there is an additional pole section that can be used to make the pole support banners from 26" to 36" in height. These features add up to make this an excellent display at a great price that is sure to be a popular model for those customer who need a compact table top display.

We are also happy to introduced a new vinyl real estate sign post kit that is reasonably priced, easy to install, maintenance free, and attractive. These kits come with everything you need to install a real estate style sign post, including an innovative ground mount stake so that digging isn't required, which makes the installation easy and prevents damage to lawns and landscaping. It also includes hanging hardware with multiple mounting positions to accommodate both horizontal and vertically oriented signs. We think they make an excellent addition to our outdoor sign holder products.

Lastly, we have an exciting new indoor/outdoor fabric display from the makers of our popular Popup A Frame banners. The Popup Flag is a 3 sided fabric display that spins in the wind on it's support pole. It has similar base options as our feather and teardrop banners for use on hard surfaces or soft soil, and the added movement and dimension makes it an excellent attention getter for outdoor events and advertising. Look for this new display in the coming weeks.

 

There are many other new products on the horizon in the coming year, so check back frequently for the latest and greatest in display hardware.

 

We are very committed to doing our best to make our printing and display products as affordable as possible. When manufacturers raise their prices, we are usually forced to raise our prices as well, but when possible, we find ways to absorb the extra costs or find comparable products that allow us keep our prices low. We do the same thing with printing materials, and we feel we've been remarkably successful having been able to hold or even lower prices on 99% of our products over the past year.

As we mentioned in the Display Hardware section, because of the success of several of our display products, we've been able to manufacturer or purchase in greater quantities, which in some cases helps offset increased prices, and in other cases allows to offer lower prices to our customers. We recently were able to lower the prices on the Sterling, Space Supreme and Infinity retractable banner stands, as well as the Neo 10 foot pop up displays. We've also lowered the price on the unique Panda Stand, Panda L Stand and Panda Mini bamboo banner stands. There are other opportunities we're looking at for special purchases on other products that may allow us to provide special pricing, and we'll post that information here when it becomes available.

We've been able to lower the prices on our popular teardrop and feather banners, in some cases by a dramatic amount, so be sure to check out these new lower prices.

It's inevitable that some prices will rise, but we will continue to do our best to keep our costs low so our customers can trust that we are always offering the best value possible.

One of the ways we keep our overhead as low as possible is to make our website as easy to use and informative as possible, because the more we can automate the shopping and ordering process, the more resources we can devote to fulfilling orders. We feel the website is getting to the point now where in almost every case, the average customer can successfully place an order online without assistance. When done correctly, ordering online is faster, more accurate, and gets orders into our system more quickly so it also reduces turnaround time by a day on average. Our plan is to institute a handling charge on all orders that will be waived for online orders since orders placed online save us time and money, so we are passing on that savings to our customers. There will of course be exceptions to this for situations where online ordering isn't possible or practical, but for all normal orders, this policy has been implemented. For the vast majority of customer's who order online already, this isn't a price increase, and we continue to work hard to make the online ordering process easy for everyone. See the Website tab for more details on the latest changes.

 

As always, we will be sure to let you know when there are special prices available on any of the products we sell, and alert you to any price changes as they occur.

We continue to work hard on making our website as easy to navigate and informative as possible, and also to make the ordering process as simple as we can while still collecting all the information we need to complete each order.

Along that line, we recognized that the Price Calculator and Order pages, while functional, were not up to the standards we wanted, and that getting a price and placing an order should not be two separate processes as it made more work for the customer who checked and price and then decided to order.

As a result, we've introduced a new pricing and ordering wizard that greatly simplifies both processes so that it's easy to figure out pricing and shipping costs, and then continue on to place an order if desired. The wizard is designed to be smart enough to only ask for the information that's necessary to complete the order, which eliminates asking for information about file uploads and scaling for orders that don't include any printing.

While it's our first version of this new feature, we're very pleased with it and feel it will make the ordering process easier for everyone. Unfortunately it's still not as easy as ordering from a standard shopping cart because many of the products and services we offer are much more complex, but we continue to try to make it as simple and easy to understand as it can possibly be.

We've also implemented a search function for the website that makes it easier to find products and services, and even place orders directly from the search results if desired.

We've continued to streamline the ordering process by reducing the number of steps required to complete an order, and we'll continue to evaluate that and comments from our customer's are always welcome as they help us see the process from the customer's point of view. One thing we've always known is that the site and order process do not always get used the way we intended, and that can have a negative impact on the entire experience, so we appreciate the feedback we receive as it helps us make our site better for everyone.