The Banner Blog

One of our customers, Earth Balloon, was featured on “what’s cool in School” on KARE 11 a few weeks ago.  We congratulate Earth Balloon!  You can check out their project on the KARE 11 website or the link listed below.  Now more than ever our kids need to learn about our Earth and the Earth Balloon is a great venue.  We make the balloon for Earth Balloon.  They can be purchased through David Knutson at EarthBalloon.com.

The debate between vinyl vs. fabric may continue, although we feel it is certainly over.

Fabric is a winning substrate for most of your large format marketing needs. Here are some quick examples on why fabric is better:

• Save shipping costs when compared to vinyl banners
• Banners have a soft hand / that is, they feel good
• They move, attracting the customers’ attention
• Washable in most applications
• Can be ironed with warm iron in most applications
• Sides don’t curl
• Can be folded and put in a suitcase and still look good
• Longer life than vinyl banner in terms of attractiveness
• Many more options from sheers to shiny to flag fabrics to oxford cloths and everything in between
• Many more finishing options
• Great colors on fabric
• Breakdown in landfills MUCH faster than PVC’s
• Inks used to print on them are environmentally friendly compared with solvent inks
• Sheer beauty of fabric banners / they look classy and elegant without spending big bucks

With so many benefits over vinyl it’s no wonder fabric will continue to dominate as the leading material to convey our customer’s message.

One of the best ways to save money on trade shows is to invest in a reusable set of banners and table covers that can be easily deployed, taken down, and stored for future use. If your organization attends trade shows and expo events on a regular basis then a kit may be a hidden cost saver.

Banner Creations can design and print your message onto fabric media for banners, backdrops, table covers, retractable banners, and more. Invest in one of our cost-effective trade show kits and you own an impactful and reusable marketing resource that will serve your organization for years.

Our kits come in 3 models, each with an option to use an eco-friendly and machine washable fabric. For all kits, and all banner products, our print process is water based and doesn’t create toxic waste. We are even able to recycle the paper used in the image transferring process.

For the month of December, BCI has reduced the price on all its table covers and table runners by 15%. Check out our website or call 1.800.326.3524 for details.

Check out the latest photo of our booth at the In-Store Marketing Expo, which took place Nov 13-14 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It was a great time, we met a lot of great people, and we got the word out about ways to go green with your marketing message. Thanks to all involved!!

On Saturday November 8 our president, Nora Norby, will be speaking to the members and visitors of the Marine Fabricators Association Great Lakes Regional Workshop about green implications for custom canvas shops from 8:00 am to 8:45 am in Huron Ohio. The presentation will provide listeners with ideas on how to make canvas shops “green” through conservation and recycling.

The Great Lakes Regional Workshop is for marine professionals who want to discover new fabrication techniques, learn better ways to communicate with customers, visit a marine canvas shop, take part in hands-on demonstrations and see the latest offerings from industry suppliers. Details can be found at www.marinecanvas.com. For more information you can call Banner Creations at 612.871.1015 or the MFA managing director at 651.225.6952.

Banner Creations will be exhibiting again this year at the In-Store Marketing Expo, taking place Nov 13-14 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

If you will be in the Las Vegas area, please call 612.871.1015 and request a FREE admission ticket. We have a limited number available. Come visit with us at booth #1052 to see for yourself the Ecophab line of products and other printed fabrics!

Leader in sustainable business practices to present at top international symposium

(ROSEVILLE, MN – July 18, 2008) Nora Norby, president and owner of Banner Creations, Inc., in Minneapolis, and an expert on sustainable business practices, will give a presentation on the subject at the Going Beyond Green—Saving Tomorrow Today symposium, October 23, 2008, 9:45 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., at the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) Expo in Charlotte, N.C.

The symposium will examine new sustainable, eco-friendly technologies and business solutions. In her presentation, The Queen of Green, Norby will discuss her business strategies and enlighten the audience about her ongoing mission toward sustainability and how they can embrace sustainable practices.

Norby has been in the banner business for over 20 years and for that entire time has had a strong passion for purchasing eco-friendly substrates, donating overruns and scrap fabrics, and more recently, initiating the advancement of producing upcycle materials. Norby is on the board of directors for the Fabric Graphics Association, a division of IFAI, and has been an active member since its inception. She has a Master Fabric Craftsman certification from IFAI, and is a leading proponent of printing with water-based inks on eco-friendly and eco-intelligent fabrics.

IFAI Expo 2008, Oct. 21-23 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C., is the largest specialty fabrics trade show in the Americas, drawing 8,000 registered participants from over 60 countries and has received the International Buyer Program designation from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Banner Creations product “The Green Bag” are to be given away by IFAI. There are 1000 up for grabs at the convention.

For more details about IFAI Expo 2008, visit www.ifaiexpo.com. Industrial Fabrics Association International is a business trade association promoting the products and innovations of the specialty fabrics industry, and is comprised of 2,000 member companies in over 50 countries. Visit www.ifai.com.

For additional speaker information contact Jill Rutledge, Director of Events, at +1 651 225 6981, or jmrutledge@ifai.com.

In early May of this year Minneapolis Minnesota was home to the 2008 Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) annual conference and exhibition, attended by the Rainforest Alliance. Now in their 20th year SCAA is the go-to organization for coffee related information and awareness.

The Rainforest Alliance exhibit promoted awareness of fair-trade practices and provided exposure to resources for sustainability. Their certification program is just one example. “Rainforest Alliance Certified farms have met a range of environmental, social and economic criteria that result in better growing conditions for coffee,” said Sabrina Vigilante, senior marketing manager at the Rainforest Alliance,” and contribute to a more efficient and sustainably run farm.”

Banner Creations supplied the banners and hardware for the exhibit.

May 16, 2008 – July 27, 2008
Goldstein Museum Gallery, St. Paul Campus

Curators: Bruce N. Wright, AIA, the Editor of Fabric Architecture, Design Minor Fellow, Karen LaBat, Professor of Clothing Design and Director of the Human Dimensioning© Lab

Download a PDF of the full press release.
Visit the exhibition page at
http://goldstein.cdes.umn.edu/exhibitions/

Banner Creations has a project in the Techno Textiles exhibit, which runs from May 16 through July 27. We made the fabric wall panels for Art of Chiropractic and did all the fabric signage for the show. In addition, the museum used photos of our project for the show’s advertising. We invite you to visit the exhibit at the Goldstein Museum of Design and see first-hand how Banner Creations is a leader in textile and banner innovation.

Reprinted from http://goldstein.cdes.umn.edu/exhibitions/
Techno Textiles: Inner Space to Outer Space examines many of these innovative materials and how they are being used by leading designers from around the globe. Some of the concepts will feature protective clothing, intelligent buildings that dynamically respond to the environment, luminous wall interiors and interactive digital displays that are part of the furniture upholstery, as well as fabric balloons used to ensure interplanetary probe vehicles land safely on the surface of Mars.

From ferroconcrete to plywood and plastics, new materials have always inspired designers to innovations in design. The past several years have seen a more far-reaching revolution in materials science and development than at any time in the past. Although many of these innovations involve the highest level of material science and manufacturing finesse, a recent surge in interest has favored so-called “naturals” or organic and sustainable sources, such as fabrics made from recycled plastics, corn-based cellulose, organic polymers and other sustainable chemistry.

In her recent book, “Textiles Today,” Chloë Colchester notes that these innovations “involve materials and prototypes that are so new that we can hardly foresee how the familiar functions of textiles will be transformed in the future.”

This exhibition was organized by the Goldstein Museum of Design.

The exhibition and related programs are supported by: International Fabrics Foundation, Dazian Fabrics LLC, University of Minnesota Summer Cultural Programs, Hayes Enterprises, and the Friends of the Goldstein, the College of Design, and generous individual donors.