Industry leaders across wide format print and signage look to 2025

From sustainability concerns to a growing need for automation, large-format print and signage experts including large-format trade printers, banner material manufacturers, finishing and automation specialists, and web-to-print providers all cast their gaze towards the trends and challenges set to influence the industry in 2025.

VB Media: Capitalising on web-to-print

With businesses getting more savvy about what they want their software to deliver for them, web-to-print provider VB Media says it’s no longer about having one product to do one job; printers are looking to their software setups to help them reduce mundane elements of their workload and free them up to focus on tasks that deliver real value.

Director, Gavin De Boos, explained: “Without a doubt, 2025 is going to be a big year for software integration and automation. We’re certainly seeing a lot of that in e-commerce implementations that we’re working on with customers.

“They don’t just want an e-commerce website that can take orders. They want it also to enable personalisation or customisations, integrate seamlessly with their production workflow, both in-house and through outsourcing, and then take payment or generate an invoice.

“Print businesses, and some non-print businesses too, are increasingly looking for ways to sell print anywhere, anytime, including outside of traditional office hours and beyond their in-house capabilities. For those that embrace that way of working, the future is bright.”

Venture Banners: A boost in demand for textile

A trade-only large-format printer, Venture Banners has experienced a surge in demand for textile products which it predicts will continue into 2025.

Scott Conway, director, Venture Banners, said: “Whilst banners and roller banners have always been the mainstay of our product range, since 2017, sales on our range of flags, stretch products, and textile graphics have grown significantly and now equates to 40% of the business.

“It was in response to this continued growth that we expanded our textile capacity last year, adding a third EFI VUTEk FabriVU dye-sublimation printer capable of direct-to-substrate and paper sublimation printing.

“We don’t anticipate this growth in demand for fabric printing tapering off in 2025, if anything it will probably accelerate.

“One area where we’re likely to see this increased demand is for event stands, where lightweight fabric graphics are easy to install, remove, and transport. The graphics can also be washed, reused, and recycled with other textiles, offering environmental benefits to increasingly eco-conscious consumers.”

Venture Banners has experienced this increase in eco-consciousness during 2024 and the launch of its Monolith, honeycomb-board-constructed and fully-recyclable alternative to roller banner and stretch fabric stand received overwhelmingly positive feedback.

Scott added: “This reflects the growing demand from print buyers for environmentally friendly signage alternatives, something that we expect to increase further in 2025.

“This demand is being driven by the recognition that product and brand sustainability are a key consideration amongst consumers, and have been for quite some time now.

“We expect products such as cardboard-based products to be used increasingly for events and campaigns where signage has a short lifespan such as industry trade shows and roadshow-style events, as well as POS signage.”

Kavalan: Measurement is key to sustainability efforts

Describing the shift towards sustainable operations as “non-negotiable”, Nova Abbott, head of marketing, Kavalan, a manufacturer of PVC-free banner material for signage and advertising industries, said: “Today, protecting the environment is no longer something that is simply a ‘nice to do’, and being ‘green’ is more than just a buzzword.

“Every business should be thinking of itself as a sustainable business and working to reduce its negative environmental impact.

“The large-format print, signage, and advertising sectors are no exception. Many campaigns only have short lifespans, with the result being large amounts of waste, including toxic PVC, go to waste-to-energy, if not landfill, after use.

“The good news is that there are already numerous ways businesses can assess their impact and take positive steps to improve this.

“With accurate measurement, businesses can effectively analyse their impacts and map out achievable sustainability plans.

“Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), such as those carried out on all Kavalan products, evaluate the cradle-to-grave environmental impacts of a product, including sourcing and processing of raw materials, manufacturing and production processes, transportation and distribution, usage, and disposal.

“This empowers businesses with a real understanding of how they affect natural systems.

“Transparent, accurate, data-based reporting of progress towards achieving sustainability goals is also vital, and businesses can draw on LCA data alongside standardised nature data to show improvements.

“It is also vital for businesses to seek opportunities to collaborate across their industries, up and down their value chains and throughout their regions to ensure that sustainability efforts and successes can be both shared and amplified.

“It is so exciting to see initiatives born out of this approach emerging around the world, and we look forward to seeing even more businesses focus on these opportunities and take a more positive path moving into 2025.”

PLASTGrommet: An increasing need for automation

Offering a range of products for finishing and automation such as eyelet machines, banner finishing machines, and a range of tools and accessories such as eyelets and squeegees, PLASTGrommet emphasises the importance of investing in automation for signage finishing.

Rafa Menéndez, head of sales and marketing, said: “In 2025, wide-format print businesses investing in automation will no longer be simply a way to boost profitability; it will be necessary to remain competitive.

“As demand for quicker turnarounds continues to increase, printers will need to get their work out the door as efficiently and as quickly as possible, without compromising on quality, and this means paying just as much attention to the finishing process as the print process.

“Inferior finishing that risks the need for costly reprints can damage customer relationships and brand reputation.

“Add the ongoing labour challenges to the mix, and we anticipate printers will invest further in automation and equipment that remove the number of manual touchpoints throughout 2025.

“Sustainability also remains a hot topic across the print and signage industries with more PVC-free and sustainable solutions coming to market, and we hope to see more widespread adoption of these materials as more emphasis is put on environmental initiatives in 2025.

“Our commitment to helping customers be more sustainable will be continuing too. Our clear, plastic eyelets for use with our manual and automatic eyelet machines, have better recycling properties compared to metal options and are the only completely recyclable eyelets on the market.

“Unlike metal eyelets, if used with media that is PP, PE, or polyester-based, the entire product can be recycled into PP, PE, or polyester waste streams, removing the need for a sorting process to remove the eyelets.

“Whilst we are seeing an increase in consumers seeking environmental solutions, they aren’t prepared to compromise on quality.

“Clear eyelets offer additional performance benefits such as not rusting, and their invisible nature means the look of prints is improved.

“We expect demand for products that are both sustainable and high in performance to continue into 2025.”