Qual Fab to Debut Wet Printed Avora at HD Show
April 26, 2002
Hialeah FL (USA) - The Hospitality Design Show will provide the forum for a showdown between heat transfer and wet printed contract fabrics as Qual Fab launches its first collection of rotary screen, wet printed fabrics on Avora® base cloth.
The company is positioning its new line of FR rated fabrics against transfer printed products.
"With wet printed fabrics, there''''s no substitute for the depth of color, and the consistency of color from piece to piece, year to year," said Jill Liebson, president of Qual Fab. "When you get reprinted paper, does the color stay consistent?" she asked. "When you want to redo 20 rooms and the bedspreads don''''t match, what do you do?"
She cited design choices, including exclusive designs, as a further advantage to wet printed fabric over transfer prints. "The other plus of wet printing on Avora basecloth is using the large library of designs that we have to choose from - literally thousands of designs in the Qual Fab archives," she said. "If you want a special, exclusive design, we can do that for a minimum of 5,000 yards in the Avora range."
The company will also be showing a dual printed acrylic fabric with a different wet printed design on each side at the show. It hopes to stimulate new contract applications with this product, which costs about $1.25 more per yard than conventional fabric. Skeptics who question the washability of wet printed Avora need not be concerned, said Liebson.
"Our products passed the test versus transfer printed product. We use the same pigment printing inks that are used on outdoor furniture fabric which withstands 1,000 hours in direct sunlight."
Global competition in contract inspired invention at Qual Fab, once a volume commission printer. Today, the company has become a specialized printer for the hospitality trade and for home furnishings manufacturers, with an upscale line of $2-$7 fabrics.
"Qual Fab was a volume printer of 10,000 yard runs seven years ago until we morphed into something else," said Liebson. "We''''re finished with commission printing. China, Pakistan and India do it cheaper. Today, we print an average of 2,000 yards per color for the customer."
As part of its marketing effort, Qual Fab is opening a new showroom at the Textile Tower in High Point, North Carolina. Sales manager Irwin Kaplan is spearheading the hospitality sales effort. At the new showroom, the company will be marketing products for draperies, outdoor furniture, multipurpose fabrics, printed sheers, tabletop, bath and RVs.
Qual Fab offers ink jet samples for model rooms from its Encad printer, said Liebson, whose brother-in-law John Moulton runs the art studio.
"You don''''t have to put any major money up front for 10-20 yards on the ink jet printer," she said. "[Moulton] has a mathematical brain. He understands digital printing. A specifier can walk into our office, identify the kind of design and colors they want and have finished digitally printed samples in one week."
The company has 800,000 yards of open stock in its own designs and colors, but through the use of its in-house CAD system, colors and designs can be easily changed, she said. "We''''re a completely vertical printer from CAD forward." She added that the company does not charge extra for making the eventual screen for its contract customers.
The 60-year-old company was started by her father and company chairman, Sol Levine, in 1942 as a converter based in Brooklyn, New York. He moved Qual Fab to Florida in 1965. Since 1968, Qual Fab has focused only on printing. F&FI
The company is positioning its new line of FR rated fabrics against transfer printed products.
"With wet printed fabrics, there''''s no substitute for the depth of color, and the consistency of color from piece to piece, year to year," said Jill Liebson, president of Qual Fab. "When you get reprinted paper, does the color stay consistent?" she asked. "When you want to redo 20 rooms and the bedspreads don''''t match, what do you do?"
She cited design choices, including exclusive designs, as a further advantage to wet printed fabric over transfer prints. "The other plus of wet printing on Avora basecloth is using the large library of designs that we have to choose from - literally thousands of designs in the Qual Fab archives," she said. "If you want a special, exclusive design, we can do that for a minimum of 5,000 yards in the Avora range."
The company will also be showing a dual printed acrylic fabric with a different wet printed design on each side at the show. It hopes to stimulate new contract applications with this product, which costs about $1.25 more per yard than conventional fabric. Skeptics who question the washability of wet printed Avora need not be concerned, said Liebson.
"Our products passed the test versus transfer printed product. We use the same pigment printing inks that are used on outdoor furniture fabric which withstands 1,000 hours in direct sunlight."
Global competition in contract inspired invention at Qual Fab, once a volume commission printer. Today, the company has become a specialized printer for the hospitality trade and for home furnishings manufacturers, with an upscale line of $2-$7 fabrics.
"Qual Fab was a volume printer of 10,000 yard runs seven years ago until we morphed into something else," said Liebson. "We''''re finished with commission printing. China, Pakistan and India do it cheaper. Today, we print an average of 2,000 yards per color for the customer."
As part of its marketing effort, Qual Fab is opening a new showroom at the Textile Tower in High Point, North Carolina. Sales manager Irwin Kaplan is spearheading the hospitality sales effort. At the new showroom, the company will be marketing products for draperies, outdoor furniture, multipurpose fabrics, printed sheers, tabletop, bath and RVs.
Qual Fab offers ink jet samples for model rooms from its Encad printer, said Liebson, whose brother-in-law John Moulton runs the art studio.
"You don''''t have to put any major money up front for 10-20 yards on the ink jet printer," she said. "[Moulton] has a mathematical brain. He understands digital printing. A specifier can walk into our office, identify the kind of design and colors they want and have finished digitally printed samples in one week."
The company has 800,000 yards of open stock in its own designs and colors, but through the use of its in-house CAD system, colors and designs can be easily changed, she said. "We''''re a completely vertical printer from CAD forward." She added that the company does not charge extra for making the eventual screen for its contract customers.
The 60-year-old company was started by her father and company chairman, Sol Levine, in 1942 as a converter based in Brooklyn, New York. He moved Qual Fab to Florida in 1965. Since 1968, Qual Fab has focused only on printing. F&FI
