Digital printing on self-adhesive vinyl has become the backbone of store signage and visual marketing for retailers. An endless variety of looks can be achieved with translucent, opaque, metallic finish or photo-reflective vinyl.
This versatile material can be used for floor decals and graphics as a design or marketing element; in place of etching and traditional hand lettering, such as Verre Eglomise, on glass windows and doors; and for eye-catching display windows, and photomurals and feature walls inside a store.
Highresolution printing has produced look books for Sofia Cashmere, a purveyor of luxurious cashmere wraps, throws, capes and travel accessories for jet-setters. Owner Alex Shlomm tasked us with establishing the brand’s presence on Madison Avenue, even as shopfitters, electricians and other trades were feverishly working on the build-out of its new pop-up store at 779 Madison Avenue in New York City. We used self-adhesive vinyl in a variety of ways on this project.
We printed large format vinyl decals for the display windows on a large format Durst digital printer using 8 color toner. The decals announced the September opening of Sofia Cashmere—and hid the work-in-progress on the other side of the window. The face-mounted 75” x 72” decals were affixed to the inside of the windows with clear, double-sided plastic transfer tape that was applied to the front side. The images on the decals featured a cashmere throw and a fur-trimmed cashmere cape, the date the store would open and the retailer’s logo.
We Do Windows
After the build-out, the large format vinyl decals were peeled off and a face-mounted 52”wide clear vinyl decal with the Sofia Cashmere logo was installed on the inside of each of the display windows flanking the front door.
The lettered logos were made using a computer-plotted cutter. After Sofia Cashmere’s Baskerville logo font was uploaded, a computer-guided a knife cut the letters in reverse from a flat piece of self-adhesive white vinyl with the adhesive on the front.
Installation of vinyl signage can be tricky. In this case, the decals were positioned on the 72” wide windows (which had been thoroughly cleaned a couple of times) to leave a 10″ space on each side. After the decals were leveled, the backer that protects the adhesive was slowly removed, then the negative space around and inside the lettering was peeled away—again slowly—leaving behind only the logo. Applying firm, overlapping strokes to the vinyl with a squeegee held at a 45-degree angle pushes out air bubbles and wrinkles.
The Big Reveal
Above the windows of the storefront running the entire width of the facade, there is a metal faceplate with holes left where the letters forming the signage of the previous tenant, Swiss luxury watchmaker Breguet, had been attached. To hide this damage and refresh the exterior of the store, we made a new panel from ¼” gator board covered with self-adhesive gold vinyl, mounted the Sofia Cashmere logo lettering to it and attached the new signage to the old faceplate with silicon cement.
The lettering on this exterior panel—as well as on a wall inside the store—was fabricated from water jet cut aluminum lettering with a black powder coat finish, for a consistent look-and-feel inside and out.
Sofia Cashmere has a presence in 16 countries, including China, France, Japan, Russia, United Arab Emirates. In the US, Sofia Cashmere operates in-store boutiques located at Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Its stand-alone Madison Avenue pop-up store is expected to open in time for the Christmas shopping season.