When you run a business, reputation is everything. You want to be sure you’re doing everything you can to provide your customers with the high-quality services they expect. Especially with the ever-increasing prevalence of online reviews, it’s important to ensure your customers walk away with good things to say.

With that said, you have a very important decision to make when it comes to choosing what companies you partner with and where you buy your materials from. In digital printing, you need to be sure the films you’re using are going to do justice to your company’s reputation. So how do you know if a product is going to allow you to print the designs your customers are expecting from you? How do you choose your graphic film construction? Here are some tips.

Free of Particulates

Particulates are microscopically small particles of matter. It’s not uncommon for some window films to have particulates across their surface. The presence of these particulates can be disruptive to the printing process, preventing the ink from adhering correctly to the films. LINTEC manufactures optically clear films by maintaining clean facilities. 

Choosing Your Material

The majority of window films are made of either polyester or vinyl. Both materials have their benefits, so it’s important to pick the type of film that’s right for your purposes.

Price

The price comparison between polyester-based window graphics and vinyl-based window graphics depends on which variety of vinyl you’re considering. Polyester can be pricier than lower grade, calendered vinyl, but half as expensive as higher grade cast vinyls.

Clarity

If it’s important to you to have a truly optically clear window film, you’ll want to choose a polyester-based film. Cast vinyl is quite clear, and certainly much clearer than calendered vinyl, but no vinyl window film can compete with polyester films when it comes to clarity.

Environmental Impact

Polyvinyl chloride, more commonly referred to as PVC, is widely considered to be harmful to the environment, and many companies have banned it from their facilities. This includes major corporations in Silicon Valley, so if you’re looking to print digital window graphics for corporations, it’s important to choose a window film supplier who has high-quality eco-friendly window films.

If you’re looking for an environmentally friendly window film that you can offer to end-users, LINTEC Digital Window Graphics produces LEED compliant PET films which are made out of 80% recycled materials.

Removal

It’s great to be able to offer your customers films that will peel off easily. If you’re printing window films for retail stores, for example, that might want to change their films out seasonally, easy removal is an important feature.

In those instances, polyester-based films tend to be best, as they can be pulled off in one full sheet, if removed properly. Vinyl films, by contrast, tend to break into many small pieces during de-installation, making the process more expensive and time-consuming.

Durability

When used indoors, polyester-based films are very stable. Outdoors, however, most vinyl is more durable than polyester. Many end-users who want to apply a polyester window film to an exterior-facing window will install the film on the inside of the window.

Ultimately, vinyl and polyester-based films both have their place, so make sure you’re working with a window film supplier who can provide you with high-quality window films of both kinds.

If you’re mindful of these considerations when choosing your graphic films, you can be confident that you’re choosing your business partners thoughtfully and making the best choices for your business. This will help you ensure you’re outputting quality products that will please your customers and reflect well on your company.