German print business EDEL looked for sustainable media for Euros 24 branding project and chose Kavalan products
EDEL a digital print company based in Frankfurt Germany undertook a large event branding project for the City of Frankfurt when they hosted a major European football tournament in 2024. The project would entail production and assembly of a variety of banners, signs and other communication media. The client wanted a product that was as sustainable as possible, but which would also stand up to the very short setup and response times that the project demanded.
Getting it right was a point of pride because the project would effectively be branding the city that is EDEL’s own backyard. “It was a matter of particular importance to us as a Frankfurt and Bad Homburg company to support such an important football tournament and the associated fan zone to this extent,” commented Hendrik Edel, Managing Director of EDEL Messereklame und Digitaldruck GmbH, msg medien-service-gmbh and Blickfang Werbetechnik GmbH.
Meeting all the customer’s requirements
EDEL turned to print media manufacturer and supplier com2C, who helped to find the solution they needed, in the form of the Kavalan range of PVC-free banner materials.
The Kavalan range of PVC-free banner and textile materials offers a solution that weighs up to 45% less than its PVC counterparts and with comparable print quality, strength, durability and usability. Including materials for indoor and outdoor signage and banner applications, as well as backlit graphics, sports banners, building wraps and interior wall coverings, all Kavalan materials have had independent Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) confirming their low impact eco-performance compared with traditional PVC banner and textile signage materials.
“With Kavalan we were able to use a product that enabled us to meet all of the customer’s requirements,” explains Edel.
Not only did the Kavalan range meet EDEL’s needs in terms of sustainability and ease of handling, but the proprietary Kavalan Eco Calculator also proved invaluable in securing the project. According to Edel: “Kavalan’s life cycle analysis was a great help in communicating during the tender process that we could use a sustainable material, and that we could open up a fun approach to cultivating the product.”
By turning LCA information into insightful and actionable comparable data Eco Calculator enables print businesses to quantify and illustrate the environmental savings that are achievable through switching to PVC-free Kavalan materials.
“The most suitable material”
The project was printed on Kavalan Sunlight Weldable using both a Durst Rho 312R 3.2 metre roll-to-roll UV inkjet printer and a Durst P5 350 3.5 metre hybrid roll-to-roll/flatbed UV inkjet printer, before being cut on a Kongsberg C64 super-wide digital cutting table, and then welded with a Leister welding machine.
Felix Faller is Production Manager at EDEL’s site in Bad Homburg, where he is responsible for large format digital printing, including projects such as this. Discussing working with Kavalan materials, he says: “Welding PVC-free materials is generally a difficult task. After a few attempts, however, we found a very good setting on our machines to process the whole thing. We had already tested various PVC-free materials. In the end we stuck with Kavalan because it was the most suitable material for us.” He continues: “During production we had no problems with finishing of the material.”
Running over the course of four weeks and entailing production of more than 7,000m² of PVC-free banners, signage and other large format branding materials, the project was well received, both by the client and by the wider Frankfurt am Main region.
Towards sustainable transformation
“Sustainability is an issue that everyone must live by. Only if we all work together to achieve maximum sustainability can we keep this planet habitable,” says Edel.
“Transformation will affect us all and with Kavalan we are taking big steps in the right direction. Products such as Kavalan, which combine sustainability and good processability, are leading digital large-format printing into the future,” Edel concludes. “This project not only reflects our commitment to quality and innovation, but also our responsibility to the environment.”
Rob Karpenko, European Sales Director, Kavalan comments: “This was such an exciting project to see Kavalan materials used in, because it really sets an example for other large scale events, sporting or otherwise, to aspire to. EDEL have shown that it is possible to produce vibrant and impactful visual communications on a huge scale while simultaneously minimising their environmental impact.”
Nova Abbott, Head of Marketing, Kavalan adds: “So many of the signage and banner applications used for sporting events have a very short lifespan, after which most end up in landfill or are incinerated. When sent to landfill, PVC takes decades to break down and can leach toxic compounds into the environment, while if incinerated, notoriously hard-to-monitor carcinogenic compounds can be emitted into the air. The good news is, every time Kavalan’s PVC-free materials are used for sports and other events, it takes us one step closer to reducing the wide format print industry’s environmental impacts and a PVC-free future.”