Our Beloved Betty Hits 100,000 Metres of Flags and Banners!

DESSERTS

You know those spectacular streets banners that brighten up even the rainiest of morning commutes?  You may have noticed our beautiful Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation banners in the spring, or even our colourful street banners throughout the West End… but have you ever wondered how they’re made?

Most of the street banners made in our Vancouver facility are made on our DuPont™ Artistri®2020 digital textile printer, but we call her ‘Betty’ for short.

We just celebrated a marvelous achievement!  Betty officially produced over 100,000 metres of flags and banners!  That’s nearly enough material to stretch from our Vancouver store to our Victoria Store!

Photo: Google map from The Flag Shop Vancouver to The Flag Shop Victoria

Photo: Google map from The Flag Shop Vancouver to The Flag Shop Victoria

We got Betty in 2008.  At the time, she was the best digital printer on the market, and our Betty continues to live up to her reputation as a top-quality digital textile printer.  The fact that all of our street banners have been printed through her leaves no doubt that Betty is one heck of a workhorse!

If you haven’t been lucky enough to lay your eyes on some of the banners that Betty has made, check out the photo gallery below!  You won’t be disappointed!

Do you want to put Betty to work on your own custom flag or banner?  Request a quote on our website or email us at Vancouver@flagshop.com.

Thanks for stopping by our blog!

Until next time,

Ally Quinney
Public Relations and Social Media Manager

Kooza in Vancouver

With the days getting shorter and grayer, we look forward to late fall activities. The bright purple of Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza banners makes a welcome contrast to the November gloom.

Kooza (1)Kooza (6)

This is not our first time making their beautiful banners; we also produced banners for their Totem show last summer.

Totem (1) Totem (2)

Now those banners have been given new life by Common Thread Co-op. They are currently available for purchase in our Vancouver store.

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Kooza is playing until December 27th!


For more information on Common Thread Co-op, please visit their website: www.commonthreadcoop.ca. To find our more about the Cirque de Soleil show Kooza (and maybe even purchase tickets) visit their website here: www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/kooza.

 

Celebrate a Banner Year…with banners! (PHOTOS)

This year, 2015, is a very important year for the local universities in Vancouver.  Simon Fraser University turned 50 years old, and not to outdone, the University of British Columbia turned 100 years old!

Of course we know that there is no better way to celebrate a big anniversary than with street banners to match, so we’re quite glad that we were able to work with both of these amazing schools and produce hundreds of banners to go up all over Metro Vancouver.

Nearing the end of summer, we managed to get out there and photograph a few of them looking great with the Metro Vancouver city skyline. Photography fans, be sure you’re #lookingup the next time you’re on a photowalk!

The Flag Shop Dominates on the Local Bridge Scene

From left to right: Whitecaps Banners on the Georgia Viaduct; SFU 50th Anniversary on the Dunsmuir Viaduct; Brand New Whitecaps Banners on the Cambie Street Bridge; PNE Banners on the Granville Street Bridge; More SFU Banners on the Burrard Street Bridge.

From left to right: Whitecaps Banners on the Georgia Viaduct; SFU 50th Anniversary on the Dunsmuir Viaduct; Brand New Whitecaps Banners on the Cambie Street Bridge; PNE Banners on the Granville Street Bridge; More SFU Banners on the Burrard Street Bridge.

Vancouver, we’ve got you surrounded!

Driving in anywhere from the south around to the east, you can’t miss the banners up on the Cambie, Granville, and Burrard bridges, nor can you help notice the vibrant designs lining the Dunsmuir and Georgia Street Viaducts. These banners all have one thing in common (besides great designs) – they were printed here in our Powell Street production facility.* None of this would be possible without our great, long-time customers, the Vancouver Whitecaps, Simon Fraser University and the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). Think you can dodge by going down Quebec? Think again, we’ve got Science World covered, too.

Keep in mind that the larger bridges in Vancouver are not outfitted to carry street banners, so we’ve managed to cover every available bridge in the city. Maybe the next step will be to have them installed on the Lion’s Gate Bridge so we can commemorate the Lion’s Gate Bump?

*You may notice that some of the PNE banners look a little more sun-bleached than others. That is because the PNE, in an effort to reduce waste uses a mix of older banners, that were printed a different facility and new banners that were made here at The Flag Shop.

The Honda Celebration: A Flag Shop ‘Tail’

Above: Celebration of Light banners in 2013 (left) and 2015 (right). The same banners were used with attached black tails for different event dates.

This year the Honda Celebration of Light is turning 25 and as seasoned Vancouverites know, some of the best viewing is from one of the city’s downtown bridges. Every year our client brand.LIVE, the event organizer, works with us at the Flag Shop to deck out the Granville Street bridge end to end with Celebration of Light street banners.

Something that The Flag Shop has been able to do to help reduce costs, and more importantly waste, for the event has been to help brand.LIVE and Celebration of Light re-use their street banners year after year.

Printed on 200 denier Dacron, the banners last far longer than the month or so that they are on display. Following the event, we give the banners a good cleaning and then store them safely for the next year. Then, to keep them current and informative, new tails are produced every year with the event dates listed and replaced on the bottom of the banners. This allows brand.LIVE to reuse the banners but lose none of their informative value.

Now that’s a bright idea!

Do you have a recurring event in your community? Street banner tails are a great way to get more mileage from your banners without missing a chance to inform your audience of a great event! http://www.flagshop.com/street-banners.php

Street banners for TED’s 30th Anniversary conference in Vancouver

If you’ve driven over the Granville Bridge lately, you’ve no doubt noticed the dramatic black banners announcing the arrival of the 30th TED Conference to its new home at the Vancouver Convention Centre which has its own set of matching banners.

The street banners were printed right here in Vancouver and are made of Echotex, a 100% recycled banner fabric. Echotex street banners are just a small part of helping Vancouver become the Greenest City by 2020.

25 years of Science World

A fixture of Vancouver’s False Creek landscape, Science World at Telus World of Science is celebrating 25 years of fostering curiosity and education in science through its hands-on exhibits and demonstrations. We have made their street banners as well as other products for them for a number of years. Here are their current 25th Anniversary banners up now plus a look back at some of their other recent designs.

First Nations art street banners for Kelowna

Bernard Avenue in Kelowna recently got an upgrade with the addition of new street banners featuring First Nations art. The banners feature five different designs with art by Janine Lott and Jordan Coble.

Kelowna Banners

Photo from WelcometoKelowna

Here is a better look at the designs:

Kelowna Banner Designs

Read the stories here:

http://www.welcometokelowna.com/news/news/Local_News/13/11/26/New_Banners_on_Bernard_Ave_Display_Beauty_of_Westbank_First_Nations_Art

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/front-page-news/bernard-ave-celebrates-first-nations-culture-112713.html

Street banners for Honda Celebration of Light

The 23rd Celebration of Light fireworks competition is coming up soon! A staple of Vancouver summers, you can watch them from your favourite vantage point on July 27th, July 31st, and August 3rd.

Right now, you can catch the street banners we made for them on the Granville Street Bridge.

Celebration of Lights Street Banners

See more banners we’ve made for major events in our gallery.

Khatsahlano! is this weekend

With Khatsahlano, Vancouver’s biggest free music and arts festival coming up on Saturday, July 13th, there’s been some last minute scrambling around the office to get all of their signage out the door. In addition, Susan has been going to press conferences in her role as president of the West 4th BIA.

Here’s a few places she’s been quoted or pictured so far:

We’ll post photos of the festival next week!

Photo from BongoJack Media