Printbase Textiles unveiled two printable textile innovations, Animated Media and Double Tex, at FESPA Global in Barcelona during May 2026, and the more recent Sign Africa and FESPA Africa Expos during September. Both products demonstrate how advanced textile engineering is creating new opportunities for the signage, display and promotional industries.
Animated Media
Taking centre stage was Animated Media, a world-first innovation developed by Printbase Textiles at its Cape Town manufacturing facility. This revolutionary double-coated soft textile combines proprietary chemical formulations with unique mechanical diffusion properties, allowing two completely different images to be UV printed on opposite sides of a single piece of fabric.
Under normal lighting, the front image is visible. However, when high-intensity LED backlighting is activated, the image printed on the reverse becomes visible through the front, creating an instant visual transformation.
At the Sign Africa and FESPA Africa Expos, Printbase demonstrated the technology by transforming the fabric ceiling of a marquee gazebo from a cloudy daytime sky into a starry night, using just one piece of textile.
Unlike conventional layered display solutions, the versatile fabric remains soft and foldable, without visible creases or shadow lines when installed into fabric frames or lightboxes.
The possibilities for advertisers and brands are enormous.
Animated Media effectively brings static signage to life, creating attention-grabbing visual experiences without the complexity or expense of digital screens.
For sign makers, printers and display manufacturers, this opens an entirely new category of illuminated advertising applications.
Double Tex
Printbase also introduced Double Tex, an innovative 100% blockout textile specifically engineered and coated for double-sided UV printing. Traditionally, producing a gazebo canopy or parasol with different graphics on each side requires two separate printed fabrics or an additional blockout barrier sandwiched between them.
Its specialised coating technology allows completely different images to be UV printed onto either side of a single textile, with no show-through or interference between the graphics. Importantly, the fabric retains its soft, flexible characteristics even after printing, making it particularly suitable for gazebos, parasols and other promotional textile applications.
By replacing multiple layers with one printable textile, Double Tex offers display manufacturers a more practical solution without compromising print quality or opacity.
Both innovations were developed and manufactured at Printbase Textiles’ production facility in Cape Town, where advanced textile manufacturing on German Karl Mayer knitting machines and coating technologies are driving the development of specialised printable fabrics.
As the only sub-saharan African exhibitor at FESPA Barcelona 2026, Printbase Textiles demonstrated South African innovation to an international audience, before showcasing these technologies to the local signage industry at the Sign Africa and FESPA Africa Expos.
The Sign Africa and FESPA Africa Expos were sponsored by Roland and Stixo.
Printbase Textiles (Pty) Ltd
+27 21 551 1231
sales@pbtex.co.za
www.pbtex.co.za
