Banner Box and sister company, Flagmakers, a hand sewn premium quality flag specialist, won the work through competitive tender. Appropriate businesses were vetted as part of a pre-qualification process by client, Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, and those with suitable capabilities were invited to bid. The contract was awarded on the basis of price and technical competence.

The brief was to deliver every single flag required by the organisers throughout the Games. This included flags of the 72 competing nations for the 25 venues in and around Birmingham, the protocol flags of the Commonwealth Federation and other sporting governing bodies, flags for the Athletes’ Parade opening ceremony, and finally, flags for the medals’ ceremonies. In all, this amounted to over 7,000 flags, installed both indoors and out, depending on the venue. Part of the complexity of the project was to ensure that the finishing was suited to each site, and as such, four different variants were used across the whole job.

CMYUK – 360º supply and service

The flags were digitally printed using Banner Box’s stable of Mimaki and EFI printer technology, using inks and materials supplied by CMYUK for the entire requirement.

“We have a long-standing relationship with CMYUK for production equipment, materials and multiple consumables which made them the natural first choice supplier,” said Ryan Shelton, Director, Banner Box Print Solutions.

“Delivering contracts like the Commonwealth Games required fantastic teamwork and partnerships with our suppliers. CMYUK delivered thousands of metres of fabric and hundreds of litres of ink on time, ready for our hardworking team to turn them into finished products,” he said.

PONGS@ a winning materials brand

Banner Box has long been an enthusiastic user of PONGS® materials, available exclusively from CMYUK. These digital print-ready recyclable polyester-based textiles are renowned for their stability, ease of handling, vibrant colour reproduction, and price competitiveness.

PONGS® Supreme Fabric Flag Material is Banner Box’s go-to solution for
knitted polyester flag production. This product has been profiled to work with the company’s EFI VUTEk FabriVU digital textile printer.

“We achieve accurate colour reproduction and importantly for flags, a high percentage print-through to the reverse of the fabric. In addition to the flag materials, we source several other substrates and ink types from CMYUK, these include Frontlit and Backlit polyesters, Black back, and a range of eco-materials for our UV print systems,” said Ryan.

Responsible end-of-life considerations

As a part of the Games’ tender process, Banner Box needed to demonstrate its commitment to responsible end-of-life disposal. Post games, many of the flags will be re-used at other international sporting events.

Flags that cannot be re-used will be collected and directed to the appropriate recycling streams as part of the company’s wider product lifecycle management system. All flags are made from polyester that can be recovered and reused in the manufacture of second life products.

Winning the Commonwealth Games contract has been significant for the company, helping it to build further commercial momentum. Said Ryan, “Large sporting events are a fantastic shop window for our work. In our wider business we produce graphics for cultural events, retail, hospitality, and other sports branding. We have grown our business by using the Commonwealth Games as a steppingstone to compete and win other high-profile jobs and new clients by demonstrating competence and a track record of delivery.”