Owned by Creative Education of Canada, Great Pretenders designs and manufactures dress-up, toys, jewellery, and accessories for children. The brand recently opened a new space at FAO Schwarz in New York to reach more customers in the US and required help decorating the facility.

The company approached Riverside Print & Graphics, located near its own base in Ontario, to assist with the project. The brief was to create child-friendly graphics that reflected the fairy-tale stories made believable with Great Pretenders.

However, this came with the additional challenge of completing the job on a “rush” basis, with Great Pretenders requiring fast turnaround on the job so that the new space could open on time.

A specialist in delivering high-quality print work at short notice, Riverside was happy to help. Due to the fast turnaround demand, Riverside required a reliable material that not only delivered high-quality results but could be installed quickly and easily.

Having previously used the product with great success, Riverside opted for Drytac’s ReTac Smooth 150 media. The printable self-adhesive vinyl – which was purchased from approved Drytac distributor ND Graphics – can be installed, removed, and repositioned without leaving residue on surfaces, making it an ideal choice for wall graphics applications such as this.

All the graphics, which included castle-style wall designs complete with fire-breathing dragons and other mythical beasts, were printed in-house on a Mimaki JV100-160. Graphics were applied to standard flat walls, as well as in and around arch doorways to provide a fully immersive effect for visitors.

“We chose ReTac as we know it’s dependable and easy to install,” said Barb Hayes, Customer Service Representative at Riverside. “After meeting with the customer and providing printed samples, we chose not to laminate the graphics as they wanted more of a realistic finish.

“It was definitely an exciting project as it was such a fun design. The graphics were produced on-site at Riverside Print & Graphics in Canada and were taken to New York to be installed by the Great Pretenders and the Creative Education of Canada staff. They were very happy with the results!

"Special recognition is owed to Meg Forstmanis, Lindsay Eve and Kira Brown of Great Pretenders for their exceptional work in designing and executing this remarkable display. Their hard work deserves all the praise for bringing this project to life!"

Katie Mazur, E-Commerce and Digital Marketing Manager at Great Pretenders, was full of praise for Riverside, saying the graphics have received excellent feedback from all quarters.

“There has been a really positive response from the staff and management at FAO Schwarz, as well as customers at the store, and also internally within the Great Pretenders team,” Katie concludes.