In the last decade, car wrapping has transformed from an activity normally utilized by businesses with fleet trucks to a popular option for consumers and their cars, trucks, and SUVs. Companies have been using wraps to advertise on their vehicles for more than a century, and the first known examples of automotive advertising occurred around the turn of the last century.
Milton Hershey, of the famous chocolate company, decided to advertise his chocolate by painting his delivery vehicles with his company’s name. Many other companies would swiftly follow his lead and begin painting their logos and messages on the sides of vehicles to advertise their products. Several decades later, the world would see a new material become available that would make it much easier to create vehicle graphics: vinyl chloride.
Vinyl Comes on the Scene in 1926
Today, you can find vinyl almost everywhere, and it’s the material used by car wrapping technicians to cover cars, trucks, and SUVs with designs and new colors. The material itself is used in many products that need a material that behaves like plastic, and that may take many forms from thin and flexible to thick and firm.
Interestingly, the discovery of vinyl chloride was an accident, when the Goodrich Corporation invented the material. After researchers had realized how valuable and useful the material could become, manufacture of vinyl became widespread and created an entire industry for mobile advertising. However, at first, vinyl was somewhat expensive, and the only people who could afford to use it were groups like the U.S. Air Force, which used it to label airplanes.
Vinyl and Advertising in the 1980s
Advertising on commercial vehicles, as well as wrapping consumer cars, wouldn’t become a reality until the 1980s when the cost to produce vinyl was brought down significantly, and the die-cutting technology required to create vinyl became affordable to encourage mass-produced vinyl.
As the 1900s wound down and the millennium arrived, vinyl graphics really came into their own as smaller companies began producing vinyl that was appropriate for use on vehicles. Additionally, advanced printers called “piezoelectric inkjet” printers allowed companies to create impressive, large-format graphics for vehicles.
The growth and availability of advanced software and powerful computers that could be used for the design of new graphics allowed for the impressive growth of quality vinyl graphics for users as varied as corporate vehicle fleet owners to race car drivers to regular consumers with run-of-the-mill vehicles.
Vinyl Wraps Emerge as the Winner for Affordable Graphics
Painting the door on a truck used to be standard practice when putting a logo or company name on a vehicle, but the quality of full-scale wraps has created a huge shift from traditional, custom paint jobs and die-cut lettering work to vehicle wraps. In the second decade of the 21st century, car wrapping has truly made it into the mainstream.
The modern vinyl wrapping process requires a pressure sensitive film that’s specially engineered to flow in and out of the bends and curves of the average vehicle. A computer capable of handling very large files that are several gigabytes in size is also required. The availability of large format printers has allowed the industry of professional vehicle wrapping companies to grow.
Modern car wrap companies use all of these advanced devices to create unique works of art for a variety of vehicle owners from race car drivers to corporate fleets to automotive enthusiasts. Vehicle wrapping has even become especially popular with regular drivers interested in an affordable look for their family sedan.
Get Your Car Wrapped with SkinzWraps
Is the paint on your car looking a little faded? Do you want to advertise your company’s logo on your company car? Vehicle wraps from SkinzWraps in Dallas offer an artistic and affordable solution for renewing the look of your vehicle or accomplishing your goal of mobile vehicle advertising. Get in touch with us today to discuss how our graphics artists and installation technicians can offer the best custom design car wraps available.