Printable flexible magnets and magnetic-receptive materials have grown in popularity during the past five years, particularly for point-of-purchase displays.

Sign shops wanting to expand their markets have embraced the material for signs, vehicle decals, refrigerator magnets and more.

Numerous companies produce sheets of printable magnets, including rolls of the material that can be as wide as 48 inches across, and the technology continues to improve as the industry finds new ways to use the material.

Back in the 1980s, magnets were predominantly used to make signs. Only about five percent were used to make promotional items.

Now, the industry is two-thirds promotional and one-third signage, says John Kanis, president of MagX America Inc. in Cincinnati. MagX’s parent company in Japan is credited with developing magnetic sheeting in 1965.

The industry began as a response to the government’s crackdown on refrigerators that latch from the outside. Too many children were getting themselves locked inside and were suffocating. Bonded magnets were the solution, Kanis says.

Today flexible magnets come in all different thicknesses, with a variety of printable substrates available that are compatible with solvent, eco-solvent, UV, latex, ink jets, offset and for flex presses, says Jim Cirigliano, marketing manager for Magnum Magnetics in Marietta, Ohio.

“We can come up with media compatible with any press type and direct printable,” Cirigliano says. “What we’re finding is there are still people printing on vinyl and laminating it over the top of the magnet. So they are doing an extra step. We already have vinyl on top.”

Part of the industry’s challenge has been educating the market about how to print on magnetic material.

Many printers have metal components or platens so there is a concern that the flexible magnets will not work in these machines, Kanis says.

“A lot of inbound and outbound platens are metal now so magnets love metal. That becomes an issue when feeding magnet into the press,” he says. “We tell you how to cover the platens up with chipboard. You need to break the magnetic pull. You don’t need a lot. Other things you can do: You want the heads up and the heat down. You want the pinch rollers down while feeding it through and you run it right through.”

Some printers may have metal components within the machine that can’t be blocked with styrene or chipboard. In those cases, sign shops should print on a different material, like vinyl, and laminate it to the magnet or print on metal receptive material instead, says Mike Gertz, marketing manager for Master Magnetics, Inc. in Castle Rock, Colorado.

Some sign shops don’t want to run magnetic materials through their presses because they are afraid it will void their warranty, Kanis says. That is not true, he says. Many press makers don’t want you to use magnetic material because shuttling the heavy material back and forth can wear out the grit roller, he says.

One way around this is to print on magnetic receptive material that can then be mounted to the magnetic sheeting. Much of today’s popular P.O.P. advertising involves rolled magnetic material placed directly on walls of retail establishments so that advertisements printed on metal receptive materials can be rotated out based on the sale or season.

“What we’re seeing is people using this either by putting some kind of adhesive on the back of receptive and sticking it to the wall or some kind of weird shaped or curved surface made out of brick or drywall, something that would not hold magnetic signs,” Cirigliano says. “Now you can put magnetic signage on nontraditional spaces.”

His company does that with its trade show booth. It lined the booth with receptive media so it could put interchangeable magnet graphics on the booth.

He points out that the receptive media is “lighter than the magnet so there is some advantage to flipping the system. It’s easier for some printers to feed a lighter substrate.”

His company’s bread and butter is still printing on the magnetic material and using the receptive as a background or base layer.

The general advantage to printing directly onto the magnet is it saves time, “which results in a cost savings,” says Gertz. If you print directly onto the magnet instead of first printing on paper or vinyl and laminating it to the magnet, it is cheaper to produce vehicle signs, menus, magnetic business cards, calendars and those kinds of things, he says.

Master Magnetics says that its material can be used with almost any ink system, including aqueous inks. This type of machine can’t print on vinyl but it can be used on paper, so his company would apply a paper topcoat to its magnets so that it can be run through the aqueous printer. If the end result will be hanging outdoors, it needs to be laminated to protect it from the weather, Gertz says.

Another use for magnets in signage is the matched pole system, which makes use of the different polarities of magnets to attach signs to the wall.

“You’ve got the A side that has one polarity and the B side that has the opposite polarity. Put them together and they snap into place. You line the surface you are trying to put the magnet on with one half and put the other half on the graphic,” he says.

The biggest benefit of using magnets in signage is the interchangeability, Cirigliano says.

People are amazed when he shows them how easily signs on a trade show booth can be switched out using magnets.

“It is really good for any signage where you have frequent turnover or change out,” he says. Menu boards, bank rate signs and retail point of purchase displays are three popular uses of this material.

Magnets are also very durable so they have many outside uses.

Magnum Magnetics manufactures its magnets in two manufacturing facilities in the United States.

“I think that is one of the things that sets us apart from our competitors. Not only can you feel good because your purchase is supporting American jobs, but if you need us to tweak one of our formulas or do anything custom at all, we are doing that in Ohio as opposed to halfway around the globe,” Cirigliano says. “We can produce and deliver that in a matter of days instead of waiting weeks or months on the proverbial slow boat.”

Flexible magnets are easy to cut. They can be cut with scissors, utility knives, digital die cutters or plotters.

Mendon, Massachusetts-based Visual Magnetics invented magnetic receptive paint in the 1990s. ActiveWall Commercial Grade Micro-Iron Latex Primer has a high iron content. Because of that, it attracts the company’s InvisiLock magnet to the painted wall surface. Once InvisiLock is on the wall a client can put any print media on it. It even works in layers.

“We’re the leading brand of magnetic receptive worldwide,” says Naomi Mukai, marketing and public relations manager for Visual Magnetics. “We work at making sure our finishes and materials are very consistent and work well. We also have competitively priced media. VM-Polyedge is our lowest priced receptive. At 60 cents per square foot it is extremely affordable,” she says. It also has great print quality results, she says, and it is being used worldwide for cruise ships, electronics retailers, shoe brands and fashion.

Visual Magnetics’ materials are great for P.O.P. sales signage because they enable retailers to change graphics easily by putting a layer on or taking a layer off.

“Because our materials can work in four layers, you could have four images installed on top of each other,” she says. Companies can install a base image and layer smaller pieces over the top of it for holiday sales or to change the promotional messaging.

Visual Magnetics offers 20 different finishes and most of them can be mixed and matched. A display could have chalkboard on one side and matte finish on the other, or it could have canvas fabric mixed with dry eras