Gangsta Wraps

VEHICLE WRAPS CAN easily steal the show in the wide-format industry. The best jobs are sleek, eye-catching, and sometimes mind-numbing as the complexity of the installs reach such high levels. From food trucks to race cars to pet grooming vans, wraps can take a standard vehicle and transform it into a brand’s story. Check out the following projects from PSPs across the country.

DM Grafix
Newark, New jersey

Empire Lounge in Elizabeth, New Jersey, needed a vehicle wrap that would attract visitors to their lounge and act as a rolling advertisement for their establishment. DM Grafix in Newark, New Jersey, printed the wrap using a Roland TrueVis 540 printer onto Avery Dennison MPI 1105 Easy Apply vinyl, laminating it with Avery Dennison DOL 1060Z Gloss overlaminate. “The biggest challenge with this wrap was the tough contours on the Nissan,” says Donny Maranhao, owner, DM Grafix. “The bumper is actually one complete piece with no mending.” Empire Lounge was ecstatic with DM Grafix’s work. Their van now roams the Garden State paying for itself as a great marketing device.

Tip: Stay organized. DM Grafix completed this project with a turnaround of just four days because Maranhao had his schedule planned out in such a way that he could set aside the time to get it done.

Repros
Akron, Ohio

Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions and Repros, a PSP based out of Akron, Ohio, teamed up to rebrand a retrofitted Lake County transit authority (Laketran) Dial-a-bus to serve as the Lake County, Ohio, mobile food pantry. The vehicle now makes more than 180 stops in communities around the county per week. Lake County plans to distribute more than 22,000 pounds of fresh produce to 720 homes throughout the county per month. To complete this wrap, Repros Color used an HP Latex 300 printer onto Avery Dennison’s MP 1105 film.

“This was an exciting project for us,” says Anthony LaGuardia, senior account manager, Repros. “We’ve been doing vehicle wraps for Laketran since 2014, but most people at Laketran wouldn’t have known Avery Dennison was our film provider. Laketran came to us and said, ‘We’ve got a cool project we’d like you to work on. Do you know anybody at Avery Dennison? They’re donating the film.’” The three organizations worked together to get the mobile food bank running.

Tip: Don’t hesitate to trust your gut! Repros became an industry leader in 1999 after LaGuardia’s uncle noticed the industry shifting, so they turned their focus to banner printing.

Sticky Stuff
Lakeland, Florida

Sticky Stuff in Lakeland, Florida, has made a name for itself as a respected vehicle wrapper in the NASCAR community. Josh Williams, an old school driver and one of the up-and-coming stars of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, had a very successful 2020 season. As a result, he landed large sponsorship deals and needed a new wrap for his vehicle. Terry Hartley, owner of Sticky Stuff, got in the driver’s seat to complete the job by wrapping his number 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet. Using a Roland Truevis VG540 printer onto GF 230 Automark wrap vinyl and finishing it with a Royal Sovereign Laminator, Sticky Stuff got Williams ready for the big show.

Tip: Take networking to the next level. Harley used his connections within the NASCAR Xfinity series to get additional work.