Jack talked to Steve Payne, Product Specialist at Drytac, about all the new products on show at FESPA 25
Jack Gocher: Right, I’m here in the selfie zone on the Drytac stand. This is amazing! It’s cosy, actually.
Steve Payne: It is very cosy.
Jack Gocher: I’m here with Steve Payne, relatively new. Are you the product specialist?
Steve Payne: Yeah, since January.
Jack Gocher: January, early this year. How are you finding it?
Steve Payne: Yeah, really good. Really good. Obviously, I’ve been using Drytac products for a while now, and now I’ve converted over to Drytac themselves. So yeah, it’s very good.
Jack Gocher: So, we’re here at Fespa, and we’re getting well into the show now. You’ve been here today – what’s new this year for you?
Steve Payne: So, new for us really… we’ve got a few launches. We’ve got our Polar Grip, which is obviously a product everyone knows about, but it’s now available in air release – so a bit of a soft release on that. And obviously, that Polar Grip is our go-to product for anything that you’re finding difficult to adhere to. It’s conformable for brick, good for low-surface energy substrates, and it’s got a high coat-weight adhesive.
Then we’ve also launched the Polar Frost Air, which is an embossed polymeric film, sort of like a dark silvery etch.
Jack Gocher: And that’s used for?
Steve Payne: Used for manifestation, really. It’s printable, and obviously, it can be kiss-cut and applied to windows and acrylics. And then we’ve got our Polar Smooth 150 Air, which is the same face film from our Retac 150. But obviously, the adhesive is permanent and air release on the back, rather than the Retac removable adhesive that we’ve got.
And then, we’ve also released our monomeric version of the Polar Grip, which is our Polar HiGrab that is also air release. The thing is, we’ve always got lots of new products.
Jack Gocher: So, coming to a show like this must be perfect for you because a lot of your customers are out there – you’re sort of the printers that you work with. Have you had a chance to get out and talk to people?
Steve Payne: Not as of yet. Today’s my first day here. It’s been very difficult to get off the stand, you know, only for a quick drink or whatever. But I’m hoping tomorrow that it’s going to be a little bit quieter, and I’ll be able to wander around because obviously, we’re collaborating with a number of hardware manufacturers.
Jack Gocher: So your product is out there?
Steve Payne: It is.
Jack Gocher: What’s feedback like?
Steve Payne: Yeah, feedback’s been really good. I mean, it’s been quite nice to meet a load of people that don’t know about Drytac. You know, they know the name but don’t really know what we do, so it’s been great explaining the products and what they’re good for, and talking about the range and where that can suit their needs. Plus, also meeting distributors from around the world and people that are already well into our products and showing them what’s new.
Jack Gocher: And as we’re in the selfie zone, I feel like we should just do a quick selfie. Brilliant.