There are several brands and they're kinda regional - my vendor changes brands about every three years (arggg...the colors shift slightly). But, to answer that question, there's really very little difference between one vinyl to the other - all manufacturers offer three or more varying degrees of quality. Low quality vinyls are usually thicker with "goey'er" adhesive. High quality vinyls are very thin with very thin high-tack adhesive layers (that happen to remove more cleanly). The different levels vinyls have some different types of manufacturing processes - but they're all pretty much the same process from manufacturer to manufacturer. They rate the vinyl in expected longevity with outdoor exposure from 3 year to 9 year. Only in the last couple of years has 3M come out with a 9 year vinyl.

When I'm doing sails, I usually use one of the following (depending on color availability which varies for me locally);

Oracal 951 series
3M 7725 series (8 year...but they have a 9 year that works great too)
FDC is a good vinyl (think they're affiliated with 3M).


All of these high end product lines are commonly referred to as "premium"...so if you went into a sign shop and asked for premium vinyl, they'll know what you mean.


All of this assumes that your graphic is only a few colors. If you're getting into something that is full color printed, it's a little different ball game.