Learn Wrap and PPF
The training hub for the wrap & paint protection film trades — a WFR For My Car site
Two trades built by identifiable people: founders who started companies in stereo shops and sign shops, installers who became the teachers, and competitors who turned contest wins into reputations. Where the record disputes a credit, the dispute is printed with the name.
Credited by Tread Magazine (sourcing XPEL) as the man who started XPEL in San Antonio in 1997 — a car-stereo shop owner who set up what was then a pattern-software business. Still listed in company profiles as VP, Technical Ops & OEM. See the founder dispute on the PPF history page.
Joined XPEL in 2004 as employee number 12, left in 2008, and was recalled by the board to become CEO in February 2009 with the company near bankruptcy. Built the sales organization, launched ULTIMATE in 2011, and took the company to Nasdaq in 2019.
The CEO who pivoted XPEL from software-only into selling paint protection film in 2007. One blog credits him as founder — better-sourced accounts say pivot CEO, and this site flags the founder credit as likely wrong.
Per XPEL's history, three German Porsche owners asked Colgan's upholstery shop to redesign their protective cover in 1961; “The Original Car Bra” gave the clear film its consumer name a generation later. (XPEL's account.)
Wrapping since 1996 (New York), moved to Amsterdam in 2007, released a 3-part DVD set in 2008 — an industry first, by his account — taught workshops for 3M Europe and Mutoh, and started Avery Dennison's North America hands-on program in 2010/11 (his bio says 2010; an interview dates Avery's takeover of the program to 2011 — published here as 2010/11). He created the UGIS installation system and Avery's CWI certification program, wrapped 3,000+ vehicles across his career (his bio figures), and launched The Wrap Institute on 1 January 2014. Judge at Wrap Like a King since 2013 and at World Wrap Masters in 2017.
In vinyl since 1978, teaching since 1993. Joined PDAA in 1993 and created the PDAA VIP Certification Program in 1999 with other professionals — the vendor-neutral credential later endorsed by Arlon, Avery, FLEXcon and MACtac. A longtime wrap-contest judge and SGIA trainer.
Partner at Vinyl Images (St. Louis) since 2002; Avery Dennison instructor since 2017 — the first trainer hired under Pate in North America, per Graphics Pro; founded WrapIQ in 2018. PDAA Master Certified and a TWI Endorsed Trainer. His competition record (five 1st places, per his own site) is self-reported and is carried here as such.
Kenny — a former Hollywood aerial stunt pilot and precision driver who had built aircraft and vehicle replicas for film and TV — noticed vinyl bus wraps in 1997, retired from flying in 2004, and opened Geek Wraps in Fort Lauderdale with Kathy. Geek Wraps University became a 3M Authorized Training & Testing Facility in November 2013, teaching 225–250 students a year in its 5-day course (Kathy Calman, 2018). Kenny also invented the Air Wrangler tool system.
Sacramento owner-operator whose WrapStar University hosts Arlon's Advanced Training & Certification. In 2021 she announced her own training facility and certification program aimed at grassroots installers, with a stated mission of empowering women in the business. No current public course price was found — see the training page.
The installer-to-teacher pathway inside a manufacturer: Cazorla defined XPEL's headquarters curriculum (prep, tack points, slip and tack solutions, DAP software); Valencia judged the WFCT PPF competition in 2017 and trained XPEL classes.
Named PDAA's founder in the association's own releases. PDAA — the Professional Decal Application Association — was founded in 1976 by the owners of eight independent vinyl installation companies to learn from each other and network on nationwide installs.
Filed the first see-through graphics patent in 1984 and founded Contra Vision in 1985 — the technology behind the 1991 first total bus wrap.
The Polish installer who won the first FESPA World Wrap Masters title in 2013. Successors include Kiss Lajos (2014 & 2015), Jim Miller (USA, 2016), Jonas Sjöström (2017), Ivan Tenchev (2018) and Simon Manley Jokumsen (2023).
The most-decorated WFCT PPF competitor in the record: Gold in 2017, Silver in 2018 and 2019, Gold again in 2022 — the competition-to-reputation pathway in one career.