Retroreflective article comprising locally-laminated reflective layers

A method of making a retroreflective article by local lamination, the method comprising:

• bringing areas of a pre-made reflective layer into contact with portions of protruding areas of at least some transparent microspheres that are borne by a carrier layer and that are partially embedded therein;
• physically transferring, by local lamination, the areas of the pre-made reflective layer to the portions of the protruding areas of the transparent microspheres with which the areas of the pre-made reflective layer are in contact, so that the physically transferred areas of the pre-made reflective layer are bonded to the portions of the protruding areas of the transparent microspheres;
• wherein during the physically transferring process the physically transferred areas of the pre-made reflective layer are detached from regions of the pre-made reflective layer that previously laterally surrounded the physically transferred areas with the regions of the pre-made reflective layer that previously laterally surrounded the physically transferred areas not being transferred so as to not be present in the retroreflective article;
• then,
• disposing a binder precursor on a major side of the carrier layer that bears the transparent microspheres;
• and,
• solidifying the binder precursor to form a retroreflective article comprising a binder layer and in which the physically transferred areas of the pre-made reflective layer are embedded between the transparent microspheres and the binder layer.