Soft-Touch Cardstock
Soft-touch cardstock is a premium colored paperboard with a factory-applied topcoat that creates a velvety, low-sheen surface. The moment you pick it up, the difference is obvious: it feels warm, smooth, and almost fabric-like against the skin. This tactile quality is what makes soft-touch cardstock a go-to material for luxury packaging where the unboxing experience matters as much as the product inside.
Unlike soft-touch lamination (which is a film applied after printing to any paper), soft-touch cardstock comes with the coating already built into the material. The result is a more consistent, more refined finish that covers one side or both sides of the sheet.
Available Colors and Weights
| Color | Weight | Thickness | Coating | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 290 gsm | 0.32 mm | Both sides or one side | Folding cartons, sleeves, inserts |
| Warm Gray | 290 gsm | 0.32 mm | Both sides or one side | Folding cartons, sleeves, inserts |
| White | 290 gsm | 0.32 mm | Both sides or one side | Folding cartons, sleeves, inserts |
| Brown | 290 gsm | 0.32 mm | Both sides or one side | Folding cartons, sleeves, inserts |
| Navy | 290 gsm | 0.32 mm | Both sides or one side | Folding cartons, sleeves, inserts |
| Red | 290 gsm | 0.32 mm | Both sides or one side | Folding cartons, sleeves, inserts |
| All colors | 130 gsm | 0.14 mm | One side | Rigid box wrapping, belly bands |
Need a color not listed here? Contact our team for more paper weight options and more color options.
When to Use Soft-Touch Cardstock
- Luxury folding cartons: cosmetics, fragrances, skincare, jewelry, and electronics accessories where the box itself is part of the brand experience.
- Gift packaging and influencer kits: the tactile surface communicates premium quality before the box is even opened.
- Presentation sleeves and belly bands: soft-touch sleeves wrapped around a standard box add a luxury accent at low additional cost.
- Rigid box wrapping (130 gsm): the lighter weight soft-touch cardstock can be used as wrapping material for rigid boxes, with the velvety side facing out.
Printing on Soft-Touch Cardstock
Soft-touch cardstock is printed using UV offset presses. UV-curable inks cure quickly and bond well to the low-energy topcoat surface. On dark colors (black, navy, brown, red), an opaque white ink underprint is applied beneath the CMYK layer to maintain color saturation and accuracy. On white soft-touch cardstock, CMYK prints directly without a white base.
Soft-touch cardstock pairs exceptionally well with foil stamping and spot gloss UV. The contrast between the matte, velvety surface and a glossy or metallic accent is striking and immediately communicates premium positioning. Keep foil strokes at 0.3 mm minimum width for clean results.
Soft-Touch Cardstock vs. Soft-Touch Lamination
Soft-touch lamination is a film applied after printing to any standard paper. It gives a similar velvety feel, but only on the laminated side. Soft-touch cardstock is a material with the coating built in from the factory, available with the soft-touch finish on one side or both sides. Compared to soft-touch lamination, soft-touch cardstock feels noticeably softer and more luxurious to the touch, delivering a stronger tactile impression. Soft-touch lamination, while still pleasant, is slightly less refined by comparison. Use soft-touch cardstock when the packaging design relies on the paper color itself (not a printed background). Use soft-touch lamination when you need full-color artwork with a velvety protective coating on top.
Handling Notes
The soft-touch surface can show fingerprints, and dark colors may reveal edge scuffing if handled roughly. For retail-ready products, we recommend shrink-wrapping or protective sleeves to keep the surface pristine during shipping and fulfillment.
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