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.

Related Resources

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