| Box Style | As Mention Above |
|---|---|
| Dimension (L + W + H) | All Custom Sizes & Shapes |
| Minimum Run ( For Boxes and Mylar Bags) | 100 Boxes - 1000 Mylar Bags ( 500 each design) |
| Paper Stock | 10pt to 28pt (60lb to 400lb) Eco-Friendly Kraft, E-flute Corrugated, Bux Board, Cardstock |
| Printing | No Printing, CMYK, CMYK + 1 PMS color, CMYK + 2 PMS colors |
| Finishing | Gloss Lamination, Matte Lamination, Gloss AQ, Gloss UV, Matte UV, Spot UV, Embossing, Foiling |
| Included Options | Die Cutting, Gluing, Scored,Perforation |
| Additional Options | Eco-Friendly, Recycled Boxes, Biodegradable |
| Proof | Flat View, 3D Mock-up, Physical Sampling (On request) |
| Turnaround | 7 - 8 Business Days |
| Shipping | FLAT Position |
What Soft Touch Lamination Actually Is
Soft touch lamination is a thin matte film bonded to the printed surface of a sheet before it is die cut and glued. What separates it from ordinary matte lamination is the coating carried on the film itself, which produces a fine, velvety texture rather than a flat, smooth one. The industry calls the same product by several names: soft touch coating, velvet lamination, suede lamination, and soft feel film and they all describe the same effect: a surface that feels closer to peach skin or brushed suede than to paper or plastic.
The film is usually a matte BOPP (biaxially orientated polypropylene) specified at around 1.2 mil, or roughly 30 microns. That thickness matters more than it sounds. Too thin and the tactile character weakens; too thick and the film starts to fight the score lines, which shows up later as cracking on folded edges. Getting that balance right on your specific board is part of what we sort out before your job reaches the press.
It is worth being clear about what soft-touch lamination is not. It is not a paper stock, and it does not change the structure or strength of your box in any meaningful way. A soft-touch laminated box built on 16 pt cardstock is still a 16 pt cardstock box. What changes is the surface, and with it, how the packaging reads to the person holding it.
Why Brands Specify a Soft Touch Finish
Packaging gets judged by hand before it gets judged by eye, and that is the entire commercial case for this finish. A customer picks up the box, and within a second the surface has already told them something about the price bracket the product sits in. Gloss says bright and accessible. Plain Matte says restrained. Soft touch says considered and expensive, which is why you find it on fragrance cartons, skincare secondary packaging, jewellery lids and corporate gift sets far more often than on high-volume grocery lines.
There is a practical side too. The coating is noticeably more scuff resistant than standard matte lamination. Matte film is prone to burnishing those shiny grey marks that appear along edges and across flat panels after boxes rub against each other in a carton or on a shelf. Soft-touch film handles that abrasion better, so a box that travels through a courier network and then sits in a retail display tends to still look intact when a customer reaches for it. For brands shipping direct to consumers across Canada, where a box may change hands several times between our facility and a doorstep in Vancouver or Halifax, that durability is not a small thing.
The finish also deepens colour. Ink under soft touch film reads richer and more saturated, particularly in blacks, navies, forest greens and deep burgundies. A solid black panel under gloss lamination looks like a shiny black panel. The same black under soft touch reads as depth. Designers who work in dark palettes tend to reach for this finish for exactly that reason.
The Trade-Offs You Should Know Before You Specify It
Every finish involves compromises, and we would rather you hear these from us at the quote stage than discover them when a pallet arrives.
Soft touch mutes brightness. The same film that deepens dark colours also pulls energy out of light, vivid ones. Bright yellows, fluorescent oranges, hot pinks and light pastels all lose a measurable amount of pop under this coating. If your brand identity depends on a high-chroma colour doing the heavy lifting, we will usually suggest you look at a printed sample before committing a full run, or consider a matte lamination with a spot gloss over the key colour instead.
Fingerprints show on dark solids. This is the most common surprise. On a matte black or deep navy panel with large uninterrupted areas, skin oils leave visible marks, and they are more noticeable than they would be on gloss. Retail handling makes this worse. There are ways to design around it, breaking up large dark flats with pattern, texture or embossing, or shifting a solid black to a very slightly lighter or textured treatment, and our design team will raise it if we can see it coming in your artwork.
Cracking risk on heavy stocks. On a thicker board with tight folds, any laminate can crack along the score. The fix is a combination of correct scoring depth, grain direction running parallel to the fold, and film selection. It is a solvable problem, but it is a real one, and it is why we do not simply apply the same film to every job regardless of stock.
Cost. Soft-touch lamination sits above gloss and matte lamination on price. How much above depends on your sheet size, run length and whether you are laminating one side or both. On a small first run the difference per unit is more noticeable; at higher volumes it compresses considerably.
How We Apply It
Soft touch lamination happens after printing and before die cutting, which is an order that has consequences for how your file should be built.
Your artwork is printed first, in full-colour CMYK or with PMS spot colours where you need an exact brand match. The printed sheets are then run through a laminating machine where the soft touch film is bonded to the surface under heat and pressure for thermal lamination for most folding carton work, though wet lamination is used for certain applications. The bonded sheets are left to cure before any further work, because film that has not fully set will not die-cut cleanly.
Once cured, the sheets go through die cutting, where the box shape, any windows and any perforation are cut in a single pass, then through creasing, glueing and folding. If you have specified spot UV, foil stamping or embossing, those steps come after lamination, not before, because they need to sit on top of the film rather than under it.
Every job gets a free digital proof, a flat view and a 3D mockup before any of this begins. A physical sample can be produced on request, and for soft touch specifically, we recommend it more often than we do for other finishes, because no screen can show you what the surface feels like.
Soft Touch Compared to Other Lamination Options
Choosing between finishes is easier when you can see them side by side, so here is how the main options actually differ in practice.
Gloss lamination reflects light, maximizes contrast and makes photography and bright colour look their best. It is the most economical laminate, holds up well to moisture, and shows fewer fingerprints than soft touch. It also reads as mass market, which is a problem if you are positioning above that.
Matte lamination removes shine for a clean, understated look and is smooth rather than textured to the touch. It costs less than soft touch and works well for minimalist identities, but it burns and scuffs more easily, which is the main reason brands move up to soft touch.
Soft touch lamination is the premium tactile option: velvety texture, deep colour, strong scuff resistance, and the best available base for contrast finishing like spot UV and foil. It carries the highest laminate cost and the fingerprint caveat on dark solids.
Aqueous and UV coatings are liquid coatings rather than films. They are thinner, faster, cheaper and more readily recyclable, but they cannot produce a genuine soft touch feel. Where sustainability is the leading priority and tactile character is secondary, an aqueous coating is often the more honest recommendation, and we will say so.
Pairing Soft Touch With Spot UV, Foil and Embossing
Soft touch does its best work as a background rather than as the whole story. Because the surface is matte and textured, anything glossy or metallic placed on top of it reads with unusual force.
Spot UV over soft touch is the classic combination and probably the single most effective use of this finish. A logo, a monogram, a pattern or a product name given a raised gloss varnish against a velvet matte field produces a contrast you can see across a shelf and feel with a fingertip. Because the surrounding surface has no shine at all, the varnished element carries every bit of the reflected light.
Foil stamping over soft touch works on the same principle with more weight behind it. Gold, silver, rose gold, copper and holographic foils all sit crisply on soft touch film, and the flat velvet background stops the metallic from looking busy. This is the standard specification for luxury rigid gift boxes and premium fragrance cartons.
Embossing and debossing add a third dimension. On a soft-touch surface, a debossed logo catches shadow rather than light, which produces a quiet, tailored effect. Embossing pushed up from behind gives the opposite a raised element the hand finds before the eye does.
The advice we give most often is restraint. Soft touch plus one contrast element usually looks more expensive than soft touch plus three. When every panel is competing for attention, none of them wins.
Materials That Take Soft Touch Lamination Well
Cardboard and SBS board in the 12 pt to 24 pt range is the most common substrates, and they take the film cleanly with excellent print reproduction underneath. This covers most folding cartons, cosmetic boxes, sleeves and retail product boxes.
Rigid board is where soft-touch lamination arguably makes its strongest showing. On a rigid box, the wrap paper is laminated before it is applied to the chipboard structure, and the result is a box with weight in the hand and a velvet surface — the combination most people associate with luxury packaging. Magnetic closure boxes, lift-off lid boxes and drawer boxes all suit it.
Corrugated board, typically E-flute, accepts soft-touch lamination on the printed liner. This is how a branded eCommerce mailer gets a premium unboxing surface while retaining shipping strength. Heavier flutes are possible, but the surface becomes less even, so we usually steer soft-touch mailer work toward E-flute or a litho-laminated construction.
Kraft is the one to be careful with. Uncoated brown kraft can be laminated, but the fibrous surface changes both the texture and the print result, and the effect is rarely what people picture when they ask for a soft touch. If you want a natural look, an uncoated kraft with no laminate at all is usually the better answer.
Applications and Box Styles
Soft-touch lamination is specified across most of our structures. Cosmetic and skincare cartons use it for serums, creams, foundations and fragrance secondary packaging, where the box does the quality signalling before the product is ever opened. Rigid gift boxes and jewellery boxes use it as the standard premium wrap. Candle boxes particularly soy and scented candle packaging, where the category is crowded and margin depends on positioning use it constantly. Branded mailer boxes for subscription and direct-to-consumer programmes use it to make the delivery moment feel deliberate. Electronics and accessory retail cartons use it for the same reason mobile phone packaging does. Corporate gift sets, launch kits and presentation boxes use it where the packaging is part of the gesture.
Industries We Produce Soft Touch Packaging For
Cosmetics and personal care brands are the largest single group, since consistency of finish across a full product line matters as much as any individual box. Jewellery and gift businesses specify it for rigid lids and drawer boxes finished with foil. Cannabis and CBD brands in Canada use it for compliant retail cartons that still need to look premium on a regulated shelf. Confectionery and speciality food brands use it on outer cartons and sleeves where the packaging is not in direct food contact. Apparel and accessory labels use it for gift boxes and branded mailers. Electronics and tech accessory brands use it on retail cartons. Home and lifestyle brands candles, décor, handmade goods use it where the product is bought partly on feel.
Artwork Notes for a Soft Touch Job
A few things make the difference between a good result and a reprint. Build your file with a 3mm bleed and keep critical copy at least 4mm inside the trim. Supply artwork in CMYK, and specify PMS colours explicitly rather than assuming a conversion. Expect a colour shift and design for it if you are unsure how a particular colour will land, ask for a printed sample. Keep spot UV and foil elements on clearly named separate layers so there is no ambiguity about what receives which treatment. Avoid very fine hairlines and small reversed-out type on textured backgrounds, where the film's surface reduces edge definition slightly. If you do not have print-ready artwork, our design team will prepare the dieline and place your logo and colours at no charge.
Sustainability
We would rather give you an accurate picture than a comfortable one. Soft touch lamination is a plastic film bonded to paper board, and that laminate makes the material harder to recycle than uncoated or aqueous-coated board. Some Canadian municipal streams accept laminated cartons and some do not, and it varies by region.
There are options that improve the position. Recyclable soft touch films and biodegradable laminates are available and we can quote them. Soy and water-based inks can be specified underneath. FSC-certified and recycled board can carry the finish. Limiting lamination to the outer surface only, rather than both sides, reduces the film volume. And sizing the box accurately to the product remains the single largest lever on total material use, quite apart from any coating decision.
If recyclability is your leading requirement rather than tactile feel, we will tell you that an aqueous or uncoated route serves you better, and we would rather have that conversation at quote stage than sell you a finish that works against your own stated goals.
Why Canadian Brands Order Soft Touch Packaging From Us
Every project is customized by size, material, structure, artwork and finish, so the soft touch specification is built around your product rather than pulled from a fixed catalogue. Minimums start at 50 units, which makes the finish accessible for a first product run or a seasonal launch rather than only for established volume. Die cutting, plate setup, custom shapes and scoring are included in the quoted price, so a uniquely shaped soft touch box costs the same to tool as a standard one. Design support is free, including dielines and artwork preparation. Every order includes a free flat view and 3D digital mockup before production, with physical samples available on request. Standard turnaround is 8 to 12 business days from proof approval, with a 4 to 6 day rush option. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada, from Toronto and Montreal to Calgary and Vancouver, delivered flat with tracking.
How It Works
- Share your requirements product, dimensions, quantity and the look you are after
- Review your options stock, structure, print method and finish combinations
- Get a custom quote built around your specification
- Approve your free digital proof, or request a physical sample
- Production and quality check
- Free delivery to your door, warehouse or fulfilment centre
Request a Soft Touch Lamination Quote
Tell us what you are packaging, roughly how many units you need and whether you want to pair the soft touch finish with spot UV, foil or embossing. We will come back with a specification and a price, and a free digital proof before anything reaches the press.
