Soft Touch Coating vs Soft Touch Lamination, A Complete Guide to Finishing Options

The word “soft touch” implies any kind of finishing that provides a softer feel to printed material. Whereas, all the packaging customization revolve around enhancing the visual appeal of your custom packaging boxes. Soft touch coating and soft touch laminate can serve as gifts for your customer’s tactile senses. But the question is what’s the difference between both of them?

To cut a long story short, both are finishing options that give a soft and sleek feel to your printed materials. The main difference is in the way they are applied.  

Let’s first see what soft touch finishing feels like to make the most sense for your unique printing project.

Soft Touch Finishing:

Soft touch gives a more subdued sense of refinement and quality. It is also known as velvet finish because it gives a softer look to your retail packaging. The materials with Soft touch finishing gives a sort of velvety softness and texture similar to suede-like or soft leather-like. It is a great option to create a luxurious and elegant look by giving subtle and don’t have much sheen appearance.       

The Process for Soft Touch Coating Vs Soft Touch Laminate:

Your custom packaging boxes can be subjected to soft-touch finishing by either applying a coating or laminate film. Soft touch coating is applied during the inline process as a liquid after the completion of printing. When the coating dries, the custom printed packaging boxes are left with its velvety soft touch texture. On the other hand, in soft-touch lamination process, a matte film is bonded to the top of the printed piece to give a softer feel and low luster.

Both will give you similar end results but the thing which should be noticed is that soft touch coating uses a liquid which means it is less expensive as compared to soft-touch laminate. Whereas, if your custom packaging boxes need to be more durable then you should go for the laminate option in terms of improved strength. There are other ways to get the feel of soft touch coating for instance, you can use different types of varnish, such as aqueous coating with offset printing to increase the sturdiness of packaging boxes.  

The Pros of Soft Touch Coating and Soft Touch Lamination

Both give a variety of advantages in terms of durability and longevity. Here we have mentioned some of them:

• They give an excellent customer experience which in turn enhance the perception of your brand.
• They are also resistant to scuff during the finishing process. 
• They are very supportive of every kind of color technology whether (PMS) colors or CMYK variations. 
• Soft touch finishing is a great option if you want a more subdued look with regular glare and shine.
• Soft touch laminate adds an additional protective layer against fingerprints, yellowing, and smudges.

All kinds of printing materials can benefit from soft touch lamination or soft touch coating. They are highly suitable for luxury products or cosmetic packaging. They give a more sophisticated and refined look to your product line. They are also used in the jewelry and high-end fashion industry, and for expensive audio and technology components.