The rise embossing and foiling within the flexo industry is bringing a surge of exciting print and packaging to supermarket shelves. Helen Dugdale spoke to some of those using these
techniques to find out what is fuelling the obsession with this trend.
A sprinkling of embossing and a touch of foiling can make ordinary packaging look extraordinary and help to create a whole new perception of luxury. ‘Traditionally the use of foiling, embossing and other decorative effects in labelling has been an indicator of luxury or top tier ranges in food and beverage markets,’ explained Nick Andrew, print development technician at Coveris. ‘The demand for foiling in meat, fish and poultry retail top tier ranges continues to grow and a more recent trend is the increased use of foiling for produce labels to differentiate products with a higher price point, enhancing the luxury perception.’
Developments in technology now makes it easier for small and independent brands to access the benefits of decorative tooling, said Stuart Kellock, managing director of Leicester-based label printers Label Apeel. ‘What people are starting to realise is that if you put embossing and foiling on the label you can go from being a good brand to being a luxury brand. Everyone is beginning to realise that the secret to eye-catching packaging is all about decoration. The two traditional ways of creating decoration are embossing and foiling. So, what you’re seeing now is an emergence of the markets with small brands who can now compete with the big players. Six years ago, this really wasn’t the case.’
‘It’s a very interesting time for the industry. We’ve seen a massive demand for textures, foiling and embossing, particularly in the label market. Originally, the label market was all rotary but now flatbed units have been introduced a lot of the work is now suited to short and medium run work. Which makes it easier to add more customisation and different embellishments,’ revealed Ginger Singh Kauldhar, business development director at Tomlinson, specialist die makers and engravers.
Who benefits?
‘Decoration is definitely huge in the wine and beverage markets. However, at Tomlinsons, one area that is reaping the rewards of embossing and foiling is the security industry,’ continued Mr Singh Kauldhar. ‘If you’ve got a label going to certain countries that have problems with anti-counterfeiting, we’ve created a way to help combat this, we’ve made a semi-security foil die. So, if the foil runs up and down the label itself, we treat it like a seal which puts security onto the label which is hidden in the decoration.’
For the team at Coveris, it has been a busy time with a wide range of customers asking for enhanced print. ‘We’re seeing an increased demand for “premiumisation” on retail meat, fish and poultry lines, which has led to us developing inline foiling alongside other decorative capabilities for lineless labels which is the leading label format for this category,’ said Mr Andrew.
At Label Apeel, the rise in brands putting a call out for more eye-catching packaging stems from the micro-craft brewing industry. ‘People have finally started to recognise that they too can have beautiful labels like the craft beers market has been enjoying for years. This has particularly bled over to the craft gin market, which has helped differentiate smaller products to the big gin brands. They can now have differentiated better packaging and with better packaging they sell more products, which is the key part that foiling and embossing is playing.’ explained Mr Kellock.
Coveris has also seen the use of foiling and other decorative options expanding to premium food products that have typically been packaged using cartonboard sleeves. ‘The launch of inline foiling in combination with multiple decorative effects on Aldi Specially Selected steak linerless labels by Coveris was a major evolution in the printing of this format, leading to the development of further decorative capabilities and “premiumisation” techniques in the years since,’ continued Mr Andrew.
A multi-level faceted emboss
Driving the change
With shop shelves now littered with strong examples of what is possible with print and packaging it is making brands, label designers and printers all up their game and push the boundaries like never before. However, customers are no longer just happy to accept simple gold or silver embossed labels, which is why Tomlinsons now offers over 250 options in its texture book and nine levels of embossing. ‘People usually foil first and then emboss. But we can make a combination die. We offer numerous levels of embossing – single level, key-line embossing, multi-level embossing, bevel embossing and sculptured embossing. The teams who are creating all the designs are not aware of all these different variants. To make a massive impact it can be as simple as selecting an area of your label or packaging, for example, the name, and then you can add a different texture to each letter. The texture then creates a deflective pattern which means when you’re walking past the label deflects in the light and catches people’s eye.’
Even with the rise in demand for services, it still seems that many brands are ordering the service from the USA and do not realise that it is available in the UK. This is a clear indicator that the print industry needs to get better at publicising its services and educating its customers, as Tomlinson is setting out to do. ‘We’re trying to link up customers’ designs with the best embellishments. We’re almost acting like a consultancy. We’re choosing the material that the job is going to go on, the foiling whether it is a satin or glossy foil, and what dies to use. These steps are outside our usual remit – so we have almost become like the link between the designer and the print finisher. There is a massive area in the middle that needs shortening and we can do that,’ finished Singh Kauldhar.
Meeting expectations
As more brands choose to use decorative packaging more questions are being asked. However, as Mr Kellock explained when it comes down to it the packaging and design is only as good as the printer who is producing it. ‘It’s amazing to see the innovative solutions are being created. You should see what you can do with hot foiling these days; stunningly amazing, but you need a printer who can do it. When you operate at the very top end of foiling you need to make sure that you’ve got the right quality of staff and the right quality of kit. It calls for proper craft skills to operate the machinery and to be able to look at and adjust the press to meet the demands of the designs. You need people with the right attitude to get you the right results.’
Mr Andrew at Coveris echoed Label Apeel’s belief about the industry. ‘We offer an end to end service model and our technical experts work alongside customers and label designers to identify the optimal print processes to achieve the desired finish. With hot and cold foiling, embossing and debossing and other decorative capabilities, tactile and visual effects can be created using different methods and materials.’
Simplify the complexities
The demand for decorative print has brought with it its own issues for the industry as Tomlinson has found. ‘Now that decorative print is becoming a traditional process – what we’re finding is that most designers and the younger generation in the marketplace don’t actually understand it. While they like the decorative feel of it, they don’t understand how to use that embellishment on their products. We’re finding a lot of designers are coming directly to us now to help them understand the process that goes on, so we can spec up their work instead of going directly to the printers,’ said Mr Singh Kauldhar.
Mr Kellock agreed that the industry as a whole need to look at producing a universal education programme, ‘There are still hurdles to this growing part of the print industry and these aren’t just technical hurdles. There just are not enough designers educated in what you can do with embossing and foiling. Outside of the top 20% of brand orientated design agencies – there is very little knowledge of what you can achieve with decoration. Which is why next year we are delivering a roadshow around the UK on this very subject. The roadshow will take place in March and April and will be bring together suppliers to talk to designers and brands to see what is capable now. On the whole though, a lot more needs to be done to educate the industry.’
