From health and beauty products, to liquor and spirits packaging, publishing projects and more, the popularity of black-centered designs are on the rise and it is easy to understand why. The rich black offered in a quality cover material provides an exceptional canvas for colors, designs and bright foils to pop against the contrasting backdrop while displaying an unparalleled sense of luxury, cleanliness and elegance.
Packaging is trending away from the simplistic ideals of being used exclusively for protecting and transporting goods, and more into the realm of being a part of the consumer experience. This is brought on by an increasingly competitive market, and is forcing designers away from packaging that is seen as commercial, and more towards artistic designs that promote and represent the brand and product within.
“If I’m designing something for a client and time is of the essence, I’ll always start with a black material. Black has become the go to color in design. It works with everything,” said Ryan Flynn, Ecological Fibers’ Marketing Manager and in-house design guru. “We have materials that can take that color and instill character while not limiting possible finishes, embossings or decorative applications.”
We pride ourselves in our ability to provide a diverse range of materials for use in a number of industries.
Above all else, our black products are consistently our most popular and sought after solutions. Within these offerings of black materials, versatility remains our top priority, and we maintain a range of black cover options for use in a number of industries at a number of different price ranges. From soft-touch and matte finishes, to glitter-infused coatings and beautiful color shifting top coats, we provide a wide variety of weights and materials built for various design and applications processes.
“We want to ensure that our clients are supplied with endless possibilities while still utilizing the most versatile and popular color in the design industry,” said Flynn.
No matter your project, Ecological Fibers has got you covered. Below are just a few of our most popular and diverse black cover solutions…
POPULAR BLACK MATERIALS
Our NEW Sable material is available in two weights, a 100gsm wrap and a heavier, self-supporting 350gsm (18pt) folding carton. Both of these solutions boast our deepest and most pure dyed through black uncoated paper to date.
Both of our Sable solutions are made with 50% Post Consumer Waste (PCW), and are FSC Certified while maintaining excellent bleed***, fade** and tarnish* resistance.
* Internal test, contact for details
** Tested (UNI EN ISO 105-B02:2004) received a fade resistant rating of 6 (Very Good Lightfastness)
*** 5 min. water drop stain test
Rainbow® is our signature brand of dyed through, uncoated Kraft cover solutions, built for use in a wide variety of markets. Our 70# Ultra Black offers a crisp, deep black backdrop for designs looking for a luxury solution in an economic cover material. The dyed through Kraft removes the worry associated with white edges, and eliminates the need for full ink coverage. Our black selections of Rainbow® 70 also include Black and Eclipse, as well as a deep gray Graphite shade option which allows you to perfectly match and synchronize designs which have already been produced.
Our umbrella of Rainbow materials maintain industry leading standards for sustainability.
Ultra Black is also offered in our 80# text weight solution.
Matador® is our renowned luxury soft-touch cover solution that can be seen on projects ranging from book covers and box wraps to special edition cases. Matador® consists of a base FSC® Certified saturated paper which features a water-based, soft-touch finish.
Our EM08 Black solution, like the rest of our array of color selections, allows for multiple design enhancing capabilities such as blind and foil stamping, and silkscreen printing.
Matador® has recently been upgraded to incorporate the most environmentally responsible soft touch coating in the market.
Rainbow® LX is our go-to luxury solution for the high-end projects that require superior strength and exceptional flexibility. This cover solution boasts an impressive selection of standard, plush and mattone finishes.
Rainbow® LX accepts foil and blind stamping wonderfully, as well as silkscreen printing for optimum versatility within design applications.
Prestige® is an exceptionally unique product in our line of cover solutions. Exuding luxury, this material boasts a wonderful flocked texture and maintains a rich black option in Twilight. Prestige® maintains excellent foil and blind stamping capabilities and can be used in projects ranging from publishing applications to luxury packaging. It is also FSC® Certified for optimal sustainability.
Prestige® is also offered in a variety of dark hues including deep, rich gray Graphite, Gull, Dolphin and Chrome selections.
Our recently upgraded selection of 100% Cotton cloth Arlington® is an excellent choice as a luxury woven cloth coated cover material.
Arlington® is offered in two selections, a slick matte Vellum and classic, scraped coating Linen. Both offer black options to appease a number of different design styles while simultaneously boasting excellent strength and durability with abrasion and water resistance. Our signature water-based coatings that are found on Arlington® also accept screen and offset printing, as well as foil and blind stamping beautifully.
Flexpak™
Our recently enhanced line of self-supporting cover solutions provide a number of unique and versatile black selections. Our black offerings include:
Black Natural, a 13 and 18 pt. 100% recycled / 40% PCW uncoated material.
A dyed through 13 and 16 Eclipse, which is curbside recyclable and consists of 15% recycled content.
18pt Raven is a C2S folding carton material that maintains a light graphic coating for superior ink holdout.
Our 350gsm Sable is also featured in our selection of Flexpak offerings.
All of these materials are made with design in mind, and are created to accept foil stamping exceptionally well while maintaining versatile printing capabilities. All Flexpak™ solutions accept embossing and debossing patterns and designs beautifully.
ENDLESS OPTIONS & POSSIBILITIES
Nearly every product that we offer has at least one black option to choose from. The solutions listed above are truly just the tip of the iceberg. On top of all of these highlighted materials, we also maintain a versatile array of even more black materials to suit a wide range of price ranges, projects and design applications.
If you would like to learn more about any of our products, please contact one of Dedicated Sales Representatives today to find the perfect material for your next job.
