Two years ago, I was asked by the Foil Stamping & Embossing Association (FSEA) to head up a committee to begin development of "an industry color standard for the selection, specification, and communication of foils for the graphic arts industry." Soon after, I approached Pantone to elicit their interest in the project. The rest, as they say, is history.
I am pleased to report the successful completion of the first phase of the program. Pantone has released the Foil Stamping Color Guide. Marketed worldwide, the guide is based on the same concept as the widely used Pantone Matching System®. It contains a range of 112 commonly used foil colors categorized into five sections: bright and satin golds and silvers on coated stock; metallized colors on coated stock; bright and satin golds and silvers on uncoated stock; metallized colors on uncoated stock; and pigmented and pearlescent colors, simulating Pantone Matching System® colors, on coated stock.
The Guide is the result of years of meetings and tests, conducted by FSEA's Industry Standards Committee and Pantone. As chairman of the committee, I worked closely with FSEA executive director Mary Fuller, Bob Witte of Dri-Print Foils, Rod Siberine of Transfer Print Foils and Bob Gallagher from Ace Incorporated, a trade finisher.
The significance of this event will surely not be lost on the print community, because the guide offers postpress operations the same kind of control the Pantone Matching System® gives printers and their customers in the selection of ink colors. As the guide gains widespread usage, it will save untold hours of sorting through stacks of manufacturers' charts trying to match foil colors.
The entire industry will benefit from usage of the new Pantone guide. Customers will be more likely to specify foil stamping, if they can be assured of consistent color and quality (the Pantone name certainly adds credibility to this premise) and if it's made easy, which the guide promises to do.
In turn, increased use of foil stamping will be a boon to manufacturers. Pantone reports that distribution of the guide itself is already generating increased interest in foil stamping among designers and advertising agencies.
Although foil stamping and embossing have been liberally used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical packaging for decades, their use on other products has been limited. But designers, ever on the lookout for new ways to distinguish their designs from other products in the marketplace, increasingly have been applying foil stamping to their materials. Manufacturers, for their part, have helped fan the interest by continually adding new and unusual types of foil and color mixes to their product lines.
Foil stamping is widely regarded as a value-added process. It is less dollar-driven than other, more common finishing processes, such as binding and saddlestitching. This means that foil stamping has the potential to be very profitable for both printer and finisher. But high profit margins are contingent upon efficient production methods. The Pantone guide promises to help finishers streamline foil stamping, allowing faster turnaround and consistent high quality.
Color matching hot stamping foils is intrinsically more difficult than ink matching, because foil manufacturing involves a multi-stepped process of laying down four to five layers of material onto a polyester film. Even slight variations in production can result in significant visual differences in the finished product.
Key to the FSEA/Pantone project is the licensing by Pantone of hot-stamping foil makers. In exchange for adhering to the foil color guide, licensees are able to use Pantone trademarks and copyrighted number schemes in their own marketing materials. They've all begun the process of matching and submitting their foil color samples to the company for approval.
To hasten use of the guide, Pantone issues licenses to foil makers who may not have matched all the guide's foil colors but at least have begun the process. As use of the guide expands, licensed manufacturers will continue to submit for Pantone's approval new foils for inclusion. As of this writing, five major foil manufacturers have been licensed by Pantone.
Although the Pantone guide is a very important first step, it is just a beginning. Pantone needs to bring more manufacturers into its fold, and they in turn need to continue to add to the spectrum of foils included in the guide. Also, printers and finishers must promote the guide to customers and suppliers. And customers need to begin using it, so it becomes as familiar to them as the Pantone Matching System® colors.
I encourage all of you to start using the guide. It is a significant step toward building a comprehensive body of documented quality standards for our industry. The Pantone Foil Stamping Color Guide ($19.95) can be ordered through FSEA or by contacting Pantone Customer Service at (800) 222-1149.
Kevin Cullen is vice president of manufacturing at Apex Die Corp., a trade finishing shop with facilities in San Carlos and Sunnyvale, California