Cotton Paper Specifications
Surface: Premium uncoated cotton stock with a soft, low-reflectance surface and a naturally tactile fibre structure.
Stock Construction: Available in 20pt and 40pt finished thicknesses. The 20pt stock provides a substantial premium card profile, while the 40pt construction offers significantly greater rigidity, edge depth and physical presence.
Paper Character: Cotton fibre contributes a softer hand and more pronounced material character than conventional commercial card stocks. The surface remains fully unlaminated, allowing the paper itself to remain a visible and tactile component of the finished piece.
Print Characteristics: Ink is absorbed directly into the uncoated cotton surface, resulting in softer tonal transitions, controlled contrast and a distinctly paper-driven reproduction characteristic. Fine typography, line work, restrained colour palettes and minimalist graphic systems are particularly well suited to this substrate.
Surface Behaviour: Because of the natural fibre structure, large solid colour areas may display subtle variations in density and surface uniformity. These variations are characteristic of uncoated cotton stock and should not be interpreted as defects.
Colour Behaviour: Cotton stock generally produces lower apparent saturation and softer contrast than coated or laminated media. Dark colours may reproduce less intensely, while light neutral tones and subtle colour fields can be influenced by the warm-white base tone of the paper. Colour-critical work should be evaluated using an appropriate physical proof where required.
Prepress & Production Standards
Printing: Full-colour, double-sided production directly onto premium cotton stock from supplied press-ready artwork.
Artwork: Files should be prepared at final trim size with appropriate bleed, safe margins, embedded or outlined fonts and production-quality image resolution. Fine rules, small reversed type and critical edge-aligned elements should be prepared with normal commercial print tolerances in mind.
Colour: Artwork should be supplied using an appropriate CMYK workflow. RGB content, spot colours and brand-critical colours may require conversion or production review before output. Printed colour should not be expected to reproduce identically to the same artwork on coated, laminated or highly calendared stock.
Image Reproduction: Continuous-tone imagery will retain more of the underlying paper character than on coated media. Extremely subtle shadow detail, very dark photographic areas and large neutral fields should be evaluated carefully where tonal precision is critical.
Proofing: Digital PDF proofing is available for checking content, layout, trim position and general prepress accuracy. A PDF proof cannot reproduce the final paper colour, fibre structure, ink absorption or tactile characteristics of the finished stock.
Trim & Finishing: Cutting is subject to normal commercial production tolerances. The increased thickness of the 40pt stock produces a more prominent finished edge and should be considered when artwork incorporates borders or elements positioned close to trim.
Production Time: Typically 4–5 business days after artwork and proof approval. Additional finishing, colour evaluation or production requirements may extend turnaround.
