If over the last five years the coated woodfree market has nose dived, plunging merchants into despair and worse, the bright spot has been steady or growing demand for uncoated woodfree papers.
The short explanation is that designers and their clients have opted for the ‘natural’ feel of the uncoated sheet, that this feels right for austere times and that uncoated is an acceptable substitute for more expensive recycled papers. This has brought with it problems for printers having to manage drying times and printing on these papers while also delivering expectations of quality. Some subjects perform better than others, brighter colours for example, but shadows and subtle dark tones can be lost. However, printing on uncoated papers without these problems is one of the strong arguments for new generation UV printing.
There has been growth in the uncoated sector as this is much better suited to digital printing than coated and there is a desire also to match output across the different substrates. Mandy Gallego of Paperlinx UK says: “We’ve certainly seen an increase in uncoated woodfrees, with the biggest growth in narrow web reels for continuous feed inkjet printing for work that previously might have been produced on litho presses and coated papers. As there has been no credible coated paper for inkjet, customers have to use uncoated papers.
“And in high end fashion collateral there is growth because these customers are looking for the natural feel and tactile element for their brochures. Because of price pressure they want an alternative to recycled. In direct mail, uncoated papers with a higher bulk can save on postage.”
It means that the merchant has increased its stock holding depth across the three key uncoated ranges, both in sheets and reels. Bespoke sizes and makings can also be supplied quickly from European mills, while the Conversion Co can cut down reels to a specified size within a couple of days.
For Antalis product manager Rob Chandler, the fall off in coated papers is also due to reducing run lengths in direct mail thanks to better targeting. He says: “This ability to produce personalised, targeted marketing has opened up the use of a greater range of papers. Print buyers and marketers are now starting to think more about the substrate they are selecting, where the features of an uncoated substrate may offer an extra dimension to their printed collateral, which in turn, could increase reaction rates and ROI.
“Product development and technical innovation has also contributed to the growing appeal of uncoated papers in recent years. The processes involved in paper making have become more sophisticated resulting in improved quality and enhanced surfaces for uncoated substrates.”
The transition from coated to uncoated has been helped by improvements in the quality of the paper. The finish is smoother and more consistent, helping its printability. The continued demand for office papers has also fed into improvements for offset papers. Europe’s newest papermill, the Soporcel mill in Portugal, is conceived around this demand, capable of 2 million tonnes a year. The papers are smoother and thanks to the combination of fibre types are optimised to printing. Other producers have had to improve in order to stay abreast.
Matthew Elliott, managing director of EBB, says that over the last 18 months demand for uncoated has climbed. “The quality has improved with a much better finish on these papers and designers like the uncoated finish for for corporate material. It stands for quality much more than a silk or coated paper. And as the papers have improved we are stocking a bigger range, with Horizon and Vision as the main grades.”
Another factor that underpins the drive towards uncoated papers comes from improvements in press and prepress technology. The curves for uncoated papers need to be opened to compensate for the increased dot gain. “And the papers have improved,” says designer Simon Esterson. “It started with Arctic Munken and other Arctic papers. Now UPM Fine is a good sheet as is Fedrigoni’s Arcoprint. Quite a few uncoated papers will now take serious four-colour printing. We have to bear in mind that the shadows will fill in, that the sheet is not reflective and there will still be more lift from a matt coated paper than an uncoated.”
The spread of uncoated papers has gone from high fashion into general purpose mail order catalogues for clothing, Boden being a prime example, and even into consumer magazines. Jamie’s Food was the first high end consumer magazine to adopt uncoated papers (“This is a food glossy magazine that isn’t,” says Esterson), while others, led by Monocle are using a combination of different papers. Text sits well on uncoated paper, while high gloss papers are used to emphasise strong photography with greater impact because of the contrast and that each element is using the surface best suited to it.
Esterson is using this effect in the next issue of Eye magazine where he is using three stocks: Munken, Arctic Volume and Condat Gloss with a gloss varnish to highlight the images still further.
Eye is printed at Pureprint where the combination of Indigo digital presses and Heidelberg litho presses provides the firepower to cope with a wide range of demands from designers, corporates, agencies and publishers. And it has been printing on uncoated across the technology for some time. “Designers are looking to make print more interesting,” says development director Richard Owers. “They are looking to create a tactile piece of communication so are looking at alternative papers. When they see a job with good colour printed on an uncoated paper, it inspires others to try.”
It requires discipline from Pureprint. Total ink coverage is kept below 300% compared to the 340-350% it is prepared to run on coated materials; the tone curves are adjusted on the platesetter and the sheet is coated inline on press. “We have developed some bespoke coatings for printing on uncoated papers,” he says. “That has been key to our success and means that the sheets are pretty trouble free in running. An alternative approach would be to use fast oxidising inks, it’s a question of practice and investment in development.”
Most customers will want as high an impact as possible Owers explains. “We show a client samples of printing on different sheets at different price levels. In a recent example, the customer chose the most expensive paper because of the result that this would produce, so the choice is not necessarily price driven. And this is something that we are finding more and more.”
On the special projects side, either litho or digitally printed, the demand for uncoated papers has helped increase sales and GF Smith and Fedrigoni’s UK presence. Both are constantly reviving ranges or bringing different uncoated papers to market which offer a different texture or shade, aiming at just this type of discerning customer.
Another of the printers with extensive experience on uncoated papers is Evolution Print from Sheffield. “Uncoateds are definitely much more in vogue,” says director Graham Congreve. “Arts associations, public authorities and educational institutions are all specifying uncoateds. They are not always the best choice however. A job for the Royal College of Art would have been messed up by printing on uncoated papers, the photography would not have been effective, the colours would have spread and details would have been lost.”
The company has worked with Heidelberg on getting the optimum set up on its XL presses to print on uncoated while coating in line to overcome some of the drying issues. One impact that can be overlooked is that the coating over white paper will be absorbed into the fibres, sitting on top of the surface only where there is ink. In short the coating has minimal impact on the tactile impact of the paper, unlike on a matt coated where the coating will sit on the surface of the paper and must sit between the readers’ fingers and the paper’s surface.
Now the opportunity being opened by UV printing in the commercial sector will remove this issue and open the way to greater use of uncoated papers with printers confident that the current compromises will be pushed to one side, at least to some extent. Esterson says he has seen samples from Cassochrome in Belgium which was the first in Europe with Komori’s H-UV technology. “I’m looking forwards to being able to do a proper comparison with standard and UV printing,” he says.
It will bring digital and litho closer together, digital toner having the advantage currently. “Digital printing is a huge growth area for us,” says Gallego. “People will want to use the same papers to achieve consistency across what they print.”
Matthew Elliott, managing director of EBB, says that over the last 18 months demand for uncoated has climbed. “The quality has improved with a much better finish on these papers and designers like the uncoated finish for for corporate material. It stands for quality much more than a silk or coated paper. And as the papers have improved we are stocking a bigger range, with Horizon and Vision as the main grades.”
Another of the printers with extensive experience on uncoated papers is Evolution from Sheffield. “Uncoateds are definitely much more in vogue,” says director Graham Congreve. “Arts associations, public authorities and educational institutions are all specifying uncoateds. “They are not always the best choice however. A job for the Royal College of Art would have been messed up by printing on uncoated papers, the photography would not have been effective, the colours would have spread and details would have been lost.”
There has been growth in the uncoated sector as this is much better suited to digital printing than coated and there is a desire also to match output across the different substrates. Mandy Gallego of Paperlinx UK says: “We’ve certainly seen an increase in uncoated woodfrees, with the biggest growth in narrow web reels for continuous feed inkjet printing for work that previously might have been produced on litho presses and coated papers. As there has been no credible coated paper for inkjet, customers have to use uncoated papers. “And in high end fashion collateral there is growth because these customers are looking for the natural feel and tactile element for their brochures. Because of price pressure they want an alternative to recycled. In direct mail, uncoated papers with a higher bulk can save on postage.”
Pureprint has a combination of Indigo digital presses and Heidelberg litho presses provides the firepower to cope with a wide range of demands from designers, corporates, agencies and publishers. And it has been printing on uncoated across the technology for some time. “Designers are looking to make print more interesting,” says development director Richard Owers. “They are looking to create a tactile piece of communication so are looking at alternative papers. When they see a job with good colour printed on an uncoated paper, it inspires others to try.” It requires discipline from Pureprint. Total ink coverage is kept below 300% compared to the 340-350% it is prepared to run on coated materials; the tone curves are adjusted on the platesetter and the sheet is coated inline on press. “We have developed some bespoke coatings for printing on uncoated papers,” he says. “That has been key to our success and means that the sheets are pretty trouble free in running. An alternative approach would be to use fast oxidising inks, it’s a question of practice and investment in development.”
