Silkscreen Printing for Leather Goods

How this item is used on the line

Fotoset has been printing since 1983 and is run by Santanu Roy. Work for leather goods is a standing part of the plant's output, and silkscreen printing is produced as a repeat item rather than a one-off. That matters when the second and third runs have to sit next to the first without a visible difference.

In leather goods, silkscreen printing is used for work of this kind:

• Opaque white base printed under colour on clear polyester labels
• Metallic gold and silver panels on hang tags and cartons
• Fluorescent high-visibility panels on safety and PPE printed matter
• Scratch-resistant marking on plastic components and rigid sheets

In this sector the printed set around the product usually includes the following, and Fotoset can supply all of it on one order rather than leaving the buyer to co-ordinate three suppliers:

• Hang tags on kraft or uncoated board, often die-cut to a leather or shield shape
• Swatch and material cards stating hide, tannage and finish
• Care and conditioning sheets packed with the product
• Rigid and folding boxes for gift and retail presentation

What we normally run

Size and format range: From small labels to large-format sheets. Sheet size range confirmed against the specific screen bed at quotation. Kraft board 300 to 350 GSM is common, unlaminated, so the tag has the same matt hand as the leather.

Printing is by sheet-fed offset for process and spot colours, with silkscreen used where an opaque white, a metallic or a fluorescent is specified. Both processes are in the same building, so a combination job runs without moving the sheet.

• Screen preparation, mesh selection and stencil exposure in-house
• One colour per pass, with drying between passes
• Ink adhesion tested on the actual substrate before the production run

What the material has to survive

• Art and duplex board of all weights
• Polyester, polypropylene, PVC and clear films
• Laminated and varnished surfaces where ink adhesion must be tested first
• Rigid sheets and formed plastic parts

Every finishing operation this item needs happens in-house: lamination, coating, die-cutting, creasing, punching, eyeletting and packing. Sheets are not sent out between operations, which removes the most common cause of delay and of damage on a silkscreen printing job.

• Overprint varnish and UV curing
• Combination work: offset base with silkscreen highlight on the same sheet
• Die-cutting and creasing after printing

Compliance and labelling considerations

Fotoset prints the marks and declarations supplied by the customer and does not alter them. Artwork is checked before plate-making and any mark that will not reproduce cleanly is queried in writing. For leather goods, the content that commonly appears on this item includes:

• Material declaration distinguishing genuine leather from split, bonded and coated finishes
• Country of origin marking
• CE marking where the item is classified as protective equipment
• REACH-related declarations supplied by the customer and printed as given
• Recycling marks on the packaging

Languages

English is standard, with German, French, Spanish and Italian added for European retail. Indian domestic supply adds Hindi and Bengali.

Ordering pattern

• European buying cycles drive orders ahead of spring and autumn ranges
• Gifting seasons generate rigid box and presentation packaging runs
• Trade fair sample sets are ordered at short notice

Preparing artwork

• Press-ready PDF, version 1.4 or later, with 3 mm bleed on all four sides and crop marks outside the trim.
• Native Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW files accepted, with fonts converted to outlines and linked images embedded.
• Images at 300 dpi at final printed size. Line art and barcode artwork supplied as vector wherever possible.
• Colour built in CMYK. Spot colours called out by Pantone reference in the file and in the purchase order.
• Die line supplied on a separate named layer, in a spot colour set to overprint, not on the artwork layer.