ASL Print FX Excels With Printing and Embellishments

The packagePRINTING Excellence Awards judges recognized ASL Print FX for its Kavi Reserve Coffee Blended Canadian Whisky label, awarding it with third place in Best of Show and first place in the Wine and Beer Labels: Flexo – Line and Text category. The Excellence Awards are designed to honor labels and packaging that exhibit a high level of technical expertise, but Helder Teles, ASL Print FX’s VP of sales and marketing, says helping customers build their brand is just as rewarding as being recognized for great printing.

“We’re really proud when we see the whole package come together and we can help a customer build a brand,” he says.

Teles explains that the brand approached ASL Print FX with specific elements that it wanted to include on the label. One of the key components was accentuating the fact that as a coffee blended whiskey, it has a particular flavor profile. To achieve that, ASL Print FX incorporated hot foil onto the “Coffee Blended” text portion of the label.

In addition to the foil, Teles says that at least 40% of the label features embossing or debossing, and one of the challenges was maintaining consistency in the embossing.

Teles says that after the label design was established, a stock with an integrated plastic film was chosen to help execute the heavy embossed and debossed design. Once production began, he says ASL Print FX had to pay close attention to the on-press execution as the high level of detail required tight registration. Teles says that the diecutting process was also challenging because of the number of small details lining the edges.

To print the label, ASL Print FX opted for its Gallus RCS 330 flexo press. An off-line Rhino foiling and embossing unit was used to achieve the required amount of detailed design.

Once the final product was printed, Teles says Kavi Reserve was “ecstatic.” “They had a vision and they saw the proofs,” he says. “But that doesn’t capture all of the detail. … We took it closer to their vision than they anticipated.”