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In 1999, fashion designer Hussein Chalayan sent his models down the catwalk in outfits made entirely of paper, but that’s not where the connection between fashion and paper ends.

Creative paper is as much influenced by changing trends as the fashion industry, and its resulting fickle nature means that if manufacturers and merchants want their portfolios to succeed, they need to produce fresh and innovative stocks as fast as Topshop churns out new clothes.

Merchant Robert Horne claims to stock the largest range of creative paper products in
the UK, and is constantly in search of the ‘new black’ of creative paper (or perhaps the new white).

As designers’ demands are constantly changing, Horne’s specification team provides advice and sourcing expertise to designers and specifiers.

“We feel duty-bound to not keep showing the same stuff,” says Robert Horne Group communications director Philippa Charlton. “We take our creative paper very seriously, and I think any merchant that wants to stock a successful range has to, or get left behind.”

Divine designs
To emphasise its commitment to creative paper, manufacturer Arjowiggins appointed Parisian paper designer Emeric Thibierge as its art director last year.

“We employed him to make paper an essential part of the creative act and to ensure we keep well ahead of trends and demand,” says James Dudney, marketing communications manager at Arjowiggins UK.

Meanwhile, Robert Horne’s current muse is ‘Stephen’, a recycled grade in “rustic, earthy browns and sultry greys”. Stephen exemplifies this season’s trend, which is a reflection of the current eco-mania grasping Britain, where designers are looking for rough grades in muted tones.

James McNaughton’s Tony Porter says last year’s explosion of eco-awareness had a huge impact on designers’ demands.

“Creatives are now talking all the time about FSC and recycling,” he says, which means ordinary-looking products are in vogue, so long as they are 70-100% recycled. McNaughton’s Take 2 range is such an example. “It’s environmentally friendly without sacrificing the quality designers are after.”

In the past, designers hankered after colour, iridescence and translucence – the more weird and wonderful the better, but the consistent popularity of Arjowiggins’ Curious range shows that, despite new demand for muted palettes, eye-catching paper is unlikely to fade.

Curious has a wide portfolio of metallics and “tactile” papers, including Soft Touch, which Charlton compares to a velvety peach, and Wet Touch, which she describes as the first “silent paper” because it has a fluid, rather than crisp texture.

“These reflect a demand for tactile products in the interior and fashion industries,” she says.

According to Dudney, Curious Metallics’ latest shades reflect “current trends in the world of fashion and luxury packaging” and “metallic and masculine colours on the catwalk”.

He adds: “There will be a continued demand for metallic colours, which means fiery golds, along with glazed finishes, will be widespread.” Dudney predicts the popularity of pastels and pearls this year, adding that natural and matt are still likely to dominate.

Porter agrees that merchants are at the mercy of trends, but believes these are dictated by more than just fashion. “Trends are also for downgrading quality to fit clients’ ever-tightening budgets. There are products on the markets that can do the same job for less money. Because of technology in print, you can get lots more colour on uncoated. In days gone by, silk presented a challenge, but now our sales reflect the change, with 20% sales on gloss and 80% on silk.”

Arjowiggins’ Dudney agrees, and adds that printers, as well as designers, can influence trends.

“The use of creative papers with special finishes, which in the past were generally only available for use on conventional offset printing, will be an increasingly important trend in digital printing.”

Practical solutions
However, although ideal, constantly introducing new stock is expensive for both mills and merchants. Stocking a whole range of high-purchase papers, only to sell them at a slow rate to niche customers, is not cost-effective.

In response, McNaughton has introduced The Mix, a bespoke service where designers can decide exactly what they want – colour, finish, one- or two-sided – before ordering a one-tonne minimum.

Porter explains: “We don’t keep stocks, and the designers don’t have to be limited in their choice. Plus, the paper mills are happy to make a tonne. You’ve only got to look at the number of speciality paper mills closing down to see a bespoke service is the answer.”

Last November, fashion designer Zoe Bradley used Curious Metallics to craft a paper dress as part of Channel Five’s programme Make Me A Supermodel, proving that paper may be at the mercy of catwalk trends, but sometimes paper can inspire fashion too. And so long as the creative paper sector does not fall victim to fashion, but remains fashionable on a budget, its future looks promising.

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STEPHEN
Company Robert Horne
Stock 100-350gsm
Launched January 2007
Produced Scotland
Market promotional print

Stephen is the latest launch from Robert Horne. It is being promoted as a “paper with personality”. Its marketing campaign has been low-key to reflect its nature, using a classified ad that says: “When you get that dream job, Stephen wants to come too”. It is uncoated and described by Horne as having a “toothy” and tactile finish. It has environmental credentials: Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF), FSC-certified, recycled content 20% post-consumer waste, 30% pre-consumer waste. It is laser guaranteed 100-140gsm for mono and colour outputs and is made in Scotland by an ISO 14001 certified mill. It is available in a range of eight contemporary colours, including two whites, two greys, two browns, a blue and a green and it comes in a range of grammages from 100gsm to 350gsm.

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FINESSE
Company UPM
Stock Coated woodfree
Launched January 2002
Produced UPM Nordland Papier, Germany, UPM Kymi, Finland, UPM Changshu, China (for the Asian market).
Market magazine publishing

These coated woodfree papers come with a variety of finishes, including gloss, matt, silk and premium silk, and are available in a wide range of sheets and reels. According to UPM, the paper’s advanced technical properties bring cost savings. It can be used in a range of print applications, including heatset, web offset, gravure and sheetfed, and comes in weights from 60 to 350gsm. Finesse is targeted at the publishing sector, as well as high-end brochures and marketing materials. UPM has spent some time looking at how various finishing techniques look on the paper range. In January, it released a series of ‘Printing and Paper Workbooks’ to demonstrate how various printing, finishing and varnishing techniques looked on Finesse art papers. The workbooks were targeted at designers and follow the True Life! marketing campaign of 2005.

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TAKE 2 SILK/OFFSET
Company James McNaughton Group
Stock 75% recycled silk coated
Launched 2005
Market Commercial print

Take 2 Silk is the latest addition to the Take 2 range. Exclusive to James McNaughton, it is produced from 75% recycled fibre, is FSC-accredited and meets the archival standard of DIN 6738. Available in sizes from 115-300gsm, it is ideal for the full-colour printing of promotional material, brochures and reports. Being matt coated, McNaughton recommends the use of high-rub resistant inks to stop marking, and that the job be sealed. Silk is marketed at designers as delivering “outstanding levels of smoothness, runnability and printability”. Also in the Take 2 range is Offset, which is made from 100% recycled fibre and sourced only from post-consumer waste. It has been specially developed to deliver the appearance and performance of any virgin fibre product, without compromising on sound environmental credentials.

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CURIOUS METALLICS
Company Arjowiggins
Stock From 120gsm
Launched 1997
Produced Stoneywood paper mill, Aberdeen
Market promotional print and corporate stationery

Arjowiggins calls it the “world’s most innovative range”. While there are strong sales of the Curious Collection as a whole, Curious Metallics is becoming the industry standard. It was launched in 1997 in the lead up to the millennium, when there was a movement towards classic ‘metal’ colours such as silver and gold, which have now become the black and white of the metallic paper industry. Four new shades – Cappuccino, Caramel, Ice Silver and Purple Haze – take the range to 24 colours in a variety of weights and sheet sizes. In addition to the new shades, the metal and iridescent ranges are being merged to simplify the design and print process. Others in the Curious Collection include the tactile Curious Touch range, the Wet and Soft grades, and the bendy Curious Plastics Mellow.