Solutions Showcase: Covering All the Possibilities
When a title requires extra durability—as in the case of children’s books, manuals and cookbooks—Arjobex North America offers Polyart, a synthetic paper resistant to water, grease, most chemicals and tearing. “The most popular [Polyart] application is for manuals used in hazardous environments, or [that] are subject to prolonged exposure to the elements,” explains Bruce Gordon, sales and marketing coordinator, Arjobex North America. “Hence, federal and state agencies—especially the military—are prime end-users for manuals printed on synthetic materials.”
For a cloth cover where durability is a must, too, publishers can consider a substrate like LBS’ Buckram—a polycotton blend finished with an acrylic coating, making it the strongest cloth in the industry, according to the supplier.
It was an ICG/Holliston-supplied product—Pearl Linen—that was chosen by Hyperion for the cover of “A Family Christmas” by Caroline Kennedy, intended to be a coffee-table-quality, treasured keepsake. Pearl Linen is made of 100-percent cotton, coated with a double-sided, aqueous filling that makes it particularly amenable to specialty finishing processes—foil stamping, for example.
Luxurious Leathers
Nothing says, “This book is valuable,” like leather, and it’s one of the more durable cover materials available.
Today, there are a slew of leather and leather-simulated products on the market. Cromwell Leather Group is known for its genuine-leather cover materials, but the manufacturer also offers four brands of bonded leathers—Taratan, Taratan II, Excel-Tan and Eurobind—that are designed to rival their genuine-leather counterparts in touch and scent.
WingWing America Inc. manufactures Siduce, composed of 100-percent pulp and coated with a polyurethane, making it feel just like the real thing. And, simulating kidskin leather, Cover Material Sales’ CM Sedona 17 Cover is an aqueous-coated premium material that’s resistant to moisture and stains.
The Special Treatment
Beyond the “traditional” cover materials—cloths and leathers, for example—there is a bountiful selection of specialty substrates available, as well.