The definition doesn’t appear in Websters, so you’re right to ask. And the answer we’re going to give you is that they are whatever you want them to be. Here’s roughly what we think after our 14 years making them:

• ~Jackets – Usually 4-panel and up, nice spine thick enough to hold print. The disc can be held with pockets or foam hub, basically anything but a tray - in which case we call it a traypak.

• ~Wallets- same thing. Sometimes people refer to wallets as bifold or trifold, and usually they don’t have spines?

• ~Sleeves?– In our minds these are usually 2pp (2 panel).

While we’re at it, how about covers? In our mind, covers are kind of representative of LP covers, which is a special style like a jacket with a thick spine and maybe an inner sleeve?

We don't actually mind what you call them.

Bottom line- you tell us what you want and we can do it. You don’t want to know how many variations of a 4pp jacket we have. Dozens and dozens and dozens….no kidding. We like to customize and think outside the box, so we do. Perish the thought of ordering one type off a catalog page that looks like everyone else's. Heavens, just tattoo a number on your forehead and get it overwith. We have tube pockets and slit pockets and slot pockets, thumbholes wide and deep and shallow, specially shaped guitar thumbholes, diagonal literature pockets, rounded pockets, squared pockets, invisible pockets, vertical pockets, flap pockets, and on and on and on.
We. have. lots. of. pockets.

All of our jackets, wallets, and sleeves are very Eco Friendly to start with. They don’t use any plastic. You can hold the disc with a foam hub or just use pockets (and you know, Best Beloved, that we have a huge variety of pockets, right? Don't forget the pockets. You musn't forget the pockets.) The paper stock is a wonderful recycled stock paper with 20% recycled content. And that’s our STANDARD stock. We should talk for a minute on recycled paper, but we’ll do that below. Just know that our STANDARD stock is more than most “recycled paper” stocks out there, which actually have just a teensy bit of recycle content in them.The papers come from FSC certified paper manufacturers, which means, Best Beloved, that they come from paper manufacturers that care.

The finish we prefer is generally aqueous as it’s earth friendly. We even have non-toxic shrinkwrap or can use tab seals to close the package too. We have magnetic closure, as well – surely magnetic are earth friendly? Ours are free range (as far as we know) though. So overall you already are using plastic alternatives, FSC paper with recycled paper with a fairly high percentage of recycled content, good earth friendly finishes, and sealing it in a responsible way– that’s good. You’ve made wonderful choices.

• - No plastic
  - Our Standard Stock = 20% Recycled Content, FSC certified
• - Our standard finish = aqueous, Earth Friendly -Non Toxic Shrinkwrap or shrinkwrap alternatives

Can they be *even* more Eco Friendly? Yes. For those who want to go one step farther along the Eco edge, we can do it. And we go there all the time.

Ah, we have additional eco-friendly features that you’re going to love. We’ve researched some special paper stocks that are even “eco-ier” than our Standard stock. And we can print with Soy Inks.

- Recycled Paper Stock (over 70-80% recycled content and post consumer waste)
- Fiberboard Paper Stock (contains recycled content, end of chain, pulp paper, and is unbleached)
- Soy Inks (vegetable inks)

If you are eco –conscious, you should be aware that many of the stocks out there that are promoted as “eco –friendly” and “recycled paper” stock, but they only contain a small percentage of recycled stock. Actually, all paper contains some amount of recycled stock, but it doesn’t seem fair to promote regular paper as suddenly being recycled paper. That’s a bit misleading, we feel.

Is there a standard? Well yes, the EPA set one. They say that recycled paper is defined as containing over 50% recycled content. So we feel that our Standard stock (even though it’s much higher percentage than proclaimed “recycled stocks”) doesn’t meet the criteria. We have a special stock of paper we do feel comfortable calling Eco,, and we call it Truly Eco. That’s our own name for it, but we feel it needs distinguishing from some stocks that do not meet the EPA criteria.

Our Truly Eco stock contains 70-80% recycled content, and the post consumer waste portion is about 80%. That’s very high in the industry! You can feel confident that this paper stock meets anyone’s criteria for being Eco. This level of recycled content does make the paper stock softer, so it may not be for every project. But if you are looking for Truly Eco – recycled paper that is truly eco and not just promoted as it, this is the way to go.

Sometimes clients ask us for 100% recycled content. We have ordered it and used it before, but we strongly discourage it as it is very soft. The point thickness can still measure high, but if the recycled content is too high, that paper is almost too “flimsy”.

Many of our clients also prefer a matte look to their projects. Recycled, uncoated is a great way to achieve that:

SEE ALSO MOLLY ZENOBIA FEATURED PROJECT

Fiberboard is another level of eco. It uses the end of the chain material – also called pulp – that can’t be used anywhere else and combines it together in a paperstock. The pulp nature gives the paper a texture – kind of fuzzy. The paper is unbleached, so it’s brownish, like kraft paper or a paper bag. Overall it has a very organic look to it, and this paper stock is what we think of first when clients tell us they want an organic look to their title. Because the paper stock is brownish, you need to remember that printing on it will affect our colors. If well thought out, this results in a nice muted tone.

SEE MAGIC MAMA UNDER FEATURED PROJECTS

We mentioned above that our papers are FSC certified. What does that mean? Forrest Stewardship Council means that they are involved in good practices that encourage longevity of the forests.

Not a problem. We carry soy inks and print with them frequently. They are less toxic overall – less processing involved in the manufacturing , less clean up environmentally, and easy on the degrading process. We haven’t seen any drawbacks to these yet. You can’t do a pantone match like Coca-Cola Red #xyz, but that seems to be fine to most folks. If you want to see how it’s coming out, we can send you a press proof.

We like to do aqueous as our standard finish. You can see from our product shots that it’s beautiful, and we feel good about less impact environmentally. Aqueous flood coats seal in the ink to keep it from smudging – printed packaging does need some form of sealing – and we think this is the most environmentally friendly one.

For our many of our eco oriented clients, it’s important to not use UV. UV coating is a plastic coating that is cured by UV light. It’s wonderful for certain effects (we use it on titles with special effects like spot UV gloss and matte lamination, absolutely stunning! ) but it doesn’t break down. So unless there’s a special effects need, we opt for aqueous floods. If you have a preference, let us know!

If you do want shrinkwrap, that’s ok. Our shrinkwrap is non toxic.
If you prefer to avoid shrinkwrap altogether, you might like a tab seal.
Example:

And we have one other unique form of closing that’s neither of the above - a magnetic closure!

This is our Moxie, a very popular Film Reel.

We started exploring eco options over ten years ago, long before other replicators and printers started reworking their web sites to make them look like environmental groups. We've worked very hard to find resources that met our and our clients’ criteria , and best of all – we’ve had lots of experience manufacturing with them. That’s why you see so many pictures of them on our site.

We like to make a good impact on the world, and our practices and features reflect that. Everyone has a different eco focus it seems (like how some folks prefer paper or plastic in grocery bags – both for god reasons) . With discs and packaging, for some it’s the paper, for some it’s the plastic, and for some it’s the chemicals and finishes. Rest assured that no matter what features you choose on your title, you’re already much further along the eco friendly scale than you would be other places.

It’s good to see the rest of the world becoming more eco conscious, but it would be better just if it weren’t just marketing hype, huh? Some of these clean footprints are looking pretty dirty to us. So we urge you to check the facts, and read the fine print. There’s eco marketing hype, and then there’s what we call truly eco.

No? Good. You musn't forget the pockets.
We. have. lots. of. pockets.

See FEATURED MOLLY, FEATURED MAGIC MAMA
Shop by Styles: ECO Friendly — Organic Look
Shop by Packaging: Jackets; Fiberboard Jackets
Shop by Packaging: Jackets – LP Style

Disc replication projects include CD or DVD manufacturing, printing, packaging, and assembly. Once we know what your spec is, we'll create the templates for your project and send them over to you.

Full Proofing is included — Replicated test discs (fully printed, glass mastered) and color matchprints for printed packaging. Be sure to check out our proofing process page to get a feel for what's involved.