Hi-Lite Making Your Print Stand Out

Hi-Lite — A Premium Finish, Without the Plastic

Most print that needs to look and feel premium ends up laminated. A plastic film is applied after printing — either gloss, silk or matt — to protect the surface and give it that finished quality. It works, but it comes with baggage: laminates aren’t recyclable, they add cost, they require an extra process (usually offsite), and every sheet that goes through that process has to travel to get there and back.

Hi-Lite does something different.

It’s a finish we’ve developed in-house on our Komori press, using the fifth colour unit and inline coater. The coating reticulates as it cures — drawing back on itself to create a distinctive textured surface that catches the light and feels genuinely tactile. The result is a piece that looks and feels premium without a scrap of plastic involved.

An Alternative to Offline UV and Lamination

Offline UV varnish is the other route many printers take for a high-end surface finish — but it means a separate machine, a separate pass, and often a separate supplier. That adds time, cost, and another vehicle journey into the process.

Hi-Lite is inline. It happens on the press, in the same pass as the print. No extra collection and delivery, no waiting for a slot at a trade finisher, no additional handling. Sheets come off the press finished and ready for the next stage.

Texture and Pattern as Part of the Design

This is where Hi-Lite goes beyond what a laminate can do.

Because the coating is applied through a printing unit, the texture isn’t just a uniform surface effect — it can follow a pattern. Leaves, geometric shapes, waves, a logo, a background texture — these can be printed as part of the design, so the reticulation only appears where you want it. The result is a piece with genuine depth: a textured element sitting on a colour that adds something a flat laminate simply can’t.

The images below show a few examples — different colours, different pattern designs, all produced on our Komori in a single pass alongside the print.

Why It Matters for the Environment

• No plastic film — Hi-Lite printed sheets are fully recyclable alongside standard board and paper
• No off-site processing — reduces transport and associated carbon
• Inline on an HUV press — our Komori uses significantly less energy than traditional UV presses, with no spray powders or alcohol
• Synthetic, mineral-oil-free ink — no VOCs, and excellent de-inkability for recycling

If sustainability is a factor in your packaging or print specification — and increasingly it is — Hi-Lite gives you the premium finish without the environmental trade-offs that come with plastic lamination.

Want to see it in person? We can send a sample pack — ask and we’ll get one out to you.