Wholesale
We Love Working with Industry Professionals
We offer discounted pricing to clients approved as resellers. This includes industry professionals such as wedding/event planners, store proprietors, event venues, marketing/ad agencies, graphic designers, and more. Discounts apply to printed products only. Graphic design is provided, as needed, for standard pricing. Resellers are encouraged to provide press-ready artwork, considering the specs below. Contact us about becoming an approved reseller.
We value our wholesale client relationships greatly and encourage you, the reseller, to use mindful practices for a smooth working relationship. We are happy to help you better understand our printing processes, file considerations, payment terms, etc., just ask. The more you know, the better you can inform your client, set their expectations, and deliver a beautiful job that is above and beyond their hopes. Let’s work together!
Vector Files:
We prefer vector files for letterpress and foil stamping. It’s not as big a factor for offset or digital printing. A vector file must be created in vector-based design software, like Adobe Illustrator or Indesign. We accept these file formats: .PDF, .AI, .EPS, .INDD (for Indesign files, make sure to “package” all the links and fonts, and zip the entire folder, before sending. For Adobe Illustrator, make sure your document is in CMYK mode. Colors in artwork should be set to 100% of a Spot color, unless screens are desired. Create outlines on all fonts, or send font files with your artwork. Include at least 1/16” bleeds for artwork that prints to the edge. Contact us for further technical artwork questions.
Bitmap TIFF Files:
While vector artwork is highly preferred, we can produce letterpress plates with Bitmap files, typically created in Photoshop. In the Image Mode, select Bitmap, after the file is in Greyscale mode. Make sure the image resolution is at least 600dpi. For foil stamping, it is recommended to stick with vector artwork. Contact us for further technical artwork questions regarding bitmap files.
Design thoughts for our printing processes:
Letterpress Printing
Letterpress printing is great for text, line art, intricate patterns and fine details. We love the look of large solid ink areas, but with letterpress they may not print totally even and saturated, and will result in the iconic “salty” appearance. We tend to print with heavy impression, for the debossed effect, unless instructed otherwise. This may result in “show-through” to the reverse side of the paper, especially on thinner stocks. When using thin strokes, rules and frames in your designs, please keep line thicknesses to .35 pt if they are alone with space around them. If they are close to other artwork/text, they can be thinner. We mix all Pantone and custom ink colors in-house. Results are always best when printing on lighter-colored stocks, not light inks on dark papers, although metallic silver and gold inks can have good results on dark stocks.
Foil Stamping
Many of the design considerations for letterpress printing apply to foil stamping — please contact us to discuss how they relate to your project. Make sure to supply vector artwork for foil stamping. We use copper plates (dies) to transfer the foil leaf to the paper, with heat and impression. Our house foil colors are shown HERE. If you don’t see the foil color you need, we should be able to order it.
Offset and Digital Printing
We use metal printing plates for our offset printing. Make sure your files are set up the correct way, whether printing in Spot color or 4-color process. Contact us for specific instructions to set up your press-ready files. Here at Able we specialize in custom spot color ink mixing and printing. While we do print in 4-color process in-house, unless the quantity is above 1,000 sheets, your 4-color process job would most likely print digitally. Our digital printing is toner-based and produced on a new Xerox digital press, known for it’s increased color gamut. With digital printing, we don’t recommend printing on heavily textured paper, although some texture is okay. Darker inks and large solid areas will have a slight sheen.
Paper and Envelopes
We have an ever-growing love and history of paper types and weights, and have curated a small group to be our house collection. To receive samples of these papers or other papers not in our house collection, please Order a Sample Kit. In the Order Notes section, provide information as to what paper samples you’d like to see. To see our availability of envelopes, in our house cotton and select colors, download our Envelope Chart.