35 years experience and customer care, printing since 1992
all our plastic cards are proudly printed in England Proudly printed in England all our plastic cards are proudly printed in England
Tel 01948 411 867 Email: sales@cpcards.co.uk We aim to reply within 10 minutes 9-5 Mon-Fri

Our Full Colour Plastic Cards are Solid Plastic

They are not cheap imitations with a paper core.

Our cards won’t become dog eared or fall apart if wet.

We print your design onto a central PVC plastic sheet which is then bonded between two ultra clear sheets of PVC plastic to protect your printing. As it is then inside the plastic it cannot wear off over time.

the corner of a cheap plastic card peeling apart to show the white paper core inside it
Beware of cheap, low quality ‘plastic cards’ with a paper core. ALL our plastic cards are solid plastic.

If your order has barcodes, sequential numbering or personalisation then this is also printed inside the plastic, protecting them from wearing off — unlike cheaper, lower quality surface printed plastic cards.

The short version The printing on our full colour plastic cards is under the surface of the plastic, for maximum durability.

How a Solid PVC Card is Built

The three layers of a solid PVC plastic card A plastic card drawn taken apart into the three sheets it is made from, one above the other. The top sheet and the bottom sheet are both ultra clear PVC plastic. Between them sits the centre plastic core, printed on both sides in full colour CMYK. The three are bonded together into one solid card, so the printing ends up sealed inside the plastic rather than sitting on the surface. Ultra clear PVC plastic Centre core, printed both sides, CMYK Ultra clear PVC plastic Bonded together into one solid card — the printing ends up sealed inside.
  • Ultra clear PVC plastic. A clear sheet over the top of your printing, and another underneath it. This is the surface you actually touch, so wear happens here and not on your design.
  • Centre plastic core, printed both sides in full colour (CMYK). Your artwork — along with any barcodes, sequential numbering or personalisation — is printed onto this middle sheet of PVC.
  • Bonded into one solid card. The three sheets are pressed together, so the finished card is solid PVC the whole way through with your printing sealed inside it.

Why a Paper Core Fails

A cheaper ‘plastic card’ is often a paper card with a thin plastic laminate stuck to each side. It looks similar in a photograph and behaves nothing like it in a wallet.

  • The laminate lifts at the corners and the card goes dog eared.
  • Get it wet and the paper inside swells, so the card delaminates and falls apart.
  • Printing that sits on the surface, rather than under it, wears off — barcodes and numbering included.

A dog eared, peeling card is no longer doing the job you bought it for. Ours are solid PVC plastic all the way through.