Premium Finish · Gold Foil

Real gold foil business cards.

Actual metallic gold foil stamped into premium cotton or suede stocks. Real metallic foil. Three substrate options. The card people don't throw away.

From $1.20/card · 250 minimum · 2-week production
Real
Metallic foil
6
Gold tones
3
Substrates
2wk
Production
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Concepts in 48h · foil-ready
Configure · No. 01

Price your exact build.

Every option we offer. Price updates as you go.

Pricing · No. 02

What gold foil business cards actually cost.

Three popular tiers below cover most orders. The full 11-tier ladder is underneath. The more you order, the dramatically cheaper each card gets.

Entry
250 cards
$175
$0.70 / card
  • 32pt suede stock, gold foil
  • 2-week production
  • ~6 months supply for 40 cards/mo
Choose 250 →
Bulk
5,000 cards
$1,000
$0.20 / card
  • Best for event-driven businesses
  • Real estate farming, conference exhibitors
  • 87% cheaper per card vs 250-tier
Choose 5,000 →
Full price ladder
All six tiers. Base prices on 32pt suede + single-side gold foil. Substrate, finish, and effect upcharges are added on top in the calculator.
Quantity
Per-card
Per card
Total
100
$1.55
$155
250
$0.74
$185
500
$0.45
$225
1,000 Most popular
$0.28
$275
2,500
$0.20
$505
5,000
$0.20
$995
Prices in USD, before shipping and taxes. Free standard shipping on orders over $500 worldwide.
Configure your exact build →
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RReal metallic foil
3Substrate stocks
10kFoil cards / month
4.9Customer rating
What it is · A primer

What is gold foil stamping?

Real metal pressed into the card under heat and pressure. Not ink, not laminate, not printed gold.

Gold foil stamping is a printing technique where a heated metal die presses real metallic gold film into a paper or card surface, leaving a permanent metallic impression that cannot be replicated by ink or digital printing.

How it works · 4 steps

The cross-section, one frame at a time

01
SUBSTRATE Blank card

Card waiting

A blank card stock sits on the press bed. Cotton, suede, or sandwich — substrate matters as much as the foil.

02
250°F FOIL DIE + FOIL + SUBSTRATE

Die heats, descends

A custom metal die in the exact shape of your foil artwork is heated to 250°F. Foil film is fed between die and card.

03
Pressure FOIL FUSES, DEBOSSES

Foil fuses to substrate

Heat + pressure transfer the metallic layer of the film into the card, leaving a precise impression slightly depressed below the surface.

04
excess peels away FINISHED + TACTILE

Finished card

Die lifts. The non-foiled film peels away. What remains is a brilliant, permanent metallic shape with a tactile recess fingers can feel.

Why it matters · Foil vs printed gold

Real metal beats printed metallic. Every time.

Both arrive at "gold." Only one stays gold a year from now, when somebody picks up your card off a desk.

Recommended

Real foil stamp

Heated die fuses metallic film into the substrate

Gold foil · 12µ
  • Reflectivity★★★★★
  • Permanence10+ years
  • TactileYes · debossed
  • Cost (250 qty)from $175
Not what we do

Printed metallic ink

CMYK or Pantone "gold" ink laid down by a digital press

Pantone 871 C
  • Reflectivity★★
  • Permanence12–24 months · oxidises
  • TactileNo · flat
  • Cost (250 qty)from $50

The difference is real metal versus light-scattering pigment. A foil stamp reflects like a mirror; printed metallic ink scatters light the way matte yellow paint does — bright when fresh, dull within a year. If your card lives in a wallet for 18 months before someone picks it up again, that gap matters.

Three Substrates · No. 04

Stocks the foil sinks into.

The substrate matters as much as the foil. Foil on cheap stock looks cheap. These three are what we recommend for foil work.

32pt

Suede laminate

Velvety, fingerprint-resistant. Foil reads with strong contrast against the matte surface. Most-ordered for general business use.

  • Soft-touch coating
  • Both sides printable
  • Best for: agencies, consultants, creators
48pt

Cotton (white)

The traditional letterpress-grade stock. Foil sinks in slightly for a luxe debossed feel. The most premium-feeling option in our catalogue.

  • 100% cotton fiber
  • Off-white natural tone
  • Best for: weddings, founders, premium identity
48pt

Black core sandwich

Two sheets pressed around a coloured core, visible at the edge. Gold-on-black is the strongest visual combination in print.

  • Visible coloured edge
  • Edge-painted option available
  • Best for: bold brands, hospitality, retail
Compared · No. 05

Gold foil vs the alternatives.

Four other ways to get a gold visual on a card, and why foil still wins for premium work.

Technique Reflectivity Tactile Longevity Cost
Hot foil stamp (us)
Recommended
★★★★★ Real metal Deboss feel 10+ years From $1.20/card
Cold foil ★★★★ Real metal Flat 10+ years From $0.80/card
Raised UV (faux metallic) ★★ Reflective resin Raised 5+ years From $0.50/card
Printed metallic ink (Pantone gold) ★ Dull Flat 12–24 months (oxidizes) From $0.20/card
Digital CMYK gold Zero Flat Permanent From $0.10/card
Get a quote for your build →

Inkgility offers cold foil, raised UV, and printed metallic on request for cost-sensitive projects. But the gold cards customers reorder — and the cards that get photographed — are almost always hot-foil-stamped.

Buyer's guide · No. 06

How to choose, design, and order gold foil business cards.

Five tools, not five paragraphs. Use them in order and you'll never make a bad gold-foil decision.

Tool 01 · The decision

Should you order gold foil at all?

Three quick yes/no questions. We'll tell you honestly.

1 Is your brand priced at a premium — or aiming to be?
2 Do you hand cards to people who judge production quality?
Clients, investors, journalists, wedding couples, luxury retail buyers.
3 Will you reorder 250+ cards at least once a year?
0/3
Answer the questions to see your recommendation

Tool 02What makes premium look premium.

The foil itself is only part of the equation. Three substrate-and-finish choices determine whether your card reads luxury or tacky.

Rule 1 · Calm substrate, loud foil

Do: soft-touch laminate, uncoated cotton, suede.
Don't: glossy or coated stocks — the substrate competes with the foil for light.

Rule 2 · ~10% coverage, not 50%

Do: foil a logo, monogram, signature line.
Don't: full-coverage foil wastes the technique's strength and reads gaudy.

Aa
Aa

Rule 3 · Matte ink for the rest

Do: print body type in matte black or deep brand colour.
Don't: reverse to white on dark — the foil should be the brightest thing.

Tool 03Quantity strategy.

The 250-card minimum exists because die-setup is a fixed cost. After that, every additional card is cheap. Tell us how you use cards and we'll suggest a tier.

You'll need
300 cards
Recommended tier
500 · $200
Closest tier above what you need.
Use this tier in the calculator →

Tool 04Artwork requirements.

Foil layer format
Vector: AI / EPS / SVG, all type outlined
Non-foiled elements
High-res raster acceptable (300 dpi+ TIFF or PDF)
Stroke minimum
0.5pt. Thinner strokes won't register cleanly.
Type minimum
8pt sans-serif, 10pt serif. Avoid fine serifs at small sizes.
Colour mode
CMYK or Pantone. Submit RGB and we'll convert — but colours shift.
Bleed & safe zone
0.125" bleed, 0.125" safe zone inside trim

Tool 05Common mistakes we catch.

Our prepress team flags these before production. Knowing them up front saves a proof revision round.

×
Foil layer set as a CMYK colour swatch
Separate spot colour layer, labelled "Foil"
×
Foil overlapping printed ink areas
Design foil and ink as non-overlapping zones
×
RGB artwork submitted as final
Submit CMYK or supply a Pantone match for brand colours
×
Live fonts embedded, not outlined
Outline all text in the file you send, especially the foil layer
×
Quoting clients before checking the 250-card minimum
Set the floor in your first conversation
Photo of the Heidelberg press in action
Our foil press · Brooklyn, NY production floor
Behind the press · No. 07

The job we still talk about.

Last spring a wedding planner sent in artwork with a hairline gold-foil monogram — the kind we'd usually flag at prepress because the stroke was under our 0.5pt minimum. The designer was specific: she wanted it thinner than safe.

We ran a test plate on a single card. The deboss caught. The foil held. We printed her 500 cards exactly as she drew them. She sent us a photo three months later: every bride who'd received one had asked about the printer. Eleven new wedding clients in one quarter.

— Marcus, press operator since 2018

Meet the rest of the team →
How we make it · No. 08

From upload to your doorstep.

Five real steps. No surprises. Estimated timeline is conservative — we hit it 98% of the time.

DAY 1

Upload artwork

Vector AI/EPS/SVG for the foil layer. Anything raster acceptable for non-foiled elements.

DAY 2–3

Prepress review

Human eyes on every file. We flag thin strokes, low-contrast areas, registration risks.

DAY 4–5

Die cut + proof

Custom magnesium die cut for your foil shape. Digital proof PDF sent for sign-off.

DAY 6–12

Press run

Heated die stamps your foil onto every card, one at a time. QC at 100, 500, and final.

DAY 13–16

Ship to you

UPS Ground (3 days) included. 2-day air available. Tracking emailed at handoff.

Who orders these · No. 09

Industries that over-index on gold foil.

See pricing for your industry →
Built to last · No. 10

How long do foil cards last?

The short answer: a decade in a wallet, indefinitely in a box.

10+ years in use

The foil is fused to the substrate at 250°F under tons of pressure. It does not flake, peel, or oxidize. Cards stored in a leather card case, wallet, or business-card holder survive a decade of daily handling.

Fingerprint-resistant

Soft-touch and matte substrates do not show fingerprints on the non-foiled areas. Gold foil on a high-traffic logo position may pick up oils with daily handling — a microfiber wipe restores it.

Storage tips

Original box, room temperature, away from direct sunlight. Stack flat. Avoid plastic sleeves (PVC can react with foil over years); paper sleeves or open boxes are best.

Specs · No. 11

Sizes and weights, to scale.

Useful before you commit. Side-by-side proportional comparisons of every size and thickness we print.

Regional card sizes

All four sizes shown at the same scale. Most clients pick US/CA unless they're shipping to a specific region.

US / Canada 3.5" × 2.0" · 89 × 51 mm Base price
Credit Card 3.375" × 2.125" · 86 × 54 mm +from $5
UK / Western Europe 3.346" × 2.165" · 85 × 55 mm +from $8
South America / Oceania 3.543" × 1.968" · 90 × 50 mm +from $5

Paper weight comparison

Side-by-side cross-sections, scaled proportionally. 18pt feels like a postcard; 50pt feels like a coaster.

18pt · 490 gsm Standard cardstock Base
20pt · 540 gsm Ultra thick +from $15
34pt · 920 gsm Double-layered (cotton sandwich) +from $30
50pt · 1350 gsm Triple-layered (black-core sandwich) +from $55
Glossary · No. 12

Foil printing terms, defined.

The vocabulary that comes up when you're spec'ing a foil-stamped card. Bookmark this.

Foil stamping
A printing technique where a heated metal die presses metallic film into the substrate, leaving a permanent metallic impression.
Die
A custom-cut metal stamp (usually magnesium or copper) shaped to your artwork. Each foil design needs its own die.
Deboss
An impression pressed into the substrate without adding foil or ink, creating a recessed shape. Foil stamping creates a slight deboss as a side effect.
Substrate
The paper or card stock onto which the foil is stamped. The substrate matters as much as the foil for the final look.
Edge paint
Coloured paint applied to the cut edges of a thick card stock. Often combined with foil for a luxe, finished look.
GSM
Grams per square metre. Standard paper-weight measurement. A typical business card is 300–400 GSM; premium foil cards run 540–920 GSM.
Pantone
A standardised colour-matching system. Used to specify exact brand colours that survive translation between screen, print, and foil.
Vector
Scalable artwork built from mathematical paths (AI, EPS, SVG). Required for the foil layer because rasters lose edge sharpness when scaled.
Hot foil vs cold foil
Hot foil uses a heated die to fuse foil to the substrate (luxe, tactile, what Inkgility uses). Cold foil uses adhesive and pressure, no heat (cheaper, flat).
Registration
The alignment of foil to printed ink layers. Tight registration is what separates premium printers from cheap ones.
Questions · No. 13

Gold foil FAQ.

What's the minimum order?

250 cards. The die setup cost makes smaller runs uneconomical for both of us — but 250 is enough to last most professionals 6–12 months.

How long does production take?

Two weeks from approved proof, standard. Rush is available (one week, +30%). Shipping adds 2–4 business days depending on destination.

Can foil be edge-painted too?

Edge paint and foil stamp are different processes — both available, often combined. Gold foil + matching gold edge paint on black-core sandwich stock is our most-photographed combination.

What artwork do you need?

Vector artwork (AI, EPS, or SVG) for the foil-stamped elements. Raster (high-res TIFF or PDF) is acceptable for any printed elements that aren't foiled. Our prepress team checks every file before production.

Can you ship foil cards internationally?

Yes — to 50+ countries. International orders add 5–10 business days to delivery and require duty/tax confirmation at the destination. Production timeline is unaffected.

What happens if I'm not satisfied with the cards?

Reprint or refund. Inkgility offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee on every print order — if the cards don't match the approved proof or fall short of our quality standard, we reprint at no charge or refund in full.

Can my logo be foil-stamped if it has very fine lines?

Strokes thinner than 0.5pt may not register cleanly. Our prepress team reviews every file and will flag fine-line risks before production — usually with a recommendation to either thicken the strokes slightly or use a different finish for those elements.

Our standards
FSC® certifiedSustainable forestry paper
Carbon neutralVerified offset shipping
ISO 9001:2015Quality management certified
Soy-based inksLow-VOC, recyclable
100% reprintSatisfaction guarantee
SSL secure checkoutPCI-DSS compliant
Worldwide shipping · No. 14

Foil cards, shipped anywhere on Earth.

Same press. Same foil. Same quality. Whether you're in Brooklyn, Berlin, Bondi, or Bangalore, your cards arrive with tracking and a printed proof attached.

🇺🇸 🇨🇦
North America
2–5 days
New York · Los Angeles · San Francisco · Chicago · Atlanta · Houston · Boston · Seattle · Miami · Austin · Denver · Portland · Washington DC · Toronto · Vancouver · Montreal
🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇳🇱
UK & Europe
5–9 days
London · Manchester · Edinburgh · Dublin · Berlin · Munich · Hamburg · Paris · Lyon · Amsterdam · Rotterdam · Madrid · Barcelona · Rome · Milan · Stockholm · Copenhagen · Zurich
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇸🇬 🇯🇵 🇦🇪
Asia Pacific & Middle East
7–14 days
Sydney · Melbourne · Auckland · Tokyo · Singapore · Hong Kong · Seoul · Mumbai · Bengaluru · Delhi · Dubai · Abu Dhabi · Doha · Tel Aviv
🇧🇷 🇲🇽 🇿🇦
Latin America & Africa
9–16 days
Mexico City · Monterrey · São Paulo · Rio de Janeiro · Buenos Aires · Lima · Bogotá · Santiago · Cape Town · Johannesburg · Lagos · Nairobi
200+ countries delivered
All orders ship DDP* — we cover duties
Free tracked shipping over $500 worldwide

*DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) on orders over $500. Below that, recipient pays local taxes/duties at delivery.

Compared to competitors · No. 15

Inkgility vs the other foil printers.

We benchmarked our own offer against the four printers most often considered for premium foil business cards. Honest numbers, public sources.

Inkgility Premium online printer Specialty foil printer Boutique luxury printer Mass-market printer
Real hot-foil stampYesYes (limited)YesYesCold foil only
Foil thickness (micron)12µ10µ12µ12µ
Premium substrates3 (suede, cotton, black-core)25+41
Minimum order25050100100100
Starting price (250 cards)$175 / $0.70 per~$280~$200~$230~$110
Production time2 weeks (1-week rush)3–4 weeks10–14 days10–15 days5–10 days
Worldwide shippingEvery country UPS ships to (DDP)US/UK/EUWorldwideWorldwideUS/CA/EU
Live pricing calculatorYes (this page)NoNoNoPartial
100% reprint guaranteeYesYesYesYesLimited

Competitor pricing benchmarked at the 250-card, antique-gold, 32pt-stock equivalent configuration based on publicly listed prices as of Q2 2026. Production times from each vendor's published documentation.

See how your build compares →
Case studies · No. 16

What gold foil actually moved.

Three businesses, three substrate combos, three measurable outcomes.

What people say · No. 17

Customers on the gold cards.

★★★★★

"I switched my whole farming campaign to the gold foil on black-core. My buyer pipeline doubled in two quarters. People keep them on their fridge."

★★★★★

"Gold foil on cotton was the only card I considered for our wedding planning brand. Brides DM us asking where we got them made. We never tell."

★★★★★

"I was embarrassed handing out my old card. The foil on suede with the matte black ink is now the thing clients comment on. Worth every cent."

Join them — price your cards →
Related premium finishes · No. 18

Other ways to elevate a card.

Pearl, soft-touch, edge paint, NFC, metal — if foil isn't quite right, one of these probably is.

Iridescent shimmer
Pearl metallic
Subtle iridescent stock with pearl-luster pigment. Wedding-tier softness.
Velvety finish
Soft touch
Velvet suede laminate. Fingerprint-resistant. The everyday luxury choice.
Actual metal
Metal cards
Stainless steel, brushed brass, anodized aluminum. Etched, not printed.
Tap-to-share
NFC smart cards
Embedded NFC chip + foil-stamped luxury feel. Networking, evolved.
Coloured edge
Black core sandwich
Two sheets pressed around a black core. Best partner for gold foil.
All options
Browse all cards →
500+ materials, 39 shapes, 87 special finishes. The full catalogue.
Enterprise · 25,000+ cards

Need volume beyond the calculator?

Custom pricing, dedicated account manager, NET-30 terms, white-glove proofing. Average response: 4 business hours.

Ready when you are

Design with gold foil.

Open the Studio, pick a gold tone, drop in your wordmark, see a digital proof in 60 seconds.

No credit card · No commitment
Cancel anytime

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We typically reply in 2 hours
From $1.20/card
250-card min · 2-week production
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