The accurate description of van-der-Waals forces within density functional theory is currently one of the most active areas of research in computational physics and chemistry. In the case of soft layered materials such as graphite or boron nitride, the local density and generalised-gradient approximations fail to provide a satisfactory description of interlayer binding. We have explored the performance of the recently developed opt-vdW functionals on these layered compounds and find a very promising agreement with higher-level theory and available (yet surprisingly sparse) experimental data. We request time on TOSCA to perform high-resolution spectroscopic measurements on highly oriented graphite. Comparison with our first-principles calculations will provide a stringent benchmark to assess the suitability of these new vdW functionals in the description of soft layered materials.