Packaging Materials & Printing

Choosing the Right Material for Your Packaging

Most packaging decisions come down to three questions: how much does the product weigh, how far does the box have to travel, and what should it feel like when a customer picks it up. Everything below - stock, caliper, print process, coating - follows from those answers. This page is the full reference our team works from, so you can specify a box precisely instead of guessing at a quote.

If you would rather skip the detail, send us the product dimensions and weight and we will recommend a build. Every quote includes a free dieline and a 3D proof before anything goes to press.

Paperboard Stocks

Cardboard (SBS folding carton board)

The default for retail cartons. We stock it from 12pt to 24pt, where a point is a thousandth of an inch of caliper - 12pt is roughly 230 gsm, 18pt around 350 gsm, and 24pt about 450 gsm. It has a bright clay-coated print surface, so photographic artwork and fine type reproduce cleanly. Coated one side (C1S) is standard and leaves the interior uncoated; coated two sides (C2S) costs more and is worth it when the box opens flat and the inside is part of the presentation.

As a rule of thumb: 12-14pt for lightweight items under about 4 oz, 16-18pt for most cosmetics and supplements, 20-24pt where the carton has to resist crushing on a shelf. Going heavier than the product needs adds material cost and shipping weight without adding perceived quality.

Kraft

Unbleached brown board, FSC-certified and fully recyclable, in the same 12pt to 24pt range. Kraft reads as natural and unprocessed, which is why it dominates organic, refill, and sustainability-led lines. The trade-off is colour: you are printing onto a warm brown ground, so light inks sit down into it, whites do not appear unless you add a white underlayer, and photographic images lose contrast. Kraft is at its best with one or two spot colours, line art, and foil. See our eco-friendly packaging boxes for the styles we build in it most often.

Corrugated

Two liners with a fluted medium glued between them, which is what makes it stiff enough to ship. Flute size is the variable that matters:

• F-flute (about 0.8mm): thin enough to print like a folding carton, stiff enough to protect. Small retail-ready shippers.
• E-flute (about 1.5mm): the usual choice for mailer boxes and subscription packaging. Good print surface, real crush resistance.
• B-flute (about 3mm): heavier protection for bulkier or heavier goods, and the standard for floor and counter displays that must hold their own weight.

Corrugated is what we build mailer boxes and retail display boxes from.

Rigid board

Greyboard from 1.5mm to 3mm, wrapped in a separately printed paper. It does not fold flat - it arrives assembled - and it is the most expensive option per unit, but nothing else delivers the same weight in the hand or the same crisp edge. Reserve it for premium lines where the packaging is part of the product: perfume, spirits, high-end electronics, luxury gift boxes.

Printing

We print full-colour CMYK on every stock. For brand colours that must match exactly across reprints - and CMYK cannot reliably hit corporate reds, oranges, or deep blues - we print those as Pantone (PMS) spot inks, mixed to the swatch rather than built from process screens.

Offset litho is our standard process. It sets up with plates, so there is a fixed cost per job that amortises across the run: the more you order, the less each box costs. Digital printing skips plates entirely, which makes it the better economics on short runs and the only sensible way to produce variable artwork such as numbered editions or several SKUs inside one order. We do not charge plate or setup fees on either process.

Interior printing is available on all styles. It is the cheapest premium cue there is - a printed inside panel costs a fraction of a foil treatment and is the first thing a customer sees when the box opens.

Lamination and Coatings

• Matte lamination: a thin film that diffuses light. Reduces glare, mutes colour slightly, and gives a smooth modern surface. The safe default for most retail work.
• Gloss lamination: the same film with a reflective finish. Deepens dark colours and makes photography pop, but shows fingerprints on solid dark panels.
• Soft-touch: a matte film with a velvet coating over it. The most tactile finish we offer and the one customers comment on. Worth knowing: it scuffs more visibly than standard matte on large dark solids, so it suits designs with lighter or broken-up panels.
• Aqueous coating: a water-based seal rather than a film. Less protective and less tactile than lamination, but recyclable in ordinary paper streams and cheaper - the right call on high-volume food and secondary packaging.

Specialty Finishes

• Spot UV: gloss varnish applied to selected areas only. Its whole effect comes from contrast, so it works over matte lamination and is largely wasted over gloss.
• Foil stamping: metallic foil pressed into the board with a heated die, in gold, silver, rose gold, copper, or holographic. Because it is a physical die rather than ink, it holds a crisp edge on logos and rules but loses fine detail below roughly 1pt line weight.
• Embossing and debossing: raising or recessing an area with a sculpted die. Debossing suits kraft and uncoated stock, where the impression reads clearly without ink. Blind embossing - no ink or foil at all - is the most restrained premium cue available.
• Die-cut windows: an aperture cut into a panel, usually backed with clear PET film. PET is the recyclable choice; leaving the window open costs nothing and suits bakery and produce packaging where the product should breathe.

Box Styles

• Straight tuck end: both flaps fold from the same direction. The standard folding carton - fast to hand-assemble, cheapest to produce, right for most light retail products.
• Reverse tuck end: flaps fold from opposite directions. Slightly more economical on material, marginally less refined on the front panel.
• Auto-bottom (1-2-3 bottom): a pre-glued base that snaps square as the box is opened. Costs more per unit and pays for itself immediately in fulfilment labour, and it carries heavier products without the base blowing out.
• Sleeve and tray: two pieces - a printed outer sleeve over a drawer-style tray. The slowest to fill and the best unboxing.
• Mailer (roll end tuck front): corrugated, self-locking, no tape needed. Built to survive a carrier network rather than a shelf.
• Counter and floor displays: corrugated structures with printed headers, designed to hold a set number of facings upright at point of sale.

Our full structural range is organised by box style and by industry.

Custom Sizes and Dielines

Every box we make is built to the product, not chosen from a catalogue of stock sizes. Measure your product at its widest point in each axis and give us the dimensions as length x width x depth. All our dielines are drawn to internal dimensions - the usable space inside - so you do not have to work out board thickness allowances yourself.

Leave 1-2mm of clearance per axis for anything rigid, more if the product is soft-sided or if you are adding an insert. If you are not sure, send the product specification and we will work the tolerances out. Our team draws the dieline and renders a 3D proof at no charge, whether you supply print-ready artwork or want us to design from scratch. For a longer explanation of how dielines work, see our guide on what a dieline is in packaging and printing.

How to Order

1. Request a quote. Tell us the box style, dimensions, stock, quantity, and any finishes. Pricing comes back within 24 hours.
2. Approve the proof. We send a dieline and 3D proof, usually within one business day. Revisions are free and unlimited.
3. Production. 10-15 business days from approval, or 8-10 on a rush order.
4. Delivery. Ships flat-packed - rigid boxes excepted - free to any address in the USA.

Minimum order is 100 units per style. There are no die charges, plate fees, or setup costs at any quantity, and volume pricing starts at 500 units. Request a free quote or contact our team if you want to talk a build through first.