Custom Compostable Boxes in Plain Kraft Board

Styles We Make in This Construction

The self-locking mailer is the most ordered style. The lid tucks into the front wall, the side flaps lock the ends, and the box arrives flat and folds up in a few seconds without tape. It suits clothing, skincare, candles, subscription contents and anything else that goes through the post in a parcel.

Roll end tuck top and crash-lock base cartons also close mechanically. The crash-lock base pops into shape when you open the box, which saves time on a packing bench, and the tuck top takes a paper seal label if you want the carton tamper-evident. For heavier goods, a regular slotted carton sealed with water-activated paper tape carries more weight than a mailer and stacks cleanly on a pallet.

Product cartons for the shelf are made from folding boxboard rather than corrugated, printed and left uncoated or finished with a water-based varnish. They sit alongside the kraft product boxes with your logo in our range and take the same open-window and embossed finishes.

Print and Finish Without a Laminate

Natural kraft gives everything printed on it a warm, slightly muted look. One-colour black or white on kraft is the classic and the cheapest. Two colours give you a logo colour plus text. If you need an accurate brand colour or photographic print, white-top kraft or a litho-laminated white liner is the better base, and the result is bright without any gloss film.

Texture comes from the board rather than from a coating. Embossing and debossing press the logo into the surface and read well under the fingers. A printed inside, where the inner face carries a pattern or a message, is revealed when the customer opens the lid and adds a lot of impact for very little cost.

Water-based varnish is the one finish we do add on request. It is a thin, clear coat that gives mild scuff protection on white board and is specified as such on the quote. We never add a film laminate to these boxes, so if you need a deep gloss or a metallic effect, a different product from the full-colour printed box range will serve you better.

Sizing, Inserts and Protection

A box without foam fillers relies on fit. Measure the product in its packed state, including tissue or an inner bag, and allow 3 to 5 mm on each dimension so it slides in without being loose. Where several items ship together, a folded card divider keeps them apart and stops rattling, and a moulded pulp tray holds bottles and jars upright.

Flute choice does the structural work. E flute, about 1.5 mm thick, is fine for clothing, cosmetics and light homeware and prints the sharpest. B flute, about 3 mm, is stronger for glass, ceramics and anything over a kilo. We suggest the flute on the quote once we know the contents, or you can specify it yourself.

The main practical weakness of uncoated board is damp. A parcel left on a wet step will soften, so for goods that might wait outside, choose B flute, keep the box close-fitting, and print a short keep-dry note near the label panel. Inside a van or a sorting office, plain corrugated board does the job it has always done. Our card and pulp box inserts are made to the same material rules and ship inside the box, already folded.

Who Orders This Build

Natural skincare makers, refill shops, loose-leaf tea and coffee roasters, clothing labels that ship in paper, and subscription boxes that want a plain, honest unboxing. Many of them started with a laminated mailer and moved to this specification after their customers asked what the box was made of.

Wholesale food producers use the slotted carton version as an outer case, printed one colour with the product name and a batch panel. Craft breweries use the crash-lock carton for bottle gift packs with a pulp insert. Stationery and book sellers like the slim mailer with a card stiffener for flat goods.

If you sell through a marketplace that inspects packaging, the material list on our quote is usually enough for their form. For the parcels themselves, the shipping boxes made to your dimensions page covers the heavier outer cases that these cartons travel in.

From Quote to Delivered Cartons

Send the internal size, the style, the flute and the print colours, with your artwork or just a logo, and we reply by email within one working day with a custom quote that lists every material. Minimums are low and set per job, and the simpler one-colour mailers start from £0.25 on larger runs. A free design proof follows, showing the flat dieline and the folded box, and nothing is printed until you approve it.

Production takes 4–7 working days after proof approval. Delivery to UK mainland addresses is free and tracked and takes 2–3 working days, and the boxes arrive flat-packed in outer cases. If anything is misprinted or damaged, tell us within 10 days with a photo and we reprint or refund the affected boxes. Many buyers pair a first order with a roll of printed paper packing tape so the outside of the parcel matches the box inside.