The first thing your customer sees
For an online shop, the parcel arriving at the door is the first physical contact a customer has with the brand. Plain brown tape across a plain brown box says nothing. A printed tape with your logo, website or a short message is one of the cheapest ways to make every shipment recognisable, and it also helps warehouse staff, couriers and customers spot a parcel that has been opened along the way.
Custom packing tape looks like a simple product, but there are real choices to make: paper or plastic tape, the adhesive, how many colours, how the design repeats along the roll and whether it suits your sealing equipment. This guide goes through those choices so you can order tape that works in your packing area and looks right on the box.
Paper tape or plastic tape
Plastic tapes: polypropylene and PVC
Most packing tape is biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film with an acrylic, hot melt or natural rubber adhesive. It is light, strong, cheap and works in standard hand dispensers. PVC tape is quieter to unwind and handles slightly better in cold conditions, but it is heavier and less common for printed tape now.
Paper tapes
Paper tapes are popular with brands that use paper-based packaging and want the whole parcel to go into paper recycling. There are two main kinds:
- Self-adhesive kraft paper tape, which is applied like plastic tape from a normal dispenser.
- Water-activated tape (gummed tape), often reinforced with fibreglass strands. The adhesive is activated with water from a dedicated dispenser, and it bonds into the fibres of the carton. It is very secure and shows clearly if the box has been opened, but it needs a water-activated tape dispenser and a little more practice.
| Tape | Strengths | Points to consider |
|---|---|---|
| BOPP (plastic) | Cheap, strong, fits standard dispensers, good print quality | Plastic in the recycling stream with the box |
| Self-adhesive kraft | Paper look, recyclable with cardboard in many schemes | Less stretch, can tear if pulled sharply |
| Water-activated (gummed) | Very strong bond, clear sign of tampering | Needs a water dispenser, slower to learn |
Recycling rules differ by area, so check with your local scheme before making claims about recyclability on your packaging.
How packing tape is printed
Printed tape is usually produced by flexographic printing on wide rolls (often called jumbo rolls), which are then slit into individual rolls of tape. This affects what is possible in the design.
- Spot colours, not photographs. Tape is normally printed in one to three solid spot colours. Gradients and photos are possible on some presses but rarely look good on tape, especially on brown tape where the substrate shows through.
- Colour on brown tape. Inks on brown or kraft tape look darker and less saturated than on white. A white underprint makes colours brighter but adds a print station and cost.
- Repeat length. The design repeats along the tape at a fixed interval set by the printing plate or cylinder. Ask for the repeat length before designing so your logo does not get cut in half at the box edge too often.
- Print on the non-adhesive side. The ink sits on top of the film or paper and is sometimes covered with a release coating so the roll unwinds smoothly.
What to put on your tape
Tape is seen briefly and from close up, often torn and wrinkled at the box edges. Simple designs work best.
- Your logo and website, large and repeated. This is the core of most printed tapes.
- A short line for the customer, such as "Thanks for shopping with us" or a social media handle.
- Handling instructions: "Fragile", "This way up", "Keep dry". These can sit next to the brand on the same tape.
- A security message, such as "If this seal is broken, contact us before signing". Paired with water-activated tape or a tamper-evident label, it helps customers and couriers spot interference. For higher-value goods, see our guide to tamper-evident and security labels.
Keep text short and large. A line of small type at the edge of a 48 mm tape is easy to lose once the tape folds over a box corner.
Sizes, adhesives and dispensers
Width and length
The common widths are 48 or 50 mm for most cartons and 72 or 75 mm for heavier boxes. Roll lengths are often 66 or 100 metres for hand dispensers and much longer for machine rolls. Check the core size against the dispensers you already use.
Adhesive choice
- Acrylic: clear, ages well, good general choice, slightly lower initial tack.
- Hot melt: strong immediate grab, popular for fast packing lines.
- Natural rubber: good in cold storage and on recycled or dusty board, unwinds louder.
If your boxes are made from high recycled content board, the surface can be dusty and fibrous, and a tape with high initial tack holds better. Our article on printed corrugated mailer boxes covers board choices that affect how tape sticks.
Machine sealing
If you use an automatic case sealer, tell the printer. Machine rolls have different lengths and cores, and some sealers need a particular adhesive or tension to run smoothly.
Quantities and planning
Printed tape has set-up costs for plates and press preparation, so minimum orders are usually counted in cartons of rolls. Work out roughly how many parcels you ship per month and how much tape each one uses; a single box often takes one strip on top and one on the bottom, or an H pattern with more. That gives you a realistic number of rolls per year and avoids running out in a busy season. Tape stores well in a cool, dry place, so a larger order that lasts several months is often sensible.
If you also use other branded packaging, such as printed inserts, labels or retail packing, ordering them together helps keep colours consistent. See our guide to shrink wrap, overwrapping and retail-ready packing for the wider picture.
Checking the proof
A tape proof is usually a flat strip showing two or three repeats of the design. Before approving it, check a few details that are easy to miss on screen:
- The repeat length and the gap between logos, so the brand shows on the top of a typical box.
- The tape colour and ink colours named on the proof, since a screen shows brown tape very differently from the real roll.
- The direction of the text relative to how your packers pull the tape off the dispenser. Text that reads upside down on every box is a common complaint.
- Spelling of the website address and any handles, which are hard to fix once thousands of rolls are made.
Ordering printed tape from us
We supply custom printed packing tape on BOPP, self-adhesive kraft and water-activated paper, in standard widths for hand dispensers and machine rolls for case sealers. Send us your logo, the message you would like on the tape and an idea of how many parcels you ship, and our team will suggest a tape type, adhesive and colour layout, and prepare a digital proof showing the repeat as it will appear on the roll.
You can see our wider range of business printing, or contact us for a quote with your preferred width, tape colour and quantity.
