Paper bags are printed in one of four main ways: digital inkjet, flexographic, litho lamination or screen printing. Digital inkjet prints directly onto finished, pre-manufactured bags with no plates and no long set-up, which is why it suits small and medium runs with fast turnarounds. The other three methods print the paper before or during bag manufacture, so they need far larger quantities to make sense.
If you are ordering custom printed paper carrier bags for the first time, the printing method behind the quote explains your price, your lead time and what your artwork is allowed to do. Here is how each method works, and which one you actually need.
The four ways a paper bag gets printed
Digital inkjet printing
Digital inkjet sprays ink straight onto a bag that has already been made, glued and handled. There are no plates, no screens and no colour set-up between jobs, so a short run is commercially viable in a way it simply is not with the older methods. Because the file goes from computer to printer, changing a design between orders costs nothing but the time it takes to upload a new file.
At Fast Printed Bags we use full-colour CMYK water-based digital inkjet onto kraft and white paper stock. The trade-off for that speed is that printing happens in defined areas on the bag rather than across every surface, which we explain in detail on our personalisation information and help page.
Flexographic printing
Flexo is the workhorse of high-volume paper bag manufacture. A flexible relief plate is made for each colour in the design, mounted on a rotating cylinder and used to print onto a reel of paper, which is then cut, glued and formed into bags. It is fast and cheap once it is running, but every colour needs its own plate, and every design change means new plates. That plate cost has to be spread across a very large quantity before the unit price looks attractive, which is why flexo suppliers usually quote in the tens of thousands.
Flexo also limits you to a handful of spot colours in most cases, and photographic imagery is difficult, so flexo work tends to be bold, flat, logo-led design.
Litho lamination
Litho lamination is the premium route, and the method behind luxury retail and fashion bags. A sheet is printed offset litho at very high quality, laminated to a board or paper liner, then converted into a bag, giving photographic detail, tight colour control and finishes such as matt lamination or spot gloss.
The catch is cost and time. Plate making, printing, laminating and converting are separate stages, often across multiple sites, so minimum quantities are high and lead times run into weeks. It is worth it for a flagship store opening, and rarely worth it for everyday retail packaging.
Screen printing
Screen printing pushes ink through a fine mesh stencil, one colour at a time. It lays down a dense, opaque ink film, so it survives for one or two colour designs on unusual stock. It is slow per bag and awkward for anything detailed, and has largely been squeezed out of the paper bag market by digital at the low end and flexo at the high end.
Which printing method suits your order?
Rather than starting with the method, start with your quantity, your timescale and how often your design changes:
- Under 5,000 bags, needed within days: digital inkjet onto stock bags is almost always the answer. No plates means no set-up wait and no plate charge.
- Seasonal or campaign designs that change often: digital, because a new file costs nothing while a new set of flexo plates does.
- Tens of thousands of identical bags with one fixed logo: flexo starts to win on unit price, provided you can wait and can store the stock.
- Photographic artwork, laminated finishes, bespoke shapes: litho lamination, with the budget and lead time to match.
Most independent retailers, cafés, salons and online sellers sit firmly in the first two brackets. Our guide to what custom printed paper bags cost in the UK breaks down how quantity affects the price per bag.
What digital printing means for your artwork
Digital inkjet on paper behaves differently to ink on a glossy laminated sheet, and designing with that in mind is the difference between a good result and a disappointing one.
The most important point is white. Inkjet systems of this type do not print white ink, so any white in your artwork appears as the bare colour of the bag. On a white bag that looks exactly as intended. On kraft, a white logo vanishes into the brown paper. The fix is to invert the design so the mark prints in a dark colour and the kraft acts as the background, which is a look most brands end up preferring anyway.
A few other practical points:
- Supply artwork at 300dpi, ideally as a PNG with a transparent background.
- Avoid huge areas of solid flood colour, which can band slightly on absorbent paper. Line art and clean logos reproduce beautifully.
- Kraft is a warm brown substrate, so colours printed on it read muted and darker than they do on screen. Exact Pantone matching cannot be guaranteed on kraft or manila.
- Outline or flatten text so fonts do not shift between systems.
Our article on supplying print-ready artwork for printed paper bags covers file preparation step by step.
Why stock bags are printed in panels
Printing onto a bag that already exists is what makes a fast turnaround possible, but a finished bag is not a flat sheet. It has creases, a gusset, a base and handles. Printing is therefore applied to defined panel areas, typically the front and optionally the back, rather than wrapping around the whole bag.
That is a genuine constraint and worth being clear about: printing onto pre-made stock does not deliver all-over patterns, full-bleed colour or artwork running across gussets and bases. It also rules out foiling, embossing, debossing and spot UV, which need specialist finishing equipment applied at the sheet stage. What it does deliver is a clean, contained brand mark on the panel people actually look at, at a quantity and speed that suits a real business.
Does the printing method affect recyclability?
It can. Plain printed paper bags without plastic lamination are widely accepted for paper recycling, and water-based inks sit comfortably in that stream. Bags finished with a plastic laminate, gloss film or plastic window cause problems, because the layers cannot easily be separated. If recyclability matters to your customers, an unlaminated paper bag with a simple printed design is the safer specification. Local authority kerbside rules still vary, so check yours.
Worth remembering too: the mandatory single-use carrier bag charge in England applies to plastic carrier bags rather than paper ones, as our paper versus plastic explainer sets out.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to print paper bags?
It depends entirely on quantity. For small and medium runs, digital inkjet onto stock bags is cheapest because there are no plate or set-up charges to absorb. For very large runs of a single unchanging design, flexographic printing has a lower unit cost once the plate investment is spread across tens of thousands of bags.
Can you print white ink on kraft paper bags?
No. Our digital inkjet process does not use white ink, so white areas in your artwork show as the natural colour of the bag. On kraft, design your artwork in darker colours and let the brown paper act as the background.
Can you print over the whole surface of a paper bag?
Not with printing onto pre-manufactured stock bags. Printing is applied to defined panel areas, usually the front and optionally the back. All-over, edge-to-edge and wraparound printing requires the paper to be printed before the bag is made, which is a different process with much higher minimums.
How long does digital bag printing take?
Because there is no plate making or colour set-up, digital printing onto stock bags is turned around in days rather than weeks. You will receive a visual proof to approve before anything is printed, so the approval step is usually what determines the timeline.
Do you offer foiling or embossing?
No. Foiling, embossing, debossing and spot UV are finishing processes applied during bag manufacture, not afterwards, so they are not available on printed stock bags. The finish you get is a flat, slightly matte inkjet print with the natural paper texture visible.
Get your design onto paper
If you want branded bags without plate charges, five-figure minimums or a month of waiting, digital printing onto stock paper bags is built for exactly that. Browse the range at Fast Printed Bags, or go straight to custom printed paper mailing bags if you are packing e-commerce orders. Not sure how your artwork will look on kraft? Order a printed sample and see it for yourself before you commit to a full run.