Custom Sleeve Boxes

A band of board over a tray

A sleeve is a band of paperboard with one glued seam, open at both ends, that slides over a tray or box.

It is cut and creased from one flat sheet, glued once, and shipped folded flat. Opened up, it is a four-sided tube with no top or bottom.

The sleeve carries the print and not the weight. The tray or box underneath does the holding, which is why a sleeve can be thin board while the structure it covers stays plain and unprinted.

• One flat sheet, one glued seam
• Open at both ends, no lid or base
• Print on the sleeve, strength in the tray

Board for a band that has to slide

A sleeve needs enough stiffness to keep its shape and enough smoothness to move over the tray without catching.

SBS paperboard has a smooth, bright face that takes sharp print and slides well. Uncoated board feels more natural and absorbs ink, which softens fine detail, and recycled kraft is brown and shifts every printed colour darker.

Board that is too thin sags and gets creased by handling, so the sleeve stops looking like a band. Board that is too thick resists the folds, cracks along the creases and makes the fit tighter than intended.

Sizing a sleeve that slides

A sleeve that is too tight sticks and tears. One that is too loose slides off before the customer gets there.

The sleeve must clear the tray by a small, deliberate margin all round, which should account for the tray's wall thickness and any wrap paper. Measure the tray at its widest point, not the flat size on the drawing.

Send us the tray's measurements and we draw the sleeve around them, so you can check the fit on the dieline and digital proof. A sleeve is the format where a one millimetre error is felt every time it is used, and it is much easier to correct before production.

Sleeve or fully printed box?

Choose a sleeve when many products share one structure, and a printed box when each product needs its own.

With a sleeve, the tray or rigid base stays identical across a range and only the sleeve changes for each product, season or campaign. That cuts tooling and storage, because plain trays are held in one pile and the sleeves are the only stock that changes.

A fully printed folding carton or rigid box gives more control over every surface, including the inside. A belly band sits between the two: it is smaller and cheaper than a sleeve, but covers only part of the pack.

Print that survives being slid

A sleeve is handled and rubbed every time it is opened, so the surface takes more wear than most cartons.

Printing is done on the flat sheet, so seam position matters: keep logos and text away from the glued edge, because the overlap can interrupt a design. Large flat colour also shows scuffs more than pattern does.

A varnish or a laminate protects the ink against friction from the tray. Laminate lasts longer but is harder to recycle, so tell us how many times the sleeve will be taken on and off, and we suggest the one that suits it.

Sleeve box or magnetic box?

A sleeve is the pick for a light, two-stage reveal over a tray. A magnetic box is the pick when the lid has to stay shut on its own.

A sleeve does not lock anything shut, so it is a presentation layer and not a closure. If the tray underneath can open on its own, a knock in transit can slip the sleeve and spill the contents. It needs an outer carton or a shipper to travel, and it offers no tamper evidence unless it is glued or sealed, while a magnetic box holds its lid closed without help.

It also suits only a limited range of shapes. Tall, heavy or irregular products need a structure that grips the contents, and a band of board around them will not do that.