Quick ShipPainted Edge Business Cards
32pt bright white uncoated stock with a stripe of colour on every edge. Six edge colours: red, black, blue, gold, pink and orange. Our fastest thick card.
From $165 for 250 · About 4 business days
Thick Business Cards
32pt and 48pt cards that register in the hand before anyone reads a word. Paint the edges, foil them, or let a black core show through. On a Studio card, the face can take hot foil or letterpress too.
Quick Ship from $126 for 500 · Studio from $185 for 250
Quick Ship: about 4 business days in production after you approve the proof. Studio: about 3 weeks after proof approval. Transit is extra. These are estimates, not delivery guarantees.
- Free design proof. A person checks your file before anything prints.
- 32pt to 48pt. Cotton, silk, soft touch or a three-layer black core.
- Edges done properly. Six Quick Ship edge colours, or Pantone-matched on Studio.
- Reprinted if we got it wrong. Defects that weren't in your approved proof are reprinted at no charge. Terms §8
Thick business cards are printed on heavy cardstock: 32pt or more. That's about 0.8 mm, close to a credit card, against the 14–16pt most printers use by default. We make them two ways. Quick Ship cards take about four business days in production after proof approval, on 32pt uncoated stock or a white-black-white triplex. Studio cards take about three weeks after proof approval and run 32pt or 48pt cotton, silk or soft touch, with foil, letterpress, deboss and painted or foil edges. One note before you choose: thickness on its own is weight. The card earns the extra cost when the edge or the face does something too.
Three ways to go thick
Two fast cards from a fixed menu, and one you build. If you're not sure, start with the third: it's the only one that takes foil and the softer cotton sheet.
Quick Ship
Quick ShipLayered Black Core Business Cards
Three uncoated layers bonded into one 32pt card: white on both faces, black in the middle, visible all the way round the edge. No paint and no foil. The seam is the detail.
From $126 for 500 · About 4 business days
StudioCustom Thick Business Cards
Choose cotton, silk or soft touch in 32pt or 48pt. Add hot foil, a painted edge, an edge foil, or spot UV on the laminated stocks. A person rebuilds your file for each process and proofs it before press.
From $185 for 250 · About 3 weeks after proof approval
32pt vs 48pt: what the numbers feel like
A point is a thousandth of an inch. 32pt is about 0.8 mm, close to a credit card: rigid, and it stops flexing between your fingers. 48pt is about 1.2 mm, roughly one and a half credit cards. It doesn't bend at all, and the edge reads as a band of colour. We start most people at 32pt. 48pt is harder to slide into a wallet, so save it for the statement card. More on how thick is a business card.
Cotton, silk or soft touch
The same 32pt card feels different under each surface, and each surface takes different finishes. Pick the paper for the finish you want, not the other way round.
Cotton
Uncoated, with soft visible fibre and a warm off-white tone. It drinks light rather than reflecting it. Cotton is the sheet for impression: letterpress and deboss press into it and you can find the shape with your thumb, and hot foil leaves a slight bite. It won't take spot UV, because the varnish soaks in and never cures. On cotton we give you the same gloss contrast with a clear foil instead. Our recommendation for most thick cards.
Silk laminate
Bright white with a smooth, satin film. Clean and crisp for photography and exact colour. It takes hot foil and spot UV well. It won't take an emboss or letterpress: a laminate is a stiff film, so the impression cracks or flattens. If you want both, we bond a cotton sheet to a silk one.
Soft touch
Bright white under a velvety matte film that feels like suede and resists fingerprints. Hot foil and raised spot UV look their best here, against the matte. Same rule as silk: no emboss, no letterpress.
Bright white uncoated (Quick Ship)
The paper behind our 32pt Quick Ship painted-edge card. Clean and slightly toothy. If your design prints a dark colour edge to edge, the cut edge shows the white core, so pair it with a painted edge.
What works on which thick paper
| Finish | Cotton | Silk laminate | Soft touch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot foil | Yes, with a slight bite | Yes | Yes |
| Letterpress | Yes | No (moves to a cotton sheet) | No (moves to a cotton sheet) |
| Blind emboss or deboss | Yes | No | No |
| Spot UV, flat or raised | No. We use clear foil for the same effect | Yes | Yes |
| Painted edge | Yes. Paint bonds best here | Yes. Can wear at the corners over time | Yes. Can wear at the corners over time |
| Edge foil (square corners only) | Our press team confirms it per job | Yes | Yes |
Which thick card is right for you?
32pt Painted Edge (Quick Ship)
- Thickness
- 32pt
- Paper
- Bright white uncoated
- Edge
- Painted, 6 colours
- Face finishes
- Full-colour print
- Sizes
- Standard, square
- Production time
- About 4 business days after proof approval
- From
- $165 for 250
- Best for
- A clean card with a flash of colour on the side
Layered Black Core (Quick Ship)
- Thickness
- 32pt
- Paper
- Uncoated triplex: white, black, white
- Edge
- Black core shows on every edge
- Face finishes
- Full-colour print only
- Sizes
- Standard, square, mini
- Production time
- About 4 business days after proof approval
- From
- $126 for 500
- Best for
- Contrast built into the paper, no extras
Custom Thick (Studio)
- Thickness
- 32pt or 48pt
- Paper
- Cotton, silk laminate or soft touch
- Edge
- Pantone-matched paint, edge foil, or plain
- Face finishes
- Hot foil, spot UV on silk and soft touch, plus print
- Sizes
- Standard, square, mini
- Production time
- About 3 weeks after proof approval
- From
- $185 for 250
- Best for
- Cotton, foil, 48pt and anything combined
Letterpress on thick cotton is its own product: see letterpress business cards.
Thick business card prices
At 500 cards, thick business cards with us run from $126 for a Quick Ship triplex to $465 for 48pt cotton before any finishing. Hot foil or letterpress on thick cotton costs more, because each foil colour and each ink is its own die or plate and its own press pass. Every price below is live from our configurator.
Base cards (print, no finishing)
| Card | Line | 250 | 500 | 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32pt bright white uncoated, painted edge | Quick Ship | $165 | $202 | $292 |
| 32pt triplex, black core | Quick Ship | – | $126 | $171 |
| 32pt silk laminate | Studio | $185 | $270 | $425 |
| 32pt soft touch | Studio | $205 | $290 | $455 |
| 32pt cotton | Studio | $215 | $310 | $485 |
| 48pt cotton | Studio | $320 | $465 | $755 |
Larger runs (2,000 and 5,000) are on the Custom Thick configurator.
Studio add-ons (shown at 250; the configurator prices every quantity)
| Add-on | At 250 | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 48pt instead of 32pt | +$105 | |
| Hot foil, one colour | +$70 | Each extra colour or side is its own die and pass |
| Spot UV | +$60 | Silk and soft touch only. On cotton we use clear foil |
| Painted edge | +$45 | Pantone-matched |
| Edge foil | +$65 | Square corners only |
| Rounded corners | +$10 | Not with edge foil |
Finished thick builds (own product pages)
| Build | 250 | 500 | 1,000 | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot foil on 32pt cotton, one colour, front | $310 | $410 | $620 | Custom hot foil |
| Letterpress on 48pt cotton, one location | $340 | $535 | $920 | Letterpress |
What moves the price
- Weight. 48pt costs more than 32pt in paper and in cutting.
- The paper. Cotton costs a little more than silk or soft touch.
- Each foil colour on each side. Gold on the front and gold on the back is two dies and two passes. Consolidating locations is the easiest saving.
- The edge. Paint is applied by hand to a clamped stack. Edge foil is a separate process again.
- Quantity. Setup is the same for 250 or 1,000 cards, so the per-card price drops fast as the run grows.
Our recommendation
For most people: 32pt cotton with a Pantone-matched painted edge, about $260 for 250. It's thick enough to feel deliberate, it still fits a card case, and the edge does the talking. Add one hot foil colour if the mark deserves it. If budget is the limit, the Quick Ship triplex gets you a 32pt card with a built-in edge for $126. Save 48pt for the card that has to be the statement.
Studio orders ship free within the continental US. Taxes and duties, where they apply, are shown at checkout.
Edges: paint, foil or a coloured core
Once a card is thick enough, the edge becomes a surface. It's the stripe you see when the card sits in a stack or between two fingers, and it's usually the detail people notice second and remember first. There are three ways to use it.
Painted edges
We clamp the stack tight and paint the exposed edges as one surface, so the colour runs clean round all four sides. Quick Ship offers six edge colours. Studio edges are mixed to your Pantone, so the edge can match the foil or the logo exactly. Because it's a hand process, expect tiny card-to-card variation you'd only see under a loupe. Paint bonds best to uncoated cotton. On silk or soft touch it sits on the cut paper core rather than the film, and it can wear at the corners with heavy handling. More on painted edges.
Foil edges
Metallic foil on the edge instead of paint: gold, silver, rose gold and more. Two rules. Edge foil needs square corners, because it breaks at the curve of a rounded one. And it reads best on 32pt or heavier, ideally 48pt, because the gleam is only as wide as the card is thick. On soft cotton fibres the foil can take unevenly, so our press team confirms cotton edge foil before we promise it. See gold edge gilding.
A coloured core
Bond three sheets with a coloured one in the middle and the edge colour is built in: no paint, nothing to wear. Our Quick Ship triplex has a black core and is print-only. On Studio, the core colour and the faces are your choice, and the faces can take foil.
The landmine
If you print a dark colour edge to edge on white paper, the cut edge shows a thin white line. Either paint the edge to match or choose a paper that's coloured all the way through.
Foil, letterpress and deboss on thick stock
Thick stock is the best canvas we have for pressed finishes. A heavy sheet takes a deeper bite without buckling, and the extra caliper hides the back of an impression better than a thin card can. Here's what each process does on a thick card, and the rule that comes with it.
Hot foil
Heat and pressure transfer a metallic or pigment film through a metal die. On cotton it leaves a slight bite you can feel. The rules: foil lines and gaps need to be at least 0.6 mm, so hairlines get thickened, and a gradient becomes one solid foil tone. For white or a pale colour on a dark card we use white pigment foil, because ink sinks into dark paper. See foil business cards.
Letterpress
An inked plate pressed hard into soft cotton, so the ink sits at the bottom of the impression. Fine lines and type look their best. Big solid areas print with a soft, suede-like mottle, which some people love and some don't. Light ink on dark paper looks chalky, so light-on-dark becomes foil. See letterpress business cards.
Blind emboss and deboss
No ink, just a shape pressed up or down, read by its shadow. On a single sheet a deep impression mirrors through to the back, so if the back carries type we bond two sheets or keep the impression lighter. On our thick papers that means cotton: laminated stocks won't take an impression. See embossed business cards.
Spot UV
A clear gloss on chosen elements, flat or raised, against a matte field. It needs a sealed surface, so it lives on silk and soft touch. On cotton we swap it for clear foil. See spot UV business cards.
The strongest thick cards usually lean on one or two of these, not five.
Thick cards we've made
Two real jobs, with the decisions behind them.
The Oppenheim Group
Two-colour letterpress on bright white cotton, edged in a PMS-matched red. One red, used in three places, so the face and the edge read as one colour.
Read the case studyPiping Concepts
A trade card built from three uncoated sheets: blue, orange and white, with the orange core showing round all four edges. Copper foil sits on the blue face and blue foil on the white reverse, so each foil lands on the ground that suits it.
Read the case studyHow a thick card order works
- 1
Pick a Quick Ship card or start a Studio build. If you have a date, tell us first. It decides which path can realistically make it.
- 2
We check your file. A designer rebuilds the artwork for each process: foil and paint get their own separations, fine lines are thickened to what the press can hold, and small text moves to ink where it needs to.
- 3
You approve a proof. Nothing prints until you do.
- 4
We produce. Quick Ship takes about 4 business days after approval. Studio takes about 3 weeks. Transit is on top. These are estimates, not delivery guarantees.
- 5
We ship. Transit time depends on where you are and sits on top of production.
If your cards arrive with a print defect, colour error or production mistake that wasn't in the proof you approved, we reprint them at no charge (Terms §8). If anything feels unclear before you order, book a 15-minute call and we'll walk through it with your artwork open.
Feel the thickness first
Screens can't show weight. Our sample kit has cards at several thicknesses, plus letterpress, blind emboss, painted edges and raised spot UV, so you can hold 32pt next to a standard card before you choose. It's $8 with free US shipping, and you get a $10 credit on your first order.
Specific specs, priced
Deeper reads on one material and one technique at a time, with the constraints and the spec we'd start you on.
- Painted edge business cards. Our fastest thick card: 32pt stock with a stripe of colour on every edge.
- Neon painted edges. Fluorescent Pantone paint on white 32pt cotton: quiet face, loud edge.
- Painted edges on 48pt cotton. Where the edge stops being a stripe and becomes a band.
- Edges on black cotton. Jet-black cotton with a coloured edge, framed like a matboard.
- Gold edge gilding. Foil on the edges instead of the face. Square corners only.
Thick business card questions
Are thicker business cards better?
Thicker cards feel more deliberate in the hand, survive pockets and wallets better, and give the edge enough width to carry colour or foil. They also take pressed finishes like letterpress and deboss more cleanly, because the sheet can absorb the impression. But thickness isn't automatically better: a 48pt card is harder to fit in a wallet or card case, and it costs more. For most people 32pt is the sweet spot. Go to 48pt when the card is meant to be the statement piece.
What is the thickest business card you can get?
Our thickest standard paper card is 48pt cotton, about 1.2 mm, or roughly one and a half credit cards. Three-layer builds bond sheets together for a similar weight with a coloured core on the edge. Metal cards are thinner but much heavier. If you need something thicker than 48pt, ask us for a custom quote and we'll tell you straight whether the extra thickness earns its place.
What thickness of cardstock is best for business cards?
For a thick card, 32pt (about 0.8 mm) is the best balance: rigid, close to a credit card, and still easy to carry. 48pt (about 1.2 mm) is for statement cards and deep letterpress. A standard business card is 14–16pt, which feels light next to either. If you want to understand the scale in detail, our guide to how thick a business card is covers every weight from 14pt up.
What's the difference between 32pt and 48pt business cards?
32pt is about 0.8 mm thick and 48pt is about 1.2 mm, so 48pt is half as thick again. In the hand, 32pt feels rigid and 48pt feels like a solid object that won't bend at all. On the edge, 32pt shows a clear line of paint or foil and 48pt shows a band. 48pt costs more and fits fewer cards in a case, so we recommend 32pt for most people and 48pt for a deliberate statement.
How thick are Vistaprint business cards?
According to Vistaprint's own product pages (checked October 2026), their standard card is 14pt, Premium Plus is 18pt and Ultra Thick is 32pt, with a UV gloss front and a matte back. For comparison, our Quick Ship thick cards are 32pt, and our Studio cards go up to 48pt cotton, with hot foil, letterpress and painted or foil edges available on the thick sheet itself.
Will a 48pt card fit in a wallet or card holder?
It will fit a wallet slot, but snugly, and a card case holds roughly a third as many 48pt cards as standard 16pt ones. That's the trade-off for the weight. If your cards live in wallets and get handed out in volume, 32pt is the practical choice: it's close to a credit card and slides in like one.
Can thick business cards be foiled, embossed or letterpressed?
Yes, on the right paper. Hot foil works on cotton, silk and soft touch. Letterpress, blind emboss and deboss need an uncoated sheet, which on our thick range means cotton, because laminated stocks won't take an impression. Spot UV needs silk or soft touch; on cotton we use clear foil for the same gloss contrast. Our Quick Ship thick cards are print-only, so foil and impression work runs on Studio, in about three weeks after proof approval.
Do painted edges chip or rub off?
Painted edges hold up well in normal use. Paint bonds best to uncoated cotton, where it soaks into the fibres. On silk or soft touch it sits on the cut core and can wear at the corners over time with heavy handling. Because the edges are painted by hand on a clamped stack, expect very slight variation from card to card. If durability matters most, a three-layer card with a coloured core has nothing to wear off at all.
What is a triplex business card?
A triplex card is three sheets bonded into one thicker card. The middle sheet shows as a coloured stripe on every edge, so the edge colour is built into the paper rather than painted on. Our Quick Ship triplex is 32pt, white on both faces with a black core, and print-only. Studio three-layer builds let you choose the colours and add foil to the faces.
How much do thick business cards cost?
At 500 cards, our thick cards start at $126 for the Quick Ship triplex and $202 for the 32pt Quick Ship painted edge. Studio cards at 500 run $270 on 32pt silk, $310 on 32pt cotton and $465 on 48pt cotton, before foil, edges or other finishing. The price table on this page shows every card at 250, 500 and 1,000.
How long do thick business cards take?
Quick Ship thick cards take about 4 business days in production after you approve the proof. Studio cards take about 3 weeks after proof approval. Transit is extra and depends on where you are. These are estimates, not delivery guarantees, so if you have a date, tell us before you order and we'll tell you honestly which path can make it.
Can I feel the thickness before I order?
Yes. Our sample kit includes cards at several thicknesses, plus letterpress, blind emboss, painted edges and raised spot UV, so you can hold 32pt against a standard card. It costs $8 with free US shipping, and you get a $10 credit toward your first order.
Cotton, silk or soft touch: which thick paper should I choose?
Choose cotton if you want texture and impression: it takes letterpress, deboss and hot foil with a slight bite. Choose silk laminate for bright white, crisp photography and spot UV. Choose soft touch for a velvety matte feel with foil or raised spot UV against it. Silk and soft touch can't be embossed or letterpressed. If you're unsure, 32pt cotton is our default recommendation.
Explore other finishes
Want the whole picture? See our luxury business cards.
Paper first? Read about our cotton paper.