Kraft-face carton board

Cartons that want the board itself to read as the material, not a printed background.

A natural brown kraft-board gable-top carton printed with white wavy lines, fibre speckle visible.

Best for: Cartons where the brown board itself is the look.
Structure: Gable-top or brick construction with an unbleached natural kraft outer liner (brown board with visible fibre speckle) over the usual polymer layers.
Print methods: Flexo · Offset (1–2 spot inks read best; process colour muddies on brown)
Finishes: Matte varnish
After use: Same carton stream, with less bleaching in the outer layer.

How it's built

Outside to inside

Exploded view of kraft-face carton board: unbleached brown board between polyethylene films.

1Polyethylene outer coat
2Unbleached kraft-face paperboard
3Polyethylene food-contact layer (ambient versions add a barrier layer)

Look and feel

Warm brown, matte, with visible fibre and darker speckle. It reads as material before it reads as packaging.

Printing on it

The brown base shifts every ink warmer and darker. Light colours need an opaque white printed first, and a thin white lets a little brown show through, which is half the charm. One or two solid colours beat photography here.

Barrier and shelf life

Same as the white-board version of the same format: chilled gable-top, or ambient with a barrier layer.

Run sizes

Cartons are formed, filled and sealed on the drink maker's filling line, so the carton is printed on the roll that line runs. Minimums are set by the carton maker and your filler, and they sit far above a box or label job. We design the artwork and prepare press-ready files for your carton maker or co-packer.