Print & finishing guide

The vocabulary, without the jargon.

Every option below changes how the finished bag looks, feels, performs and costs. This is what each one actually does.

Handles

Braided cotton in 4–6mm, knotted internally or set through reinforced eyelets. The strongest handle we fit and our house specialism.

Ribbed, matt and structured. Reads couture, best on smaller and lighter bags.

High sheen, soft hand. Beautiful under shop lighting, marks more easily than grosgrain.

Recyclable, single-material and economical. The right choice for the everyday tier of a two-tier system.

Cotton or paper tape, glued flat. Low profile, good for slim bags and mailers.

Smooth, bright, colour-accurate. The safest surface for photographic print and dense solids.

Matt, tactile, absorbent. Colours sit 5–10% softer than the proof — plan for it, do not fight it.

Laid, felt and linen finishes for a tactile, stationery-like feel. Excellent under blind emboss.

Visible fibre and a warm base tone that shifts every printed colour. Proof it, do not assume it.

1.5–3mm rigid board for presentation boxes, wrapped in a printed or coloured paper.

Metallic leaf stamped under heat and pressure. Unmatched brilliance; adds cost and roughly a week of lead time.

Shape without ink. Quiet, expensive-looking and unaffected by the substrate colour.

Gloss varnish on selected areas over a matt background. Best used sparingly on one element.

A velvet-feel film. Transforms the hand-feel of a bag and deepens dark colours.

The plastic-free alternative to lamination. Keeps the bag in the paper recycling stream.

Mixed ink rather than a CMYK build. The only reliable way to hold a brand colour across reprints.

Tell us the project and the budget. We will tell you which of these earns its cost and which does not.

Or speak to us directly

Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm (IST)