Buyers usually arrive at kraft for one of two reasons: they want the plain, unbleached look, or they want to spend less on the printed face. Both are legitimate, but they lead to different specs. Here is what kraft does well, what it does badly, and how to buy it at wholesale volume.
What kraft actually is
Kraft board is made from unbleached pulp, which is where the brown colour comes from. The main variants you will be quoted are natural kraft, where both faces are brown, and white top kraft, where the outer liner is white and the inside stays brown. There is also bleached white board, which is not kraft at all but often gets compared against it.
| Board | Look | Printing behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Natural kraft | Brown inside and out | Colours go warm and muted, no true white without white ink |
| White top kraft | White outer, brown inner | Bright printed face, kraft interior keeps the plain look |
| Bleached white board | White throughout | Truest colour reproduction, no kraft character |
Designing for kraft, not fighting it
Kraft is absorbent, so ink sinks in. A logo that looks bright teal on your screen lands muted and slightly earthy on brown board. Designs that work with that rather than against it use one or two colours, heavy line weights, and let the board itself carry most of the surface. Designs that fight it tend to end up requesting a white ink underlayer, which adds cost and starts to defeat the reason for choosing kraft. Whatever route you take, approve the digital proof rather than the on screen file. The proof is included.
Strength, and a common misconception
Brown board is not automatically stronger board. Strength comes from the grade, the caliper and the flute structure, not the colour. A kraft mailer and a white mailer built on the same corrugated grade behave the same in a stack. If your product is heavy, specify against loaded weight and stack height rather than assuming kraft handles it. The flute comparison on custom corrugated boxes covers how to make that call.
Buying kraft at wholesale volume
The minimum is 100 boxes per design. Per unit price falls as quantity rises because setup is spread across the run, and iBox Factory includes the die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof rather than billing them as setup charges. Pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and is confirmed on your written quote. If you plan to reorder, ask for several quantity breaks in one quote so you can see where your own curve flattens before you decide how deep to buy.
Turnaround is stated per product across three lanes: rush is expedited production plus air freight, standard is air, and cost saver is sea. The floor is from about 7 business days plus 2 to 5 for delivery, with specialty imported items running up to about 12 weeks. Rush adds a premium of about 7 to 25% depending on the job. Production runs at West Chicago in the US and Guangzhou in China.
Kraft is common in bakery and food service, and the format list on wholesale bakery boxes is a useful starting point if that is your category. Otherwise send the box style, size and quantity through the quote form and we will quote natural and white top side by side so you can see the difference in price before you commit.
