Custom Folded Hang Tags
A flat tag gives you two faces and forces a choice between the story and the compliance text. Fold it once and you have four, at the cost of one crease and a little extra card. That is the entire argument for a folded tag, and it is usually enough.
- Card
- 250–400gsm, coated or uncoated, kraft or white
- Fold
- Creased on press; single fold as standard, concertina on request
- All four faces, digital or litho
Get a price for Folded Hang Tags
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
What goes on each of the four faces
The value of the fold is that the barcode and the care text stop competing with the brand. A customer sees a clean front on the rail, and the information is there when they pick it up. On a flat tag, one of those two always loses.
| Front | Logo and nothing else, or logo and product name |
|---|---|
| Inside left | The story, the material, the reason to buy |
| Inside right | Care instructions and composition |
| Back | Size, barcode, price if printed, country of origin |
The hole is where tags fail
Punch it at least 5 mm from every edge, including the fold. A hole too close to the fold tears through the crease under a shop floor's worth of handling, and a tag on the floor is a garment with no price on it.
Above about 300gsm, put an eyelet in. It costs a little per tag and it changes the failure rate substantially, because the metal spreads the load that the string concentrates on a single point of fiber.
Punch through both leaves together, not one. A hole in only the front leaf lets the tag flap open on the rail.
Card weight, and how the fold behaves
Every folded tag above 250gsm should be creased on press rather than folded cold. It is a standard part of the job here, not an extra, but it is worth knowing why the fold on a cheap tag looks broken and the fold on a good one does not.
- 250gsm. Folds easily, feels light, curls in a humid shop.
- 300gsm. The working default — holds its shape, still creases cleanly.
- 350–400gsm. Substantial and premium; must be scored before folding or it cracks.
- Above 400gsm. Effectively a rigid card; fold it and the outer face will split.
Fastening it to the garment
Cotton string knotted by hand looks best and takes the longest. A plastic barb from a tagging gun is instant and reads as fast fashion. A safety pin sits between the two and suits anything knitted, where a barb would leave a hole.
Whichever you choose, the tag has to hang the right way up when the garment is on a rail, which depends on where the hole is rather than what goes through it. Check it on a real garment before the tags are printed.
Where a tag beats a printed label
A tag can carry far more text than a woven or printed label, can be removed without cutting, and can be replaced when the season changes without touching the garment. It is also the only place in an apparel pack where a brand gets room to say something in full sentences.
It works alongside the pack rather than instead of it — sizing and folding decisions for the box or sleeve are covered in our garment packaging notes.
Folded Hang Tags — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Card
- 250–400gsm, coated or uncoated, kraft or white
- Fold
- Creased on press; single fold as standard, concertina on request
- All four faces, digital or litho
- Hole
- Punched through both leaves, 5 mm minimum from any edge
- Fastening
- Eyelet, cotton string, plastic barb or safety pin
- Minimum
- 100 tags
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo on a roll for volume, digital for short runs and for variable data such as batch codes and names.
- Color
- CMYK plus spot colors. On clear film a white underprint is needed wherever a color must read against the product.
- Tolerance
- Die-cut plus or minus 0.5 mm, and the label drawn 3 mm inside the panel so a slightly crooked application still looks square.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per shape and size, made once and kept. A change of artwork on the same shape needs no new tooling.
- Food contact
- Food-safe adhesives and inks where a label goes onto food packaging or a food-contact surface.
- Sustainability
- Paper labels recycle with a paper pack. Synthetic labels come off first, and the spec says which yours is.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build folded hang tags on
A label is a face stock, an adhesive and a liner, and each is chosen from where the label lands. The face decides how it prints; the adhesive decides whether it stays there.
Matte paper face
The everyday label. Writable, recyclable with a paper pack, and the right ground for a barcode. Not waterproof.
80–90gsmGloss paper face
Brighter color and a sharper photograph, at the cost of glare and fingerprints. Never put a barcode under a gloss finish.
80–90gsmKraft paper face
Unbleached and tan. One or two colors and white ink; the artisan seal. Colors print warm and muted on it.
70–90gsmClear polypropylene
The no-label look on glass and clear packaging. Needs a white underprint wherever a color has to read against a dark product.
50–60 micronWhite synthetic
PP or PE film: waterproof, tear-proof and dishwasher-tolerant. For bottles, jars, chilled and frozen goods and anything outdoors.
50–80 micronDirect thermal
Prints black with heat and no ink, for shipping and batch labels. It darkens in heat and fades in sunlight, so it is not for retail.
60–80gsmAdhesives
Permanent for corrugated and long-stay labels; removable for a clean peel; freezer-grade for anything applied cold or stored below zero.
Water- or solvent-basedLaminate and varnish
A film or a coat over the print for scuff and moisture resistance. It also stops a pen working, which matters on a label meant to be written on.
Matte, gloss or noneNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
A label is finished for what will rub against it and whether anyone writes on it.
Matte laminate
Scuff and moisture resistance. Stops a pen working, so not for a label meant to be filled in.
Gloss laminate
Deeper color and a wipeable face. Never over a barcode.
Varnish only
A thin coat instead of a film, so a paper label still recycles with the pack.
Hot foil
On a small label the block is tiny and the effect is out of proportion to the cost.
Embossed label
Raised shape on a face stock, usually on a bottle or a jar where it is felt.
Textured face
Felt, laid or cotton label stock for wine and spirits. Prints softly and tears with a fiber edge.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a label to the panel it sits on: folded hang tags
A label is cut to the surface, not to a standard size. Send the container or the box — or its dimensions and the panel you want covered — and the label is drawn to fit with the tolerance an applicator needs.
- Flat panel
- The panel less 3 mm each way, so a slightly crooked application still looks square. Rounded corners resist lifting.
- Wrap-around
- The circumference less 5 mm, so the ends butt rather than overlap. A wrap that overlaps its own print reads as a mistake.
- Corner radius
- 2–4 mm. A square corner lifts first and, on a shipping label, jams a sorter.
- Barcode area
- A white matte area with the quiet zone clear on both sides. Verified on the printed label, not on screen.
- Roll direction and core
- Set to your applicator: the wind direction, the core size and the number of labels per roll. Send the machine model.
- Application temperature
- Cold or damp surfaces need a specific adhesive. A standard permanent applied at 2°C often does not stay on.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Folded Hang Tags
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a face stock and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about folded hang tags? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is the minimum order?
100 tags, printed on all four faces if you want them.
Do you thread the string for me?
We can supply them eyeleted and strung, or flat and unstrung for you to do in-house.
Will heavy card crack when folded?
Not if it is creased on press, which is how we run it. Cold-folded heavy card cracks on the outer face every time.
What weight should a hang tag be?
300gsm is the floor for one that will not bend in a hand. Above 350gsm, eyelet the hole.
Where should the hole go?
At least 5 mm from every edge including the fold, punched through both leaves so the tag does not flap open on the rail.
Coated or uncoated card?
Uncoated if anything is written by hand or the brand is natural. Coated if a face carries a photograph or an exact color.
Do you thread the string for me?
We can supply tags eyeleted and strung, or flat and unstrung for you to do in-house. Strung is slower to produce and faster to use.
Will 400gsm card crack when folded?
Not if it is creased on press, which is how we run it. Cold-folded heavy card cracks on the outer face every time.
Can I have different sizes on the same order?
Yes — same artwork with a size change per tag is a print file change, not a new tool.
Uncoated or coated card?
Uncoated if anything is written on it by hand or if the brand is natural. Coated if the front face carries a photograph or a solid color that has to be exact.
Same range
