Custom Rigid Foldable Boxes
Custom rigid foldable boxes — wrapped grayboard walls that ship flat and fold into a rigid magnetic box in ten seconds — sized to your product from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
The rigid box that does not cost rigid freight
- Board
- Wrapped grayboard 1.5–2 mm, hinged panels
- Builds
- Magnetic hinged lid; corner magnets or adhesive tabs
- Sizing
- About 100 mm square to 400 × 300 mm
Get a price for Rigid Foldable Boxes
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.
How it folds
The base and the four walls are separate grayboard panels wrapped in one printed sheet, with the wrap acting as the hinge. The side walls fold in, the front and back fold up, and adhesive tabs or magnets on the corners lock the walls square. The lid is hinged to the back wall and closes on magnets in the front. Assembly is ten to fifteen seconds and needs no tools.
Where it wins and where it does not
Our rigid boxes in fixed construction cover the glued version for the cases where it is the better choice.
| Wins | Freight and storage: 100 boxes flat is one carton, assembled is ten |
|---|---|
| Wins | Subscription and gift runs shipped to a packing site |
| Loses | Very small boxes: hinges take space, and under 80 mm a fixed rigid box is neater |
| Loses | Very heavy contents: a fixed glued box is stiffer than a folded one |
Finish that reads as a fixed rigid box
On a shelf, a well-made foldable rigid box is not distinguishable from a fixed one.
- 1.5–2 mm grayboard walls; the same as a fixed box.
- A single-sheet wrap in soft-touch, linen or printed paper; foil and deboss on the lid.
- A magnetic closure in the lid, hidden under the wrap.
- A printed inner liner on the base and the lid, seen on opening.
Sizes and the products that use it
From about 100 mm square to 400 × 300 mm. Subscription boxes, gift sets, cosmetics and skincare kits, apparel, tech accessories and hampers. The product goes in an insert or loose with tissue; the insert is a separate board or pulp piece that drops in after folding.
Corner magnets give the cleanest fold and let the box be collapsed again. Adhesive corner tabs are cheaper and fold once.
Runs and the freight arithmetic
The saving is in the freight: a run of 500 fixed rigid boxes is a pallet, flat it is a few cartons. For a brand shipping boxes to a fulfillment center or across a border, the foldable box usually pays for its slightly higher unit cost before the first order leaves.
Rigid Foldable Boxes — 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
- Board
- Wrapped grayboard 1.5–2 mm, hinged panels
- Builds
- Magnetic hinged lid; corner magnets or adhesive tabs
- Sizing
- About 100 mm square to 400 × 300 mm
- Finish
- Soft-touch, linen or printed wrap; foil, deboss; printed liner
- Assembly
- 10–15 seconds, no tools; collapsible with corner magnets
- Supply
- Flat; inserts separate
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- The wrap is printed offset as a flat sheet and applied to the board, so the print quality is that of a sheet rather than a box.
- Color
- CMYK on the wrap with spot colors for a brand match. A textured or soft-touch wrap mutes a solid color slightly.
- Tolerance
- Board cut plus or minus 0.5 mm. Lid fit is set on a sample and held on the run, with an allowance for the delivery climate.
- Tooling
- No cutting die on the box itself. The tooling is the wrap print and any foil or emboss die, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- A food-grade liner or an inner tray where a rigid box holds unwrapped food.
- Sustainability
- Board and paper recycle together. Magnets, ribbon and foam come out first, and the spec says which the box has.
- 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 rigid foldable boxes on
A rigid box is two materials: the grayboard that holds the shape and the paper wrapped around it. The board decides the feel; the wrap decides everything a customer sees and touches.
Grayboard 1.2–1.5 mm
The light rigid box: jewelry, small cases, card boxes. Heavy in the hand for its size without thick walls on a small cavity.
1.2–1.5 mmGrayboard 2–3 mm
The full rigid box. Resists crushing, bends poorly — thickness is chosen from box size so a wide lid does not sag.
2–3 mmArt paper wrap
Printed coated paper, matte or gloss laminated. Full color, photographs, any design. The most flexible wrap and the least tactile.
128–157gsmSoft-touch wrap
A velvet-feel laminate over printed paper. Reads expensive, shows fingerprints on white, and scuffs at the corners before anywhere else.
128–157gsm laminatedLinen and textured wrap
Texture woven into the paper, so it cannot scuff off. Takes foil and deboss beautifully; breaks up a solid print.
120–140gsmLeather-grain and specialty
Embossed grain papers, metallics and colored stocks. One color and a foil mark, not a photograph.
120–160gsmFlocked and velvet liners
A short-fiber or woven pile for the interior and the insert. Holds a product without marking it and sets the color the piece is seen against.
Applied to board or foamMagnets and hardware
Neodymium magnets under the wrap, ribbon pulls, and hinges built from the wrap itself. Each is a line on the quote.
Per closureNot 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.
On a rigid box the wrap is the finish, and the corners are where it is judged.
Soft-touch wrap
Velvet in the hand. The category default, and it scuffs at the corners first.
Linen and laid
Texture woven into the paper; hides marks and cannot rub off.
Hot foil
Stamped into the wrap. Small block, cheap die, large effect on a lid.
Blind deboss
Shape with no ink. On a textured wrap it is the quietest premium mark there is.
Spot UV on matte
A gloss shape on a matte field; a pattern that only shows at an angle.
Colored liner
A wrap on the inside face, seen for a second as the lid lifts. The cheapest thing that changes an opening.
Leather-grain
Embossed grain paper. One color and a foil mark, never a photograph.
Ribbon and hardware
A pull under the product, magnets under the wrap, a hinge built from the paper.
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 rigid box, where the wrap is part of the wall: rigid foldable boxes
A rigid box is built up rather than folded, so the internal size is set first and the board and wrap are added outside it. The lid is then made to fit the base, and that fit is the thing people judge.
- Internal dimensions
- The product plus its insert, at the widest point. Everything else is built outward from this number.
- Wall build-up
- Each wall is the grayboard plus the wrap on both faces — roughly 2.5 mm on a 2 mm board. A small box gains noticeably in outside size.
- Lid clearance
- A few tenths of a millimeter. Set on a plain sample: a slow, air-cushioned lift, not a lid that drops off or has to be prised.
- Insert depth
- The tallest item plus 2 mm. On a two-layer box, this sets the total height and the ribbon lift.
- Humidity
- Board takes up moisture and a lid set snug in a dry factory can bind in a damp shop. We allow for the delivery market.
- Tolerance
- Plus or minus 0.5 mm on a rigid box, tighter than folding board because nothing springs back.
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
Build your Rigid Foldable Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board 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 rigid foldable boxes? 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.
How is it different from a normal rigid box?
The walls are hinged in the wrap and the box arrives flat. It folds up in seconds into a rigid magnetic box; a fixed rigid box is glued and ships assembled.
Does it look as good as a fixed rigid box?
On a shelf, yes — same board, same wrap, same magnetic lid. The difference is in the freight, not the finish.
How long does assembly take?
Ten to fifteen seconds by hand, no tools.
Can it be folded flat again?
With corner magnets, yes. With adhesive corner tabs it folds once.
What sizes are possible?
From about 100 mm square up to 400 × 300 mm. Very small boxes are better as fixed rigid.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes.
Can it have foil and soft-touch?
Yes, both, on the lid and the wrap.
Can it hold an insert?
Yes, a board or pulp insert drops in after the box is folded.
Is it strong enough for heavy items?
For most gift and subscription contents, yes. Very heavy items are better in a fixed glued box.
How much freight does it save?
About ten to one on volume: 100 flat boxes in one carton against ten cartons assembled.
Can the inside be printed?
Yes, a printed liner on the base and the lid.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, quoted in the delivery currency.
Same range
