Custom Rigid Shoulder Boxes
Custom rigid shoulder boxes — the three-part presentation box with an inner neck the lid settles onto — from 100 units. The thin band of color that shows between lid and base is the whole point, and we build the neck so it sits flush, holds the lid by air, and shows exactly the reveal you specify.
The box with a collar, and the line of color it leaves
- Board
- 1200–2000 gsm chipboard, base, neck and lid; wrapped in 120–157 gsm paper
- Reveal
- 3–30 mm, set by neck height; contrasting or matching wrap on the neck
- Fit
- Lid over neck by one paper thickness; held by friction and air, no closure
Get a price for Rigid Shoulder 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.
Three boards, one reveal
The neck is a separate board tray, wrapped in its own paper — usually a contrasting color — and glued into the base so it stands proud by the reveal height. The lid is built to the neck's outer dimension plus a paper thickness, so it slides over the neck and stops on the shoulder of the base. When the lid and base are the same wrap, the neck is the accent; when the neck matches and the lid contrasts, the box reads as two colors stacked. Both work. What does not work is a reveal that is uneven around the box, which is what a neck glued in by hand without a jig produces.
| Flush shoulder | Lid outer face flush with the base outer face; the classic |
|---|---|
| Stepped shoulder | Lid narrower than the base, showing a ledge; heavier, more formal |
| Full-depth neck | Neck runs to the base floor and the lid covers almost all of it; a deep reveal |
How the lid is held, without a magnet
A shoulder box has no closure. The lid is held on by the friction of paper on paper and by the air trapped under it as it settles, which is the slow, soft drop that makes the construction feel expensive. The fit is a paper thickness — about a tenth of a millimeter — and it is why the lid and the neck have to be made from the same batch of board and paper. Too loose and the lid rattles; too tight and it binds and the customer forces it. For a box that needs a positive close, the magnetic version is on our rigid magnetic boxes with a hidden closure page; the shoulder box is the one that does not need one.
Soft-touch lamination on the neck raises the friction. A soft-touch lid over a soft-touch neck can bind; we usually keep the neck in a plain or a foil paper.
Reveal height, and what it says
The reveal height is fixed by the neck height and the lid depth, and it should be decided before the artwork, because a foil logo on the neck band has to fit inside it.
- 3–5 mm: a hairline of color, the understated version, common in cosmetics and jewelry.
- 8–12 mm: a clear band, the standard for spirits, watches and premium confectionery.
- 20 mm and up: the neck becomes a visible second box, used on candle and fragrance sets.
What goes in a shoulder box
Anything sold as a considered object: a watch, a fragrance, a bottle of spirits, a set of chocolates, a piece of jewelry. The interior is a fitted tray — flocked, foam, or a paperboard platform — built to the product, and the neck itself can hold a tray at a set depth, which is a neat way to present a small product in a box that reads as substantial. For the wider question of when a rigid build is worth its cost over a carton, our note on rigid boxes versus folding cartons sets out the arithmetic.
Rigid Shoulder 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
- 1200–2000 gsm chipboard, base, neck and lid; wrapped in 120–157 gsm paper
- Reveal
- 3–30 mm, set by neck height; contrasting or matching wrap on the neck
- Fit
- Lid over neck by one paper thickness; held by friction and air, no closure
- Shoulder
- Flush, stepped or full-depth neck
- Interior
- Flocked tray, foam, paperboard platform, tray held in the neck
- Finishes
- Foil, emboss, soft-touch on lid and base; foil or plain paper on the neck
- 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 shoulder 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 shoulder 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 Shoulder 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 shoulder 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.
What is the reveal?
The line of the inner neck that shows between the lid and the base when the box is closed. Its height and color are the design decision.
Is the reveal even all the way round?
Yes, on ours — the neck is glued in on a jig. A hand-set neck without one gives an uneven line, which is the common failure.
Does the lid stay on?
Yes, by friction and the air trapped as it settles. There is no closure and it does not need one; if you want a positive close, a magnetic box is the alternative.
Can the neck be a different color?
Yes, and it usually is — a contrasting paper or a foil on the neck is what makes the reveal read.
How high should the reveal be?
3–5 mm for a hairline, 8–12 mm for a clear band, 20 mm and up for a visible second box. Decide it before the artwork, because a logo on the neck has to fit inside it.
Can it have a tray inside?
Yes, a flocked, foam or paperboard tray built to the product, or a tray held at a set depth in the neck.
Can soft-touch go on the neck?
It can bind against a soft-touch lid. We usually keep the neck in plain or foil paper and put soft-touch on the lid and base.
Does it ship flat?
No — a shoulder box is glued up and ships assembled. It nests in a carton for freight.
What sizes do you make?
From about 3 in square for jewelry to 14 in for a spirits or gift set. Larger is possible with a heavier board.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes. The three parts are hand-wrapped, so the set-up is in the dies and the print rather than a press make-ready.
How long does production take?
Longer than a carton — three wrapped parts and a jig assembly. We give a date with the quote.
Will you send a sample?
A white or single-color sample so you can check the fit, the drop and the reveal before print.
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