A retail buyer in Lyon emailed us in March with a photo of a white linen shirt and a grey smear across the cuff. His brand had shipped 40,000 black gift bags for a perfume launch; they left marks on customers’ hands for three weeks. Good print, cured ink, 150gsm — the paper was dyed black through the sheet and not cured. That email is why this starts with rub-off, not sizes.
Black is our second most requested colour and the biggest source of after-sales tickets. How the three versions differ:
Three Ways to Make a Bag Black
Dyed black kraft. Pulp is dyed in the beater before the sheet forms, so colour runs through the thickness; tear it and the edge is black. Most expensive — heavy dye load, dedicated mill batch — and softer than natural kraft at the same gsm. Runs at 120/150/250gsm.
Surface-dyed natural kraft. Colour sits in a heavy stain, brown core visible at the folded edge. Cheaper, but the brown core shows on the gusset.
Black card laminated onto board (贴面). A 157–250gsm black card face glued to 300–400gsm board. Crisp edges, heavy hand — what most luxury black bags are. Lamination lines open in humid storage or after freeze-thaw.
Above €40 retail with a matte brand, laminated board reads right. Over 2 kg, go dyed kraft.
Where the Black Comes Off: Tests We Run
Dry crocking. Crockmeter — 16mm white cotton, 9 N load, 10 passes over printed and unprinted areas, read against a grey scale. Grade 4–5 is the target; grade 3 and a white shirt picks it up. A white glove rubbed by hand 20 times caught Lyon in a minute.
Solvent transfer. Cotton pad with 75% ethanol, five passes. Faint grey is normal; a solid smear means uncured or cheap dye rather than pigment.
Test per batch, not per sample. Lyon tested grade 4 on the sample, grade 2 on bulk: the mill changed dye supplier in between.
Two controls: conditioning paper at 20–25 °C and 50–60% RH for 72 hours before converting, and matte varnish over printed areas. The varnish costs 0.5–1.5 cents per bag and drops crocking one to two grades.
Sizes, Grammage and FOB Price
Folding bags, flat glued base. Per bag, FOB Qingdao, unprinted, 10,000-piece runs; prices move with pulp.
| Size | Paper | gsm | Bag weight | Safe load | FOB (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 × 22 cm (S) | Natural kraft, black surface | 120 | 22–26 g | 1.5–2 kg | 0.11–0.16 |
| 18 × 22 cm (S) | Dyed black kraft | 150 | 27–32 g | 2–2.5 kg | 0.15–0.21 |
| 26 × 32 cm (M) | Natural kraft, black surface | 150 | 46–54 g | 3–4 kg | 0.26–0.35 |
| 26 × 32 cm (M) | Dyed black kraft | 250 | 70–80 g | 5 kg | 0.40–0.55 |
| 32 × 44 cm (L) | Dyed black kraft | 150 | 72–84 g | 4–5 kg | 0.38–0.50 |
| 32 × 44 cm (L) | Black card on 350gsm board | 250 face | 110–130 g | 6–8 kg | 0.62–0.85 |
MOQ: 1,000–5,000 unprinted, 5,000–10,000 per printed design. The 250gsm dyed kraft on M is where black stops feeling like paper: the cheapest luxury hand feel without lamination.
Printing Black on Black
Flexo, 1–2 colours. Cheapest, plates around $120–200 per colour; on dark stock you usually need a white flood under a pale logo. From 5,000 pieces.
Screen printing. Thicker ink, clean edge on textured kraft. 3,000–5,000 pieces.
Hot foil. Gold on black is the most requested finish we get. Die $80–250, 3–8 cents per bag, 1,000–2,000 pieces for one logo. Foil on unsealed black shows rub-off worst — ask for varnish.
A workable mid-market build: 150gsm dyed black M bag, one-colour white screen print on the front — near $0.30 at 20,000 pieces.
Handles: Rope, Twisted Paper or Ribbon
On black, the handle is the first thing to look cheap.
Twisted paper, black. Cheapest, matched colour. Hot-melt anchor inside the top edge; under 20 mm overlap it pulls out at 4–5 kg.
Cotton rope. Adds 6–12 cents. Natural beige on black reads better than black on black, and it is reusable — which European buyers prefer to a compostable claim. Jute suits wine bags at 10–18 cents; ribbon is decoration.
For a 32 × 44 cm bag holding bottles, cotton rope plus a reinforced base card is what I would sign off.
Recycling: The Honest Part About Dark Paper
Dyed black paper is recyclable in principle — still cellulose — but deinking has to strip the dye, and dark stock loads colour into the process water. A mill making white recycled liner will reject or discount it, because a little black fibre drags down the whiteness of the batch. Many EU systems sort dark paper to lower grades or energy recovery: not non-recyclable, just worth less than kraft.
Laminated board is worse on adhesive — most mills repulp paper-faced board, but ask for starch-based glue.
Cost is the other half: dyed black runs 15–25% above natural kraft at the same gsm, laminated board 80–150% above. You pay for a look; the end of life pays separately.
Gift Bags and Food Contact
Under EU Framework Regulation (EC) 1935/2004, only materials intended to touch food need a food-contact declaration and migration testing. A black bag holding a boxed jar of jam is packaging around a packaged product. Loose bread or a sauce bottle with a wet neck is different — dye migrating into fatty food is not an explanation you want to give a retailer. For food contact, our bagasse and moulded pulp containers are built to that standard.
What We Changed After Lyon
The order cost us a reprint and a lot of goodwill. Now the test result ships with the pre-production sample, and printed black areas get matte varnish. Send sizes, grammage and artwork to our quote desk and we will price the bag with any tableware in the same shipment. On colour, ask for a crock test on the exact mill batch: two days, and it settles the argument faster than a spec sheet.
FAQ
Is black kraft gift bag paper colour-fast?
In normal use yes, but it transfers under friction or alcohol. Ask for crockmeter grade 4–5 plus an ethanol wipe.
Why do black gift bags leave marks on hands and clothes?
Uncured or cheap dye, or no surface varnish. Humidity makes it worse, and bulk can differ from the sample.
Is a black kraft bag recyclable?
The fibre is, but dark dye lowers recycled pulp whiteness, so some mills reject or discount it.
What is the MOQ for printed black gift bags?
Unprinted stock 1,000–5,000. Flexo 5,000, screen 3,000–5,000, foil 1,000–2,000.
Dyed black kraft or laminated black card?
Dyed kraft is stronger and better for reuse; laminated card looks more premium but opens in humid conditions. Under 2 kg, take kraft.
Can a black gift bag be used for food?
Not for unwrapped food — bags are not food contact materials under EC 1935/2004. Use bagasse or moulded pulp where food touches packaging.
Carton counts are in our bulk kraft gift bag guide; the Qingdao team answers through contact.
