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What Type of Paper to Package Elegant Boxes Stylishly?

By Blake Harper, July 22, 2025

What Type of Paper to Package Elegant Boxes Stylishly?

Whether in the e-commerce or retail market, competition is very tough everywhere. Almost all industries are saturated with countless startups and established businesses struggling to make their lasting mark. To cope with such high competition, custom boxes are introduced in the market. They are bespoke packages available in a wide variety that differ in style, shape, and size. Though all of these boxes are visually stunning, the luxury custom boxes are the most demanded ones.

Brands use these deluxe packaging solutions to compete with each other and stand out. You also might have come across some fabulous custom boxes, featuring luxury at every angle. Have you ever wondered what type of paper is used to package these elegant boxes? There is no single answer to this question. Countless amazing papers are available to add more grace and luxury to the product’s packaging.

Let’s have a look at some of the most famous options, their uses, and demands. Check out the premium packaging papers according to each industry and find why these papers are no longer a luxury but a necessity. Let’s begin!

10 Iconic Papers for Packaging Luxury Boxes – Give your Package a Luxe Makeover

When it comes to adding more luxury to the high-end packaging, the right paper selection makes a huge difference. It helps you cast a memorable first impression on buyers and boost your product’s perceived value. Whether they are perfumes, jewelry, gourmet chocolates, or any other high-end accessory, the following 10 paper options for premium packaging boxes are ideally considered to boost the overall value of your luxury packaging boxes and brand’s perception and sales in the market:

1- Kraft Paper for Box Packaging

Kraft is the best and most famous packaging paper material, highly known for its strength, durability, and sustainability. It’s the most preferred paper material for packaging rustic or natural-themed luxury packaging boxes. You can further boost the overall visual and tactile appeal of Kraft paper with custom printing, embossing, debossing, and foil stamping techniques. This helps you perfectly resonate and match with premium branding requirements and maintain a highly sustainable yet luxurious packaging appeal.

2- High-Quality Tissue Paper for Wrapping Elegant Boxes

Tissue paper is a soft, lightweight, and delicate paper used to wrap luxurious boxes. It’s also often preferred to be placed in the box to protect premium products and provide proper cushioning. Usually, a high-quality tissue paper is used as an inner wrap, enhancing customers’ overall unboxing experience and leading a brand to more sales and profit. You can opt for the custom-printed tissue papers, featuring logos and unique patterns to reflect your brand’s identity and luxury.

3- Specialty Wrapping Paper for Luxury Packaging

It’s a high-end, custom-designed paper that features unique finishes, textures, or visual effects. Usually, such papers have a premium-quality metallic foiling, holographic film, and custom printing. High-end specialty wrapping papers stand out for conveying exclusivity and artistic values. They are often preferred by businesses belonging to fashion, cosmetics, jewelry, and other luxury markets.

4- Textured Paper for Premium Packaging

This deluxe packaging paper has various unique raised, indented, and patterned designs that give a high-end visual and tactile feel. The surface patterns on textured papers usually range between sophisticated linen textures and deluxe embossed effects. Premium-quality fibers and specialty blends make this paper a go-to option for top-notch printing, foiling, and coating. Linen, laid, embossed leather, ribbed, woven, and fabric patterns are some of the most famous and highly used textures on this paper. Whether you have rigid luxury boxes, presentation packaging, outer sleeves, or wraps, the high-end textured paper is the go-to option.

5- Recycled Paper for Eco-Luxury Packaging

It’s an environmentally responsible packaging material, made up of post-consumer or post-industrial waste. Featuring a premium look and feel, recycled paper for eco-luxury packaging allows brands to combine sustainability with style. As environmental sustainability is a growing trend nowadays, recycled paper for packaging is considered a highly preferred option by brands. It’s customizable with prints, coats, add-ons, and other amazing features. With these elements, the recycled paper stands out for its appearance and performance.

6- Coated vs Uncoated Paper for Luxury Boxes

Coated paper with a gloss or matte finishing has a smooth and protective surface. It enhances color vibrancy and offers moisture resistance. Custom-coated paper is also often chosen for printing elegant designs and patterns. On the other hand, it is uncoated paper. It has a natural, raw feel. Generally, the minimalist and earthy luxury brands go with it. Uncoated paper is the easiest one to get imprinted with different ink types and reflect elegance.

7- Ivory Board Paper for Luxury Packaging

It’s a premium-grade, stiff paper with a luxurious and smooth surface. Usually, this high-end packaging paper type is used for deluxe retail and rigid boxes. Its excellent printability and strength make it ideal for showcasing detailed logos and designs while maintaining structural integrity. Perfume, jewelry, cosmetics, and other luxury brands are highly recommended to go with ivory board paper for packaging luxury boxes and boost a brand’s perceived value on the store’s shelves.

8- Art Paper for Luxury Packaging Boxes

This high-quality coated paper material often comes in gloss, matte, or satin finishes. It’s frequently used for printing luxury brand imagery, lookbooks, or product boxes requiring sharp, detailed visuals. It allows rich color reproduction and fine textures. Brands prefer going with it to make their product’s packaging more visually stunning, functional, and impressive.

9- Velvet-Laminated Paper for Wrapping Luxury Packaging Boxes

It is the ultra-premium packaging option, highly suggested for luxury brands. Velvet-laminated paper has a soft-touch finish that gives a suede or peach skin. It enhances the sensory experience and is often used for cosmetic boxes, watches, or jewelry packaging to convey luxury.

10- Pearlescent Paper for Premium Boxes

This supreme-quality packaging paper has a shimmering effect that changes slightly with light reflection. It’s often preferred or used for limited-edition or festive luxury packaging of high-end products. Perfumes, gourmet food, premium confections, luxury cosmetics, and other such product boxes often feature a high-quality pearlescent paper to give a more radiant and eye-catching appearance.

Among all the above-discussed paper types, the Kraft, textured, and recycled options are considered the most famous FSC-certified paper solutions for high-end packaging boxes.

No. Paper Type Best Used For Ideal For
1 Kraft Paper Boxes, Sleeves, Bags Organic products, eco-luxury, handmade goods
2 High-Quality Tissue Paper Inner Wrapping, Cushioning Cosmetics, jewelry, apparel, gift items
3 Specialty Wrapping Paper Wraps, Sleeves, External Wraps Fashion, cosmetics, high-end retail, gifting
4 Textured Paper Rigid Boxes, Sleeves, Presentation Wraps Jewelry, watches, designer goods, business gifting
5 Recycled Paper Boxes, Sleeves, Bags Wellness, eco-luxury, food, skincare
6 Coated Paper (Gloss/Matte) Boxes, Sleeves, Print Surfaces Beauty, fashion, electronics, catalogs
  Uncoated Paper Boxes, Minimalist Sleeves Sustainable brands, minimalist luxury
7 Ivory Board Paper Rigid Boxes, Folding Boxes Perfumes, jewelry, cosmetics, luxury gifts
8 Art Paper (Gloss, Matte, Satin) Folding Boxes, Printed Packaging High-end product boxes, lookbooks, inserts
9 Velvet-Laminated Paper Wrapping, Sleeves, Rigid Boxes Jewelry, cosmetics, luxury watches
10 Pearlescent Paper Gift Boxes, Sleeves, Premium Wraps Festive packaging, gourmet food, confections

 

What’s the Ideal Wrapping Paper Thickness for Premium Packaging?

60–100 GSM is ideally considered for elegant packaging. 100 – 170 GSM is the typical paper thickness that is used in outer wrappings. 170 to 250 GSM is the perfect paper thickness for luxuriously finished paper with soft-touch, silk, velvet, and many more laminations. However, there is a thickness breakdown of all the deluxe packaging papers used in the industry:

  • Tissue paper = 17 to 40 GSM
  • Standard wrapping paper = 60 to 80 GSM
  • Textured or embossed paper = 90 to 120 GSM
  • Art paper = 100 to 170 GSM
  • Specialty paper = 120 to 180 GSM
  • Velvet-laminated paper = 150 to 250 GSM
  • Ivory board = 230 to 350 GSM

Touch. Texture. Temptation: Famous Elegant Paper Finishes for Gift Boxes

The box’s looks and feels matter a lot in grabbing customers’ attention. They are the first thing that buyers come in contact with while purchasing a product. That’s why the luxury finish is everything when it comes to creating deluxe packaging. The following are some of the most famous premium coatings that add a memorable touch, texture, and temptation to the luxury packaging:

Soft-Touch / Velvet Lamination

It is smooth to touch and matte in appearance. Resembling a suede-like texture, soft-touch lamination is highly used in the custom packaging and printing industry. It gives an ultra-modern and luxurious touch to the product’s packaging and enhances a brand’s overall perceived value to boost sales and profitability.

Textured Linen Coating

It’s another high-end paper finishing option, known for top-notch woven patterns that resemble fine fabrics. It provides a classic, elegant, and timeless visual and tactile appeal to the packaging. Deluxe stationery boxes, wedding gift boxes, and bespoke branding packaging solutions usually feature this top-class coating to stand out on the store’s shelves.

Embossed / Debossed Paper Finishing

This premium-quality coating provides a luxurious raised and indented design pattern on the packaging material. It provides a custom, tactile, and brand-centric feel. It adds a high-end 3D visual impact to the packaging and grabs customers’ attention from long distances. Generally, embossed / debossed paper finishing is preferred for high-end corporate gifting and signature brand boxes’ packaging.

Pearlescent / Metallic Finish

It’s a top-grade coating option that offers a shimmery and light-reflecting surface to the packaging with a remarkable sheen effect. Pearlescent or metallic coating is ideal for a glamorous, festive, and high-end packaging appeal. If you have holiday editions, limited editions, or luxury retail, the pearlescent or metallic coating is the go-to option.

Matte Coated Lamination

This minimalist and chic coating provides a smooth, flat, and non-reflective surface for custom packaging boxes. The matte-coated lamination ensures a modern and refined look for the boxes. It’s highly recommended in the fashion, tech, and luxury lifestyle brands, providing the finest-quality packaging for the high-end products belonging to these industries.

Deluxe Glossy Coating

It makes the box surfaces shiny and reflective. Glossy coating has the potential to give a sleek, vibrant, and bold visual appeal to the product’s packaging. It enhances color vibrancy and gives a more polished and attention-grabbing shine.

Matte vs Glossy Paper for Packaging – A Compact yet Informative Comparison Table

Feature Matte Finish Gloss Finish
Appearance Soft, smooth, non-reflective Shiny, polished, high-reflective
Feel Velvety, smooth, subtle Slick, smooth, sleek
Color Output Muted tones, elegant look Vivid colors, high contrast
Scratch Resistance Better at hiding fingerprints/scratches More prone to fingerprints/scratches
Luxury Appeal Minimalist, understated sophistication Bold, eye-catching luxury
Best For Premium, eco, or artisan brands High-end retail, tech, beauty packaging

 

Best-In-Class Paper Options for the Interior Lining of Custom Packaging Boxes

Inside matters a lot! The luxe within the inside of custom-printed packaging boxes makes them look more luxurious and valuable. Here are some of the most-demanded and trending options in this regard:

  • High-quality tissue paper
  • Velvet-laminated paper
  • Textured paper
  • Pearlescent paper
  • Specialty printed paper
  • Uncoated natural paper
  • Metallic foil paper
  • Recycled paper
  • Japanese washi paper

Next-Level Outer Wrapping Options for a Luxurious Outer Surface of Bespoke Packaging Solutions

The box’s outer surface is the first thing to come in contact with customers. Therefore, you must pay heed to enhancing the overall visual appeal of your box’s outer body. The following are some of the most luxurious outer wrapping options for premium boxes:

  • Textured paper
  • Kraft paper
  • Matte-coated paper
  • Gloss-coated paper
  • Soft-touch laminated paper
  • Uncoated natural paper
  • Embossed/ debossed wraps

Some Outstanding Paper Options for Custom Shipping Boxes – Security & Elegance Altogether

Let’s ensure your product’s safety throughout the transit route. Opt for the durable and sustainable packaging papers to earn customers’ trust and build your brand’s memorable and positive reputation in the market. The following are some of the popular options that you can opt for to ensure a product’s safe shipping and stand out:

  • Virgin Kraft paper
  • Fluted corrugated paper
  • Double/triple-walled corrugated paperboard
  • PE-coated paper
  • High-density paperboard

Fabulous & Luxurious Paper Types for Custom Display Boxes – Eye-Catching Presentation, More Sales!

Your product’s elegant presentation has the potential to impress buyers and compel them to make repeat purchases. Custom-printed packaging papers are the go-to choices to add more visual appeal and structural support to packaging boxes. Below are some luxurious and fabulous papers that are ideally used for packaging premium boxes. Have a look at them to make an informed decision:

  • Gloss, matte, and satin artistic papers
  • Ivory board
  • CCNB
  • Kraft paper
  • Duplex board
  • Textured paper
  • Grey board
  • Soft-touch or velvet-laminated paper

Best Papers for Shipping vs Display Boxes – A Brief Tabular Explanation

Purpose Recommended Paper Types Key Benefits
Shipping Boxes - Virgin Kraft Paper (Kraftliner)
- Corrugated Fluting Paper
- Testliner Paper
- White Top Kraft Liner
- PE-Coated Paper
✔ High strength
✔ Impact & moisture resistance
✔ Eco-friendly options
Display Boxes - Art Paper (Gloss/Matte)
- Ivory Board / SBS
- Textured Paper (Linen, Embossed)
- Duplex Board
- Pearlescent or Soft-Touch Paper
✔ Premium print quality
✔ Elegant finish
✔ High visual & tactile appeal

 

From Fashion to Food – The Top Paper Preferences to Stand Out!

Different industries, different papers. Here’s who uses what:

Paper Packaging for Jewelry Boxes – Premium Paper Types

  • Velvet-laminated paper
  • Textured paper
  • Pearlescent paper
  • Art paper
  • Black Kraft paper
  • Soft-touch coated paper
  • Recycled luxury paper

Premium Paper for Cosmetic Box Packaging – Luxury at its Peak

  • Glossy paper
  • Matte paper
  • Soft-touch papers
  • Satin papers
  • Black or white Kraft papers
  • Metallic foil and holographic papers

The Best Paper Wrapping for Gourmet Gift Boxes – A Memorable Appeal

  • Linen paper
  • Ribbed paper
  • Ivory board
  • Duplex board
  • Recycled luxury paper
  • Art paper

Boutique Product Packaging Paper Options – Stunning Box Appearance at Hand!

  • Handmade paper
  • Art paper
  • Pearlescent paper
  • Recycled premium paper
  • SBS paperboard
  • Embossed paper
  • Kraft paper

Concluding Words

To wrap up, we have found that countless high-grade paper materials are present for packaging luxurious custom boxes. Each industry has a specific paper type as per the industrial requirements. Moreover, each paper type has specific thickness and qualities to better meet your custom needs and demands. If you are looking for these high-end packaging paper types, feel free to get in touch with us. At CPP Boxes, we offer a 100-unit minimum order quantity of luxury boxes featuring deluxe packaging paper at wholesale rates. Contact us at 888-395-0493 or quotes@cppboxes.com to get started right now.

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Blake Harper

Packaging Engineer

Blake Harper is an experienced and dedicated packaging engineer with a deep passion for creating innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective packaging solutions. He holds a degree in Packaging Engineering, where he gained a strong foundation in materials science, product design, and manufacturing processes. With years of hands-on experience, Blake has honed his skills in optimizing packaging designs for a wide range of industries, including consumer goods, electronics, and food packaging.

Currently, Blake has been with CPP Boxes, a leading packaging solutions provider, for several years, where he has played a key role in designing packaging that balances functionality, cost efficiency, and sustainability. His work at CPP Boxes has involved designing protective packaging, improving supply chain logistics, and developing eco-friendly solutions that reduce waste and environmental impact.

Blake's expertise lies in selecting the right materials, creating structural designs that maximize protection and minimize costs, and ensuring that packaging meets both consumer expectations and industry standards. His approach integrates creativity with technical know-how, always striving for solutions that are both practical and innovative.

Passionate about environmental sustainability, Blake is always exploring new ways to incorporate eco-friendly practices into his work. He is committed to advancing packaging technologies and methodologies that reduce waste, improve recyclability, and contribute to a more sustainable future. Throughout his career, Blake has become known for his strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and his ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams to meet project goals.

Innovations in Custom Boxes