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Buyer guidesKraft vs. White SBS: Choosing Your Carrier Board & Finish
After format and print method, the board itself is the choice that most changes how your six-pack carrier looks and what it says about your brand. Natural kraft and bright white SBS sit at opposite ends on color reproduction, feel, and story, and each pairs naturally with a different kind of craft brand.
Here’s how to choose the board and finish that fit your artwork and your positioning.
What natural kraft board does best
Kraft is warm, tactile, and unmistakably craft. Its natural brown tone reads as authentic, local, and small-batch the instant it’s picked up, and it’s the honest choice for a sustainability or farmhouse story — especially uncoated and recyclable. The trade-off is color: printing on kraft mutes and warms your colors, so it suits earthy palettes and one- or two-color marks better than bright, photographic artwork.
What white SBS board does best
White SBS (solid bleached sulphate) gives you a bright, smooth, neutral surface that reproduces color accurately and vividly. If your brand relies on specific bright colors, gradients, or photographic artwork, white board is the substrate that makes them pop. It’s the choice for a modern, colorful, shelf-competitive look — and it takes matte, gloss, and soft-touch finishes beautifully.
How finish changes the read
The coating is the finishing move. Matte reads premium and understated; gloss makes colors punch and signals energy; soft-touch adds a velvety, high-end tactile feel that’s become shorthand for premium in craft. Uncoated keeps kraft natural and recyclable. The same artwork on the same board can feel budget or premium depending on the finish, so choose it deliberately.
Matching board to your brand story
As a rule of thumb: kraft for heritage, local, and eco-forward brands with earthy palettes; white SBS for modern, colorful, and photographic brands that need color accuracy. Many producers run kraft for an eco or farmhouse line and white SBS for a bright flagship — and we keep both dies on file so switching between them season to season is quick.
| Factor | Natural kraft | White SBS |
|---|---|---|
| Color range | Warm, muted | Bright, accurate, vivid |
| Best artwork | 1–2 color, earthy | Full color, photographic |
| Story | Craft, local, eco | Modern, colorful, premium |
| Finish options | Uncoated / natural | Matte, gloss, soft-touch |
| Recyclability | Recyclable / compostable-friendly | Recyclable (finish dependent) |
Not sure which board fits your artwork? Send us your label and palette and we’ll mock it up on both kraft and white SBS so you can see the difference before you commit.