Choosing the Right Custom Printed Tape for Your Packaging Needs

Packaging is all about the details. Custom printed tape does more than seal boxes and keep products secure during delivery. It promotes your brand, leaving a strong impression on customers - and anyone else who comes into contact with it.

Tape Jungle provides custom printed tape to suit a variety of needs. Even better, we pair strength with style to give you the perfect solutions for your brand. Whether you need cost-effective polypropylene tape, eco-friendly water-activated tape, or durable PVC options, our products are reliable and easy to customize.

This article breaks down Tape Jungle's offerings, so you can choose the right custom printed tape for your brand and packaging needs.

Standard Polypropylene (Poly Pro) Tape

Custom printed polypropylene (Poly Pro) Tape is durable, versatile, and affordable. It's a reliable solution for businesses of all sizes. You'll get a strong solution at a budget-friendly price.

The Basics: Poly Pro Tape

Custom Poly Pro tape is a glossy, cost-effective option that's good for large and small packaging volumes. Businesses can customize it to meet their brand style while staying confident it'll get the job done, sealing and protecting contents.

Unlike the other two tapes discussed, you can apply Poly Pro tape with either a handheld gun or a machine dispenser. It comes in machine-grade as well as standard rolls.

Don't let the low price point fool you. This custom packing tape holds tightly to boxes and doesn't tear. Four different grades allow you to choose the intensity you want, selecting between different thicknesses and adhesives.

Another plus is that Poly Pro tape can show finely detailed designs, giving you more creative freedom with your fonts and artwork.

Technical Details: Poly Pro Tape

Poly Pro tape has a glossy finish with 85-90% opacity, so some of the underlying package will show through. It's available in each of the following grades:

• General Purpose (1.9 Mil): Perfect for day-to-day use, handling packages weighing between 1-30 lbs.
• Hi-Tak (1.9 Mil): Built for more challenging conditions, its aggressive adhesive works well in cold or slick environments.
• Heavy Duty (2.5 Mil): Offers increased tensile strength, accommodating packages from 30-50 lbs.
• Industrial (3.0 Mil): Designed for the heaviest loads, it supports packages weighing up to 90 lbs, ensuring maximum durability. Only available in a clear base color.

Other than the industrial grade, Poly Pro tape comes in clear, tan, and white base colors.

Who Should Use Poly Pro Tape?

Poly Pro tape is a dependable, all-purpose solution across industries. It's the perfect tape for startups with tight shipping budgets, industrial warehouses handling heavy volumes, and people who want the perfect balance of quality and affordability.

Businesses looking to simplify their packaging processes can use Poly Pro for all their shipping needs. It's also lightweight, minimizing the impact on shipping weight when every ounce matters.

Even pharmaceutical companies and food distribution centers can use Poly Pro tape, but note that cold storage requires the Hi-Tak grade.

Premium Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Tape

Premium Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) tape is a great choice for upscale branding. Its sleek finish and high-quality feel help brands make their packaging stand out.

You may know PVC tape from other applications. Businesses and individuals often use it for tasks like electrical work and industrial maintenance, depending on the thicknesses. Branded PVC shipping tape takes advantage of the same insulation, flexibility, and environmental resistance to protect your packages in transit and storage.

The Basics: Premium PVC Tape

Brands choose PVC tape for its elegant appearance and long-lasting strength. It has a flat, mostly opaque finish, giving parcels a polished look.

It'll keep those clean lines through tough conditions like cold temperatures, wet environments, and bumpy journeys. The natural rubber adhesive clings to uneven surfaces and lasts as long as you need it to.

PVC tape comes with certain design considerations. Lines are softer than on Poly Pro or paper tape. This means that the smallest details can get lost. Choose a simple, streamlined aesthetic with larger shapes and plenty of space between colors or design elements.

Technical Details: Premium PVC Tape

Custom PVC tape is available in two grades:

• Heavy Duty (2.2 Mil): Good for most uses, including packages that weigh up to 50 lbs. The tape has a total thickness of 52 microns and is highly opaque with 5% transparency.
• Industrial (3.2 Mil): Even thicker tape (80.5 microns total thickness and only 3% transparency) for packages from 50-90 lbs.

Both grades come in tan, white, and clear colors on which you can print your design.

Who Should Use Premium PVC Tape?

Premium PVC tape is perfect for brands that care about appearance and performance. Its flexibility means you can use it on irregular packages, and the intense stickiness helps it adhere to rough or recycled materials.

Businesses looking to elevate their image like the smooth finish, which adds a touch of professionalism and sophistication. This can be especially important for businesses that cater to upscale clients or high-end products.

It's a good fit for quiet office settings, too. The soft texture and quiet release make PVC tape a less noisy option than Poly Pro, which can create a loud ripping sound as you unroll it.

However, you'll need to use a handheld tape gun, so it may not be best for businesses with high-volume, machine-applied packaging.

Water-Activated Paper Tape

Water-activated paper tape is a sustainable packaging solution that doesn't sacrifice when it comes to the tape's appearance or performance. It stays secure once applied and can be printed with your design. The tape is fully recyclable, so your customers don't need to remove it before recycling their boxes.

You will need a specialized dispenser for water-activated tape. It can't be applied by hand.

The Basics: Water-Activated Paper Tape

Water-activated tape needs moisture to activate its adhesive backing, creating a secure, tamper-evident seal that sticks tightly to cardboard. It's especially useful for sealing heavy or bulky boxes, as the adhesive becomes even stronger over time.

Often called gummed tape, it has an adhesive that activates with water to create a strong bond with packaging. The adhesive, usually made from natural starch or water-based materials, gives the tape its "gummed" quality. Once applied, the bond is extremely durable and tamper-evident, showing damage if disturbed.

While "paper" may sound flimsy, fiberglass reinforcement and strong Kraft paper keep it from tearing. Depending on the grade you choose, the tape can handle packages up to 90 lbs. The reinforced fibers also help the tape last. It isn't the best choice for extreme conditions, but it can handle some humidity and temperature change.

Technical Details: Water-Activated Paper Tape

This tape comes in three grades:

• General Purpose: Good for packages up to 30 lbs.
• Heavy Duty: Tighter and thicker fiberglass reinforcement to handle packages from 30-60 lbs.
• Industrial: Even denser reinforcement for packages from 60-90 lbs.

All grades are opaque and can be printed on white or tan bases. The final appearance is matte, not shiny.

Who Should Choose Water-Activated Tape?

This custom paper tape is great for businesses that value sustainability and want to highlight their commitment to eco-friendly practices. It's perfect for sealing and shipping boxes in e-commerce, retail, or any industry aiming to make an environmentally conscious statement with their packaging.

More and more people care about green initiatives. Water-activated paper tape is strong, reliable, and made from eco-friendly and recycled materials. It reduces your environmental impact, supports global efforts to cut down on waste, and shows your customers that you're making ecologically responsible choices.

Join the prominent brands that embrace eco-friendly packaging. Patagonia, well-known for its commitment to the planet, insists on using sustainable packaging for its outdoor gear. Over the years, they've built trust and loyalty among eco-aware customers. The biggest e-commerce brand around, Amazon, has also shifted towards using paper-based, recyclable materials to reduce its plastic waste footprint.

However, water-activated paper tape probably isn't a good option for parcels that stay in extremely cold temperatures for long periods of time. Poly Pro Hi-Tak and PVC tape hold up better in wet or frigid conditions.

Digital Printed Custom Tape

Once you've picked your tape, it's time to customize it with digital printing. Turn ordinary packaging into visually striking boxes and other parcels.

Today's printing technology is far from older analog methods that often limit color and complexity. Digital printing expands your design options and provides a quicker, more flexible production process.

Stunning High-Precision Designs

Say goodbye to basic, bland tape. Custom digitally printed tape allows for detailed logos, images, and text that pop with vivid, full-color designs.

When ordering, you can choose between:

• A neutral background
• Floodcoat (two colors, a darker color on a lighter background)
• Reverse print (a lighter color against a darker background)

Other choices include the level of detail your design demands and its bleed. If standard isn't enough, try fine detail printing, and you can pick either a standard bleed - with a small border between your design and the tape's edges - or a full bleed that extends the design to cover the full surface.

Multiple Options for Versatility and Affordability

Businesses can choose between the tape materials above and find one that suits their needs. If budgets are a concern, you can minimize cost with a single color on a neutral background. Selecting one of our standard color backgrounds is also less expensive than custom Pantone colors. You'll also pay extra for custom ink colors we don't regularly stock.

There's no minimum order, but you'll pay less per roll with bulk orders. On the other hand, more hesitant shoppers can reduce their risk with a smaller initial commitment. You'll also get the chance to approve a digital proof from our designers before committing to your order. Before you approve, you can cancel or edit at any time.

Consistency is important. Your custom branded tape should go perfectly with the rest of your visual assets. Once you've set up your account and created your first design, reordering is easy, and you'll save money and reinforce brand recognition by reusing your plate.

Limitless Possibilities

On the other hand, brands aiming for maximum impact can really elevate their brand with custom tape.

Let your design shine, and use up to three color inks on the background of your choice. You will want to leave a small gap between inks - 2mm for two colors and 3mm for three - to keep colors from bleeding into each other. Full color paper tape will even accommodate edge-to-edge designs.

Custom printed tape can also other functional purposes. You can use tape to share important messaging about handling or direct customers with contact details or QR codes.

Be memorable with unique packaging that builds trust and recognition. Eye-catching designs may even encourage customers to share their packages on social media, extending your brand's reach with little effort.

Find the Perfect Custom Tape for Your Needs

The right custom printed tape will improve your branding and shipping in one fell swoop.

At a glance, your options are:

• Poly Pro Tape: Glossy with sharp details, the affordable option for everyday packaging needs, start-up brands, and those on a budget.
• PVC Tape: Flat with softer details, ideal for medium to long-term storage, cold temperatures, and brands wanting a more polished appearance.
• Paper Tape: Matte with sharp details, the eco-friendly option for brands with more lightweight packages and a high commitment to sustainability.

Each tape type has its strengths, so it's important to focus on what matters most for your business. Think about the style that's most appropriate to your brand as well as practical considerations like storage conditions and budget.

Want to see what your tape will look like once it's printed and applied to a box? Check out our 3D design tool. You can upload your images and play with the colors and background. You can also select different tape types to make sure that your design pops on the chosen material. See what your logo looks like on PVC tape, paper tape, and Poly Pro.

If you want to feel a sample or inquire about options, contact us, and we'll get right back to you. We can't wait to help you take your packaging to the next level.