Custom Printed Tissue Paper

What is custom printed tissue paper made of?

Custom printed tissue paper is a very light, thin paper, typically in the range of roughly 14 to 35 g/m², printed with a logo or repeat pattern and supplied as flat sheets or as rolls. It is made from virgin or recycled cellulose fibre on a paper machine and is most often printed by flexography with water-based inks.

Wrapping tissue is not the same product as hygiene tissue (toilet paper, facial tissue) or napkin tissue. Wrapping tissue is made to be folded, creased and handled without tearing, so it is usually flat or lightly finished rather than deeply creped, and it is not designed to absorb liquid. The fibre can be bleached white, left unbleached (kraft tone), dyed through the pulp to a solid colour, or made from recycled fibre. Each of these changes appearance, strength and how ink looks on the surface.

The practical properties a buyer actually feels are:

• Weight (grammage, in g/m²): drives opacity, strength, rustle and how many sheets come in a kilogram.
• Surface finish: matt on both sides (often called machine finished, MF) or glossy on one side (machine glazed, MG).
• Fibre and colour: virgin or recycled, white, kraft, coloured or black.
• Format: flat sheets, folded sheets, or rolls for counter dispensing or in-house cutting.
• Print: how many colours, what coverage and where the logo sits.

Which tissue paper grade and weight should you choose?

For most boutique, apparel and gift packaging, a white or coloured tissue of roughly 17 to 25 g/m² is the working range: lighter sheets are translucent and economical, heavier sheets feel more substantial and resist tearing on sharp corners. Surface finish and fibre type matter less to the customer than weight, but they matter a great deal for jewellery, textiles and food.

Weights are indicative: mills and converters use different base papers, and a nominal 20 g/m² sheet from two suppliers can look and feel different. The full comparison, including why a heavier sheet is not always the better buy, is in tissue paper GSM and grades: MG, MF, acid-free and recycled. If you need to convert grams per square metre to US pounds, the paper weight converter does it, and the wider grade picture is in packaging paper grades explained.

What print options are there: 1-colour, 2-colour or full-colour?

Most printed tissue is one or two colours: a logo, a line of text or an all-over repeat pattern in flat inks. Full-colour (four-colour process) printing is possible on tissue, but the soft, absorbent surface blurs fine detail and makes tight registration harder, so photographs and small text rarely look as they do on coated paper.

The print process, ink transfer and artwork rules are in printing on tissue paper: colours, coverage and ink transfer. For napkin tissue, which is thinner and creped, the limits are in printing logos on napkins. The wider comparison of flexo, offset, gravure and digital is in flexo vs offset vs gravure vs digital printing, and colour matching in Pantone vs CMYK.

Should the logo be an all-over pattern or a single placed logo?

An all-over repeat is the safest choice for sheet tissue, because the sheet is cut after printing and a repeat does not depend on where the cut falls. A single placed logo looks cleaner but has to be positioned, and cutting tolerance can shift it slightly from sheet to sheet.

A scattered or tiled logo at moderate spacing hides small cutting shifts and looks deliberate whichever way the sheet is folded. A single centred logo suits a larger sheet used flat over a product, where the logo lands face-up as the customer opens the pack. Ask the printer how a placed logo is positioned relative to the cut and what variation is normal; that detail belongs in the quotation, not in a surprise at delivery.

Coloured, black and kraft tissue: what changes?

Coloured tissue is usually dyed through the pulp or printed as a solid, and black tissue is the most demanding because it shows every mark and gives the least room for a printed logo. The main decisions are the base colour, how well the colour stays put when the sheet gets damp, and whether a second print colour will show.

Dark tissue that rubs off on a white garment or a wet hand causes customer complaints, so put colour stability in the specification. Ask for a colour-fastness or non-bleeding statement and test a sample against a damp white cloth. On black, white, pale and metallic inks are only partly opaque on the absorbent surface, so a test print is needed before the run is approved. Kraft-toned tissue, from unbleached or recycled fibre, suits natural and handmade brand identities and tends to make a one-colour dark logo look sharp. Coloured and black tissue are also where recycling questions are asked most often, which is covered in is tissue paper recyclable.

Sheets or rolls? Sizes and how to plan quantity

Choose sheets when packers wrap by hand at a bench and want a consistent, pre-cut size; choose rolls when packers cut to length at a counter or from a dispenser, or when item sizes vary a lot. Tissue is commonly quoted and traded by weight, so it pays to convert kilograms to sheets before comparing offers.

Common sheet sizes for wrapping tissue include 50 x 70 cm, 50 x 75 cm, 70 x 100 cm and 75 x 100 cm, with US buyers often working in inches such as 20 x 30 in. Custom sizes are normally possible, and half and quarter sheets of the larger formats are widely used. The weight of one sheet is its area multiplied by the grammage, which turns a price per kilogram into a price per sheet:

These figures cover the paper only and ignore ink, moisture and tolerance. The sizing method, the roll-weight formula and a worked per-order example are in tissue paper sizes: sheets, rolls and how much you need per order.

Where is printed tissue paper used, and how is it wrapped?

Printed tissue goes inside shopping bags and mailer boxes in apparel, jewellery, cosmetics, homeware and gift retail, between layers of products in e-commerce shipments, and around baked goods and deli items where a food-suitable grade is specified. The way it is folded and sealed affects both the unboxing and the seconds spent per order.

Three common methods are a full wrap sealed with a sticker, a loose fold-over inside the box or bag, and a lined layer with the product placed on top and the tissue folded closed. Each has a different sheet size and a different packing time. The comparison, with fold instructions and a way to time them, is in how to wrap products in tissue paper. Tissue works best as part of a set: the box and its inside print are covered in custom printed mailer boxes and inside printing and unboxing design, the seal in custom printed stickers and labels, and the card on top in hang tags and thank-you cards.

For bakery and food retail, plain tissue is a light wrap or separator, not a grease barrier. Where food is greasy or hot, custom printed greaseproof paper is the correct material, and packaging for bakeries and bakery chains covers the wider format set.

Is printed tissue paper food-safe and recyclable?

Tissue is a paper product, so plain and lightly printed tissue is generally accepted in paper recycling where local rules allow, and it can be used around food only if the supplier confirms food-contact compliance for the specific paper and inks. Neither point is automatic.

Recyclability depends on what is added to the paper: foil, metallic or glitter effects, plastic coating, and heavy soiling with food or grease reduce or remove it. Food contact depends on the fibre, the inks and the print position, and in the EU it sits under Regulation (EC) 1935/2004, with BfR Recommendation XXXVI as the usual benchmark for paper. FSC wording needs a certified supplier and approved use of the label. The detail, with the claims to avoid, is in is tissue paper recyclable: food contact, FSC and coloured tissue. General background is in food-contact packaging compliance in the EU, UK and US and recyclable, compostable and biodegradable packaging: what the claims mean.

What is printed tissue paper called in each market?

Quotation requests are clearer when buyer and supplier use the same word, and the word changes by country.

In Dutch retail, vloeipapier is the usual word for wrapping tissue, although zijdepapier is also understood. Napkin tissue is a separate product and a separate search term in every market.

What goes into a quotation request for printed tissue paper?

A request that states weight, size, format, colours, print coverage and annual use can be quoted without a second round of questions. Send artwork or a clear brand reference, the products to be wrapped, and where the tissue will be used.

• Grade and weight: MF or MG, white, kraft, coloured or black, virgin or recycled, target g/m² or a reference sample.
• Format: sheets or rolls; sheet size or roll width and length; folded or flat.
• Print: number of colours, Pantone references, all-over repeat or placed logo, approximate coverage.
• Use: apparel, jewellery, e-commerce, bakery or food retail; any food contact or acid-free requirement.
• Claims: recyclable, FSC or recycled-content wording you plan to use on or around the pack.
• Volume and delivery: expected annual use, delivery country and any palletisation needs.

Quantities, cost and timing depend on the combination of paper, size, print and run, and are explained in what determines MOQ, packaging cost drivers and packaging lead times. The full request format is in the packaging RFQ guide, and importing from Istanbul is covered in sourcing packaging from Türkiye.

Related production guide and terms

Tissue is printed on the reel, typically by flexography, and then sheeted or rewound, a route related to the one described in how greaseproof wraps and printed napkins are made; the overall process is in how custom printed packaging is made. Terms such as grammage, machine glazed and set-off are defined in the packaging glossary. The wider range of branding items sits under branding and retail accessories.

When you are ready to specify, send your tissue paper requirements through the contact page with the checklist above, and the specification will be reviewed with you before production.