Box styles3 min readUpdated Nov 13, 2026

Sleeves

A sleeve is a tube or a band of board that slips over a box or a product and stays open at both ends. It can be the outer half of a drawer box, or a printed band that dresses up a plain box.

A sleeve with a drawer inside

Our drawer box is a trayTray A base with walls and no lid. Its strength is in its corners, which lock, glue or fold. that slides out of a sleeve, like a matchbox. The tray locks without glue. The sleeve is one strip of board: four panels and a glue flapGlue flap A narrow flap at the end of the row of panels that the box maker glues to the last panel, turning the sheet into a tube. along one edge, glued into a tube. Both pieces come on one PDF, the tray on the left and the sleeve on the right.

You type the tray's length, width and height, creaseCrease A fold line pressed into board so it bends cleanly, also called a score. Dashed green on our dielines. to crease. The sleeve is worked out from them and from the board thicknessBoard thickness How thick the board is, in mm, also called caliper. Type it into a box's dieline and the details around the folds follow it.: a little longer than the tray, and about 1 mm roomier in width and height once the board itself is allowed for. So the drawer slides without forcing and without rattling. Pick a thicker board and the sleeve grows a little; the tray's creases stay where they are.

The glue flap closes the tube at a corner, inside the last side panel, so the top of the sleeve is one unbroken panel for your artwork.

A band over a box

A sleeve doesn't have to hold a drawer. A printed band slipped over a closed box does a few jobs:

• One plain box in stock, many sleeves: print a sleeve for each flavour, colour or season and keep the box the same.
• It holds a separate lid down, on a box with lid for example.
• It gives you room for more: product details, an offer, or a windowWindow A hole cut so the product shows through the pack, often with clear film glued over it from the inside. that shows what is inside.
• With no box at all, it can hold folded towels or clothes, or a few items bundled together.

The printer can glue a band into a tube that ships flat and opens in your hand, or send it as a strip you wrap round the box and close with glue or a sticky strip.

We don't draw a separate band for our other boxes. Your printer draws one from the box's outside size, which is a little bigger than the crease to crease size you typed: see inside and outside sizes.

Board and print

Clear plastic lets the product show through, and a heavy product may want corrugated board. For most sleeves, though, paperboardPaperboard Thin, stiff board in one solid sheet, well under a millimetre thick. It folds cleanly and takes fine print: the board of shop shelves. is enough: it wraps neatly and prints well. Our drawer box starts on 0.4 mm paperboard; Paperboard basics explains the grades.

A sleeve's artwork runs round the tube, across four panels. Check on the drawing which panel ends up on top before you place the front, and keep small text away from the folds.

The band round a takeaway coffee cup is a sleeve too, but a different piece: a curved band cut to the cup's shape. That one is our cup sleeve.

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