What's the minimum recommended border thickness for printing?

Thin borders are one of the most common causes of a design looking off-center, so keep any border at least 0.25 inch thick. During printing and trimming a piece can move up to 1/16 inch, which is within standard printing tolerance but enough to make a hairline border look uneven from one side to the other.

• 0.25 inch or thicker: recommended, absorbs normal trim movement and stays even
• 0.125 inch or less: not recommended, small shifts become very visible

A border of 0.125 inch or thinner can still print, but trim variance within normal tolerance may leave it looking uneven, and printers do not usually treat that as a defect. Centering the whole design and giving the border a little extra room is the safest approach.