Kraft vs Recycled vs Standard Hang Tags Compared by Stock, Color and Cost
Three tags, three papers, one decision. Here is what each stock does to your colors, your hardware options and your first invoice.
Standard hang tags win on flexibility, with 20 stocks, 7 sizes, both hole sizes and $25.27 for 50. Kraft wins only when brown uncoated paper is itself the message, and it costs a 100 tag minimum, no coating and a white ink layer if your logo has white in it. Recycled sits between them: 100% post-consumer stock at the standard price, on near white paper so color still prints true. The deciding question is whether the paper has a job to do beyond carrying ink.
Quick answer
The paper decides more than the price does
All three print full color, drill a hanging hole and ship on a 5 business day standard turnaround. What changes is the surface. Kraft is a single 18pt uncoated brown stock made from 100% post-consumer waste, and because ink is translucent it turns every white in your artwork into bare paper unless you buy the white ink layer. Recycled gives you the same recycled content on a near white 13pt uncoated cover, so color behaves. Standard opens the full 20 stock list, both hole sizes, five drilling positions and same day rush. Kraft alone carries a 100 tag minimum instead of 50.
What Actually Separates the Three Stocks
Strip the marketing away and the three tags differ on four things: how many stocks you can choose from, what the paper color does to your ink, what hardware and finishing you can order, and how small a first run can be.
| Kraft Hangtags | Recycled Hang Tags | Standard Hang Tags | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock choice | One only, 18pt Kraft Uncoated Cover, 100% post-consumer waste. | 20 stocks, headlined by a 13pt uncoated cover in 100% post-consumer waste, plus 30% PCW gloss, uncoated and cream. | 20 stocks, 14pt gloss cover as standard, through soft touch, white linen, metallic pearl, 15pt synthetic and 18pt rigid vinyl. |
| Ink setups | 4/0, 4/4, plus 5/0 and 5/5 that add a white ink layer under the color. | 4/0, 4/1 and 4/4. | 4/0, 4/1 and 4/4. |
| Coating | Uncoated, no coating offered. | Standard finish or High Gloss UV Coating. | Standard finish or High Gloss UV Coating. |
| Sizes | 8 presets, 1.5 by 3.5 inches up to 2.125 by 3.375 inches, custom to 2 by 6 inches. | 7 presets, 2 by 2 inches up to 4 by 6 inches, custom to 4 by 6 inches. | 7 presets, 2 by 2 inches up to 4 by 6 inches, custom from 2 to 4 wide by 2 to 6 tall. |
| Hole | Single 1/8 inch, 2 positions. | 1/8 or 3/16 inch, 5 positions. | 1/8 or 3/16 inch, 5 positions. |
| Entry price | $57.96 for 100. | $25.27 for 50. | $25.27 for 50. |
| Fastest rush | 2 business days. | Same day, cutoff noon Eastern. | Same day, cutoff noon Eastern. |
Read the first row and the last row together. Kraft is a specialist: one paper, fewer sizes, one hole size, a shorter rush ladder and a larger minimum. You are not paying for a worse tag, you are paying for a stock that runs on its own schedule. Everything else in the range lives on the shared 20 stock platform, which is why standard hang tags and recycled hang tags share a price and an option list.
Why Brown Kraft Changes Your Artwork and Recycled Does Not
Press ink is translucent. It adds color to a sheet, it never adds white. That single fact explains almost every surprise people get on brown stock.
Put a logo with a white knockout on kraft and the white does not print at all. What you get is bare brown paper in the shape of your letters, which can look excellent on a soap wrapper and disastrous on a health claim that has to stay legible. Colors shift the same way: the brown reads through the ink, so a cyan goes teal, a warm red goes brick, and a pale tint almost disappears. Nothing has gone wrong on press. The paper is doing what brown paper does.
The fix is the fifth unit. Choosing the 5/0 setup lays white ink down first on the front and prints the color on top of it, which is why a kraft tag can carry a clean white mark and a bright brand color. Order 5/5 when both sides need it. Our guide to how color prints on kraft paper shows the same effect on other kraft products.
Recycled hang tags dodge the whole problem, because the 13pt uncoated stock is near white rather than brown. Color lands close to your proof. The only real shift is a small one that every uncoated sheet produces: the fiber drinks a little ink, so a solid reads slightly softer and a fine screen fills in a touch compared to the same file on gloss. Designers who have compared kraft and standard business cards will recognize both behaviours immediately.
Hole Size, Hand Feel and the Things Nobody Checks Until Delivery
The stock decision quietly settles a set of practical questions, and they are the ones that generate reprints.
- String thickness. A 1/8 inch hole is about 3mm. Thin bakers twine or fine hemp passes through doubled and knots comfortably, and a light round elastic loop goes through single. Anything thicker needs the 3/16 inch hole, which kraft does not offer. Pick your cord before you pick your stock, not after.
- Where the tag hangs. Kraft drills top center or left side middle. Standard and recycled add top left, top right and left side bottom, which matters when a tag has to sit flat against a folded garment instead of swinging from a hook.
- Writing on the tag. Uncoated kraft and uncoated recycled take a stamp, a pencil or a ballpoint cleanly. High Gloss UV rejects all of them. If a stallholder is going to write a size or a price by hand, an uncoated panel is not a style choice.
- Stiffness against size. Kraft is 18pt, so it stays rigid even at its longest 2 by 6 inch custom size. The 13pt recycled cover is thinner, and at 4 by 6 inches a 13pt tag will bend in a shopper's hand. For a big recycled tag, move up the stock list or choose ultra thick kraft hangtags instead.
- Shape. All three are rectangles with drilled corners. If the outline is part of the brand, that is a different product: die-cut hangtags cut to your own shape.
Sizing is the other half of this. Our complete hang tag size guide covers what actually fits on each preset, and you can lay artwork straight onto a correctly sized file from the blank template library.
The Verdict, and Which One to Put in the Cart
Order standard hang tags unless you have a specific reason not to. Twenty stocks, seven sizes, both hole sizes, five drilling positions, same day rush if you need it, and $25.27 for a first set of 50. It is the widest set of choices at the lowest entry price, and a brown design printed on white stock will imitate kraft closely enough for most shelves.
Order kraft when the paper itself is the message. Soap, candles, coffee, hand-thrown ceramics, anything sold on the idea that a person made it. A kraft tag communicates before a shopper reads a word, and no printed brown rectangle on a coated sheet feels quite the same between finger and thumb. Accept the trade: one stock, no coating, a 100 tag minimum, and a white ink line item if your logo needs white.
Order recycled when the sustainability claim is the point but the brown is not. Cosmetics, childrenswear, anything with a photograph or a precise brand color on the tag. You keep 100% post-consumer content and legible color at the same time, at the same price as standard. If you are weighing the wider claim, our guide to choosing an eco friendly printing service covers what to check before you print a recycling symbol on anything.
For apparel specifically, the tag has to carry size, care and fiber content as well as a logo, so read what a clothing hang tag has to include before you commit to a small preset. Ready to compare finishes side by side? The hang tags printing range lists all 33 styles, and what hang tags are covers the format from the beginning.
Wally explains the three hang tag stocks
Same file, three papers, three different results
Wally prints one logo three times. On brown kraft the ink goes see-through, so the white in the logo comes out as plain brown paper and the colors turn warm. On the near white recycled cover the color lands close to the proof, just a shade softer because uncoated paper drinks ink. On white gloss it matches the proof best of all. Want white on kraft anyway? Ask for the 5/0 setup and Wally lays white ink down first, then prints the color on top.
Compare every hang tag stock →Specs and pricing
The three stocks, side by side with live options
Stock lists, sizes, hole choices and starting prices pulled straight from the 4OVER4.COM configurator, so you can see exactly what changes between them before you order.
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Common Questions
Your hang tag stock questions, answered
Which hang tag stock is cheapest to get started with?
Standard hang tags and recycled hang tags both open at $25.27 for a set of 50, which is just over 50 cents a tag. Kraft hangtags open at $57.96, but that buys 100 tags rather than 50, because 100 is the smallest kraft run we press. So kraft is only slightly dearer per tag, around 58 cents at its minimum, while costing more than twice as much on the first invoice. On any of the three the per tag price keeps falling as the run grows, down to roughly 3 cents a tag at 100,000 on standard.
Do I have to add white ink to a kraft hang tag?
Only if your artwork depends on white or on accurate color. Press ink adds color, it never adds white, so on brown kraft a white logo simply prints as bare paper and a bright red drifts toward brick. If that stamped, natural look is the point, order the plain 4/0 setup and save the money. If you need a crisp white mark or a color that matches a brand guide, choose the 5/0 setup for the front only or 5/5 for both sides, which lays a white ink base down first and prints the color on top of it.
Are recycled hang tags genuinely recycled?
The headline stock is a 13pt uncoated cover made from 100% post-consumer waste, meaning paper that people already used and put in a bin, not mill offcuts. Alongside it sit 30% post-consumer gloss, uncoated and cream options for people who want a coated surface and still want a recycled claim they can print on the tag. Kraft hangtags are also 100% post-consumer waste, so if the recycled content is the whole argument, both stocks qualify and the choice comes down to whether you want brown or near white.
Can I get a gloss finish on kraft hang tags?
No. Kraft runs on one uncoated stock and stays uncoated, which is exactly why it feels the way it does. If you want shine on the tag, standard and recycled both offer High Gloss UV Coating over the print, and the standard range also carries 24pt ultra thick gloss cover for a heavier card. Wanting both a brown paper look and a glossy surface usually means you actually want a printed brown design on a coated white stock, and that is a standard hang tag with brown artwork.
Which stock can a customer or a shop write on?
The uncoated ones. Both kraft and the 13pt recycled uncoated cover take a rubber stamp, a pencil, a marker or a ballpoint without skidding or smearing, which matters for market stalls, made-to-order pieces and anything priced by hand. Gloss and High Gloss UV surfaces resist ink, so a pen sits on top and rubs off. If part of the tag is meant to be filled in later, keep that panel uncoated or move the whole job to an uncoated stock.
How fast can each one ship?
All three run a 5 business day standard turnaround out of our New York City facility. Standard and recycled hang tags carry the full rush ladder, 4 day, 3 day, 2 day, next day and same day, with same day orders needing approval by noon Eastern to leave that afternoon. Kraft is the limited one: it rushes to 2 business days and stops there, because the single kraft stock does not sit on every press schedule. Plan a kraft launch with a few extra days in hand.
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Ready to hang your brand on the right paper?
Pick brown kraft, post-consumer recycled or the full 20 stock standard range, choose your hole size and position, and we drill every tag ready to string.
Legal Disclaimer
Gold Standard guarantees apply to all standard orders placed through 4over4.com. Price match requires verifiable proof of a competitor's published price for an equivalent product with matching specifications and turnaround time. Satisfaction guarantee covers manufacturing defects and print quality issues. Contact support with order number and documentation. On-time delivery rate based on tracked orders 1999 to 2026. Individual results may vary based on shipping carrier performance.
