From what quantity does digital printing on paper bags become cost-effective?

Digital printing is cost-effective from as little as 100 items and is ideally suited to runs of up to 3,000 bags. As no printing plates are required, you avoid the high set-up costs typically associated with screen printing.

How long does it take to produce digitally printed bags?

The standard delivery time is within one week of the artwork being approved. In urgent cases, we also offer an express printing service with delivery within 3 days.

Can digital printing produce white ink on bags?

No, digital printing only works in CMYK mode and does not use white ink. If the logo contains white elements, we recommend printing on white paper bags, where the white area shows through naturally from the base material.

What types of bags can digital printing be used on?

We offer digital printing on white and brown paper bags in stock, both with flat handles (ExtraKraft, Topcraft) and twisted handles (ExtraTwist, Twister), including Mosela wine bags. However, this method is not suitable for laminated bags, coloured paper bags or the textured Krafter range.

What is the difference between digital printing and screen printing?

Digital printing can handle colour gradients, shadows and printing from photographs, and is cost-effective even for smaller print runs, whilst screen printing is better suited to precise Pantone colours, dark backgrounds or perfectly solid colour areas. We always tailor our choice of technology to your design and budget.

Do you provide a sample of the bag before printing the entire order?

Yes, with digital printing, the set-up is quick, so we can produce one physical sample of the bag completely free of charge on request. This allows you to check the colour and print quality before placing the full order.

Digital printing: A modern speedster that loves rich colours and fine detail

Are you interested in printed paper bags, but do printing technologies make your head spin? You’re not alone. Whilst in our last article we crowned screen printing as the timeless luxury star for precise Pantone colours, today we’ll be looking at a technology from the opposite end of the spectrum: a modern, dynamic and incredibly flexible high-speed solution.

If you need to print a full-colour photograph, intricate shading or colour gradients on a bag, digital printing is unrivalled on the current market.

Let’s take a look together at how this technology works, what makes it so special, and what minor pitfalls are worth being aware of before placing your order.

What is digital printing and how does it work?

Unlike traditional methods (such as screen printing or flexography), digital printing works without the need for complex and costly production of printing forms. The entire process relies on the CMYK color space (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black). Special industrial water-based inks are injected directly onto the surface of the paper by the print head.

An interesting ecological fact: The CMYK inks used are fully water-dilutable and contain no aggressive solvents. Digital printing is therefore exceptionally environmentally friendly and fits perfectly with our philosophy of sustainable packaging.

Technology step by step: An industrial "machine gun" in action

Forget the home inkjet printer, where the head wearily moves back and forth. In professional printing for promotional bags, we operate at a completely different speed:

1. Digital print setup: Your design on the computer is checked by a graphic designer, who creates the print data and sends it directly to the machine's memory. No film exposure, no stretching of screens, or any other production of printing forms.

2. Stationary Printhead Array: The heart of the machine is a fixed bar fitted with print heads across the entire width of the printing zone. These heads do not move – they stand like a rock.

3. High-speed conveyor: Paper bags are loaded manually or automatically onto a moving belt, which carries them at enormous speed directly under the print heads.

4. A hit in a millisecond: As soon as the optical sensor detects an approaching bag, the nozzles of the heads simultaneously "fire" millions of microscopic droplets of ink. The bag passes under the heads only once and comes out completely printed.

An interesting fact: The speed at which the head spins. The industrial digital printers we use fire ink droplets at a speed the human eye has no chance of capturing. A single print nozzle can "fire" up to 40,000 droplets in a single second. Thanks to this, we can print hundreds of bags per hour without the machine even breaking a sweat.

Why choose digital printing? (Key features)

Color gradients without limits: Screen printing requires a separate screen for each color. Digital printing mixes any shade on the fly. Gradients fading into nothing or watercolor motifs are handled with ease.

Surgical precision and detail: The technology can render extremely fine details and thin lines starting from a thickness of 0.3 mm.

Sample free as standard: Since setting up the machine takes just a few minutes, it's no problem to print one test piece first. At EasyBag group, we will produce one physical sample of a paper bag with digital printing upon request completely free of charge, so you can verify the coloring before launching the entire order.

Express speed: We don't have to wait for the production of printing forms. Standardly, we produce bags within a week, but in case of emergency, we offer express printing within 3 days.

Advantages and disadvantages (So nothing surprises you)

Every printing technology has its limits. For the result to be perfect, you need to play by its rules.

Advantages:

Availability from small series: Ideal for smaller e-shops, local creators, or one-off events. We effectively print from 100 to 3,000 pieces.

Accepts raster artwork: While other technologies strictly require vectors (curves), digital printing can also handle quality raster (e.g., TIFF, PSD, JPEG formats in high print resolution). Do you have a photo of products? We can print it.

CMYK raster digital printing — *Example of digital printing*

Disadvantages:

Technological banding: Since the heads are arranged side by side, in specific designs (large solid areas) a slight lighter or darker stripe may appear in places where the head zones meet. In practice, we try to prevent this, but it is a technical characteristic of the machine.

Color grain effect: When viewed closely from a few centimeters, the print may appear slightly dotted. This is because the color does not merge into a solid layer like in screen printing, but is composed of microscopic droplets.

Absence of white ink: Digital machines for bags print only in CMYK mode – they cannot print white. If your logo has white elements, printing will be omitted in that spot, and the underlying paper will show through. In this case, we recommend printing on white bags.

Brown kraft vs. color: Water-dilutable inks are semi-transparent (translucent). If we print them on brown paper, the resulting color will be strongly influenced by the substrate. For clear and true colors, we therefore always recommend white paper bags.

Material limitations: Digital printing using this method cannot be applied to colored paper bags, laminated bags, luxury bags with a cotton handle, and bags from the Krafter line.

CMYK digital printing colour separation — *Example of banding that can occur in digital printing*

Which bags do we print on this way?

We digitally print exclusively on our warehouse stock of machine-made white and brown paper bags:

With flat handle: ExtraKraft and Topcraft lines.

With twisted handle: ExtraTwist line and selected dimensions of the Twister line.

Specialties: Mosela wine bags and wide bags for Takeaway-type menu boxes.

Note: We do not digitally print on the Krafter line of bags due to their structured, uneven surface, on which the ink microdroplets would not create a nice image.

An interesting fact: Why digital printing loves "porous" paper. You may have wondered why we don't digitally print on luxury laminated bags. It's because smooth, non-absorbent surfaces would not hold the liquid water-based ink, and the colors would run. Ordinary white or brown kraft paper has microscopic pores that immediately absorb and fix the ink. Paper and digital ink are simply a perfect pair.

Quick advice to conclude: When to choose digital and when screen printing?

Choose digital printing if: You want a smaller quantity of bags (e.g. 100 pcs), your logo has more than 1 color, contains shadows, color gradients, or you need printing from a photo.

Choose screen printing if: You have precisely defined corporate colors according to the Pantone C color chart, you are printing on dark/colored bags, you need vivid white printing, or you desire perfectly solid, full color areas.

Choose flexography if: You have a single-color design and want to order more than 1,000 pieces of bags. Single-color flexography will be more cost-effective.

Still hesitating which printing technology is right for your logo?

Leave it to us. Send us your graphic design to [email protected] and our specialists will recommend the optimal solution tailored to your budget and design.