Different Types of Envelopes

Envelopes are one of the vital stationeries that fulfill various kinds of requirements. It is a kind of stationery that can be found on the desk of every office. There are several kinds of envelopes depending on the size and style.

Envelopes are designed with variations in the flaps and the seams. There are commonly two kinds of flaps in an envelope namely – open top (top flap) and open end (side flap). The seam is determined by the kind of flap. Seams can be diagonal, center, diagonal and seam overlap.

Open top envelopes are classified into 3 popular formats:

• Banker style are widely used for commercial purpose and used for machine inserting.
• Diamond cut are widely used for greeting cards, postcards and window for receipt return etc.
• Wallet cut is designed like a wallet. It is an e nvelope style with two side seams and the opening on the long edge.

Open end envelopes are glued with one side or center seam and one bottom seam. Documents are inserted on the short side of the envelope. This is most widely used because documents are properly secured in this format.

The several types of usage of envelopes include-

• Corporate envelope – Envelopes that are professionally designed and printed for your business.
• Business reply envelope – Also known as Return Envelope. These envelopes are typically 216mm by 102mm in size. These envelopes are known to have increased the chances of customer response by 30%.
• Airmail envelope - These envelopes are used for sending documents via airmail. Airmail envelopes come with peel and seal flaps as well as gummed flaps. These are commonly available in 110mm by 220mm sizes.

Envelopes can be made from a great variety of paper materials. The most common paper materials are:

• White woodfree paper – comes grammage of 60gsm, 70gsm, 80gsm and 100gsm
• White opaque paper – has a layer of opaque printing on the back of the paper for that extra privacy
• Manila envelope – beige in colour and comes in 70gsm and 90gsm
• Super manila paper – a much stronger and stiffer manila paper and comes in 110gsm
• Gold kraft & Brown kraft envelope – Heavy duty kraft paper in golden orange colour and comes in 105gsm

Other types of envelopes offered includes :

• Custom made envelope (Customized envelope)
• Peel and Seal envelope