Hangtagsare indispensable items to garments; they are made from different cardstocks. Cardboard is a generic term for a heavy-duty paper of various strengths, ranging from a simple arrangement of a single thick sheet of paper to complex configurations featuring multiple corrugated and uncorrugated layers. Despite widespread use in general English, the term is deprecated in business and industry. Material producers, container manufacturers, packaging engineers, and standards organizations, try to use more specific terminology. There is still no complete and uniform usage. Often the term "cardboard" is avoided because it does not define any particular material.

Card stock, also called cover stock or pasteboard, is a paper stock that is thicker and more durable than normal writing or printing paper hangtags, but thinner and more flexible than other forms of paperboard. Card stock is often used for business cards, postcards, playing cards, catalogue covers, scrapbooking, and other uses which require higher durability than regular paper. The texture is usually smooth, but can be textured, metallic, or glossy.

Card stock thickness is often described by pound weight. Pound weight is the weight of 500 sheets of 20 by 26 in (508 by 660 mm) paper. This differs from how text stock is determined, which assumes 500 sheets of 25 by 38 in (635 by 965 mm) paper. Most countries use the term gram mage to describe the weight of different paper hangtags in grams per square meter. In the U.S., card stock thickness is usually measured in points or mils that give the thickness of the sheet in thousandths of an inch. For example, a 10 pt. card is 0.010in (0.254mm) thick (roughly corresponding to a weight of 250g/m2); 12 pt. is 0.012in (0.3048mm).The texture is usually smooth, but can be textured, metallic, or look extreme glossy.