Digital printing has come a long way, but so have new product applications and digital printing and envelope manufacturing are starting to merge. Last year 223 billion envelopes were produced in the United States, 38 billion of which were in packaging or packaging related applications. With mail volume on a slow decline, the envelope manufacturing industry has sought out new markets and applications for our products. Personalization and packaging have come together to create new opportunities for envelope manufacturers and the technology providers that work with them.Traditionally the industry has printed using flexographic and offset processes, however, new barcode symbologies and the evolution of more, smaller mailings have led the industry to explore personalization strategies. Ink jet printing has primarily been used for addressing in the past but in line folders and gummers have given new opportunities for higher speed digital printers to be used in direct mail applications.The paper presented will explore the past of the envelope manufacturing industry in terms of the materials that have been used and its evolution toward new printing and personalizing technologies as it has moved into packaging and custom envelope fabrication.Most people do not think very much of an envelope. After all, it is just a covering on a mailpiece or package and it is often discarded after use. Yet, there is a great deal of thought and design that goes into an envelope and the technology of printing the envelope is bringing envelope manufacturers into an entire new era of product opportunities beyond use in the mail.