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Knowledge Centre

Everything you need to specify, buy and scale custom packaging.

Practical guidance from people who quote and produce custom boxes every day. Whether you are ordering your first 50 or running a repeat program in the tens of thousands, the answers are here — written to be useful before you ever ask for a quote.

Browse by topic

Eleven places to start.

Each topic collects the guides, box styles, materials and finishes that answer it.

Start here

Packaging Fundamentals

The vocabulary and the decisions behind every custom box: constructions, board, print methods and what a packaging specification actually contains.

2 guides

Volume buying

Wholesale & Bulk Packaging

How custom packaging is specified, quoted and produced once you are ordering in the thousands rather than the hundreds.

8 guides

Structure

Box Styles & Construction

Rigid, folding carton, mailer, corrugated and the styles inside each family — what they are built from and what they are good at.

4 guides

Substrates

Materials & Board

SBS, kraft, greyboard, corrugated and flute grades: how board is specified, how it behaves and where each one belongs.

3 guides

Decoration

Printing & Finishes

Digital, offset and litho-lamination, plus the finishes — lamination, foil, emboss, spot UV — and what each adds at different run lengths.

2 guides

Files

Artwork & Prepress

Dielines, bleed, color spaces, proofs and the file checks that decide whether a print run goes right the first time.

1 guide

Sourcing

Packaging Buying & Procurement

Writing an RFQ, comparing quotes on a like-for-like basis, qualifying a supplier and managing repeat packaging programs.

4 guides

Getting it there

E-commerce & Shipping

Mailers, void fill, dimensional weight and the packaging decisions that show up in a shipping invoice rather than a print invoice.

2 guides

Economics

Packaging Cost & Quantity

What actually drives the unit cost of a custom box, and how that cost behaves as the quantity moves from hundreds to tens of thousands.

3 guides

Growth

Product Launch & Scaling

Planning packaging for a launch, then holding color, structure and quality steady as reorders get larger.

3 guides

Reference

Packaging Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the packaging, print and board terms that appear on quotes, dielines and specification sheets.

55 terms

Featured

Printed folding cartons in sage, peach, navy and pink

Packaging Cost & Quantity · 8 min

Custom box pricing: 100 vs 500 vs 1,000 vs 5,000 units

Why the unit cost drops sharply between 100 and 1,000 and then flattens, what is actually happening at each step, and how to pick the quantity that fits your business rather than the one that looks cheapest per box.

Rigid boxes: a green lid-and-base, an open magnetic box and a cream drawer box

Packaging Cost & Quantity · 9 min

How much do custom boxes cost in the USA?

There is no list price for a custom box. Here is what actually sets the number, how it behaves as the quantity rises, and what to send so a quote comes back accurate the first time.

Printed folding cartons in sage, peach, navy and pink

Wholesale & Bulk Packaging · 10 min

Wholesale custom boxes: a complete buyer's guide

What buying custom boxes at wholesale volume actually involves: how the market is structured, what a proper specification contains, how to run a competitive quote, and what to agree before the first pallet arrives.

Learning paths

Read in order, not at random.

A guided route through the Knowledge Centre, in the order the decisions actually come up.

New to custom packaging

Start here if you have never specified a box before. These guides, in order, take you from construction to print-ready artwork.

  1. Rigid boxes vs folding cartons: which should your product be in?
  2. How to choose the right packaging material for a custom box
  3. How to measure your product for custom packaging
  4. Packaging finishes explained: lamination, foil, emboss, spot UV and windows
  5. Preparing artwork for custom printed boxes

New and updated

Latest guides

Printed folding cartons in sage, peach, navy and pink

Wholesale & Bulk Packaging · 8 min

Bulk custom folding cartons: a complete guide

The folding carton is the workhorse of retail packaging and the format that rewards volume most. How they are built, which closure to specify, what board to use, and where the cost actually sits at scale.

Kraft mailer boxes printed with a leaf pattern, one open to show the printed interior

Wholesale & Bulk Packaging · 8 min

Bulk custom mailer boxes for e-commerce brands

The mailer is the only packaging most online customers ever see, and it is charged for twice — once by the printer and once by the carrier. How to specify it at volume without paying for air.

Rigid boxes: a green lid-and-base, an open magnetic box and a cream drawer box

Packaging Buying & Procurement · 7 min

Choosing a custom packaging supplier for a growing brand

The supplier who suits a 100-box first run is not automatically the one who suits a 10,000-box program. What to test, what to ask, and which answers tell you whether they can grow with you.

Rigid boxes: a green lid-and-base, an open magnetic box and a cream drawer box

Box Styles & Construction · 6 min

Collapsible rigid boxes for high-volume orders

A collapsible rigid box keeps the greyboard weight and the hard edge but ships flat. At volume that changes the freight and storage arithmetic more than any material substitution.

Three inserts: black foam, kraft corrugated dividers and a white board tray

Wholesale & Bulk Packaging · 7 min

Custom inserts for bulk packaging orders

The insert is what turns a box into packaging. At volume it is also a second product with its own tooling, material and assembly — here is how to choose one that protects the product without doubling the cost.

Printed folding cartons in sage, peach, navy and pink

Wholesale & Bulk Packaging · 7 min

Custom packaging for 1,000+ units: what changes

A thousand units is where packaging stops being a launch expense and becomes a supply decision. What changes in print method, tooling, tolerance, sampling and freight — and what to lock down before you commit.

Glossary and packaging assistant

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