Printed and die cut in Neptune, New Jersey
Custom boxes by industry
Every industry asks a different question of the same sheet of board. Pick the one you are buying for and you get the box styles that suit it, the board each style runs on, and what each box is actually there to do, rather than a wall of product tiles to guess from.
Get a price for your boxes
Tell us the box, the size of the product going inside and how many you want to run. A price and a dieline come back together.
No account needed, and no setup or tooling fee on any order. Prefer to talk it through? Call +1 703 350 4739, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm EST.
Which industry or box type are you buying for?
Seven of these are industries and four are box families, because a brand printing mailers and a warehouse buying transit cases are not the same buyer. Every row below names the board the style runs on and the job it is there to do.
Soap and bath packaging
Bars, bombs and melts that have to look handmade and still survive a shelf.
18 packaging pages sit behind this one
Candle packaging
Glass and wax, where the insert decides whether it arrives in one piece.
12 packaging pages sit behind this one
Beauty and cosmetics packaging
Small cartons where the print quality is the product, judged at arm’s length.
18 packaging pages sit behind this one
Food and drink packaging
Grease, moisture and a health inspector, all arriving at the same time.
23 packaging pages sit behind this one
CBD and vape packaging
Panel space for the legal copy, on the tightest margin of any category here.
13 packaging pages sit behind this one
Apparel and accessories packaging
Soft goods that need the box to supply the shape they do not have.
15 packaging pages sit behind this one
Jewelry and watch packaging
High value in a small footprint, where the box is part of what they paid for.
7 packaging pages sit behind this one
Mailer boxes
The box a customer opens at their own door, usually on camera.
13 packaging pages sit behind this one
Shipping and transit boxes
Bulk movement, where the box is a cost line rather than a brand.
10 packaging pages sit behind this one
Ecommerce and retail packaging
Brands where the packaging is part of what the customer is paying for.
14 packaging pages sit behind this one
Electronics packaging
Weight and static, where a returned unit costs far more than the box did.
6 packaging pages sit behind this one
Every one of these sits in the full packaging index, and the box shapes themselves are grouped separately under box styles.
What actually changes when the industry changes
Four things, and the product name is not one of them. These are the decisions that move the price and the lead time, so they are worth settling before you ask anyone for a number.
The board under the print
A bakery box has to hold grease, a candle box has to hold weight and a mailer has to survive a courier belt. That is three different boards before anyone talks about artwork. Each row in the list above names the one that style runs on.
The structure, not the size
A reverse tuck end carton, a one piece mailer and a wrapped rigid box are three different dies, three different lead times and three different price bands. The industry usually decides which of them you are actually shopping for.
What holds the product still
Glass, droppers, devices and anything round need a board or foam fitment cut to the product rather than to the box. On other categories an insert is a cost with no job to do, so we will say when you do not need one.
How much panel the copy needs
CBD, food and beauty all carry required copy on the pack, and that copy has to fit on a real panel at a readable size. It is easier to allow for it in the dieline than to shrink type after the die is cut.
Two things you can do before you order
Both are free, neither needs an account, and both work the same way whichever category above you came in through.
Draw the flat first
Our dieline generator draws the cutting flat for any structure we make once you name the board and type your length, width and height. Download it in Illustrator, PDF or SVG format, hand it to your designer, and keep the file whether or not you order from us.
Open the dieline generatorSee the box before it prints
Send the artwork back on that flat and we build a 3D mockup of your box from it as a sample, so you can look at the finished pack from every side before a single sheet goes on press. Design support through all of this is free and in house.
Ask for a mockupQuestions buyers ask before picking a category
Five that come up on almost every first call about an industry pack, answered with the same numbers we would give you on the phone.
How do I choose the right box when my product fits more than one category?
Start from what the box has to survive rather than from what the product is called. A serum in a glass dropper and a candle in a glass jar are different industries and almost the same packaging problem, so both end up on a carton with a fitment. Every row in the list above names the board and the job, which is usually enough to narrow it to two. Send the dimensions of the product and we will tell you which of the two runs cheaper.
Does the 100 box minimum apply separately to each industry?
No. The count has nothing to do with the category and everything to do with the tooling. It is 100 per size and per design, so a soap box and a bath bomb box ordered together are two counts of 100 rather than one of 200, and the same soap box in two sizes is also two. One artwork in one size is one count.
Can I see the cutting flat before I commit to an order?
Yes, and you do not have to ask us for it. The generator draws it from your dimensions in the browser and the download is free, with no account and no order attached to it. Most buyers send that file to their designer before they ever request a price.
Which products actually need an insert inside the box?
Anything glass, anything with a dropper or a cap that can work loose, anything round in a square box, and anything heavy enough to move under its own weight. Candles, serums, perfume, eyewear and electronics are the categories where it pays for itself. On flat goods such as apparel or printed matter it usually does not.
Do you print on kraft as well as white board?
Both, and the choice changes the look more than the cost. Uncoated kraft keeps a natural unbleached surface and is common on soap, coffee and eco lines. White top board and white top corrugated give a clean base where the artwork carries the color. Dyed board is a third route, where the color runs through the material instead of being printed on it.
Tell us what is going in the box
Send the dimensions of the product, the quantity you want to run and the category you came in through. A price and a dieline come back together, so you can check the structure before you commit to anything.
Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm EST. Artwork and dielines go to sales@thecustomizedboxes.com.