A folded hoodie that arrives creased in a box two sizes too big tells the buyer more about your brand than any product photo. Black Friday apparel box deals let you fix that fit for the whole holiday season at a lower price per box.
Clothing brands sell more gifts in the holiday weeks than at any other time, and many of those gifts are opened on camera. The box has to hold the fold, protect the fabric and look like a present before any wrapping paper goes on.
This guide matches each garment to the right box and then covers gift boxes, finishing touches and returns. It also shows how a brand with many sizes still reaches the sale tier and how limited drops fit in.
Key takeaways
- Fit each box to the folded garment, because several clothing sizes fold to almost the same footprint.
- Mailers and paperboard boxes earn 20 to 30% off from 500 boxes per size and design during the sale.
- Rigid apparel gift boxes earn a discount from only 50 boxes, which suits premium and small batch labels.
- One plain box with a printed sleeve serves every limited drop and keeps its value after the drop sells out.
- Write BFBOXES on the quote form and confirm before Cyber Monday at 11:59 PM ET to keep the sale price.
Which Box Fits Each Garment You Sell?
Fit the box to the folded garment and not to the size label, because a medium and a large shirt fold to almost the same footprint.
| Garment | Box that works | Typical inside size |
|---|---|---|
| T-shirts and tops | Slim mailer or tuck box | About 260 x 210 x 40 mm for one or two folded tees |
| Hoodies and sweatshirts | Deeper mailer box | About 310 x 260 x 90 mm for one folded hoodie |
| Sneakers and shoes | Two piece shoe box or shoe mailer | About 330 x 210 x 120 mm for an adult sneaker |
| Socks and small packs | Printed sleeve or small tuck box | About 210 x 100 x 30 mm for a folded pair |
| Caps, belts and ties | Small rigid box or mailer | Sized to the rolled or folded item with an insert |
Fold a garment the way your packers fold it on a busy day, then measure the flat stack and add a few millimeters on every side.
Each garment has its own page with sizes and boards, so open custom t-shirt boxes, custom shoe boxes or sportswear packaging for the details. The next choice is whether the gift travels in a mailer or a presentation box.
Should Holiday Apparel Ship in a Mailer or a Gift Box?
Ship holiday apparel in a printed mailer when it goes straight to the buyer. Choose a two piece gift box when the garment will be handed over as a present.
A mailer in 1.6 mm E flute travels on its own and keeps the fold flat under a pile of other parcels. Our custom mailer boxes come with a tuck front that locks without tape and opens in one clean pull.
A two piece gift box of about 380 by 280 by 60 mm holds a folded sweater or a set of two tees with tissue around them. It travels inside a plain shipping carton and becomes the box the gift sits in under the tree.
Premium labels that sell knitwear or outerwear at higher prices step up to a wrapped board lid from our rigid boxes range. Whichever box you choose, a few small touches decide how the fold looks when the lid comes off.
How Do You Make Folded Clothing Look Good When the Box Opens?
Make folded clothing look good by wrapping it in tissue, sealing the tissue with a printed sticker and printing a short line inside the lid.
Tissue keeps the fabric clean and stops the fold from shifting when the box tips on its side in transit. A round sticker with your logo closes the tissue and gives the buyer a small moment before the garment appears.
A message printed inside the lid costs little on a mailer and shows up in every unboxing video your customers share. Care instructions or a size exchange note fit well on a printed card that sits on top of the fold.
Gift bundles need the same care in a bigger box, and the next section shows how to plan one.
Want your apparel boxes priced at the sale tier?
Send each garment, box style and quantity per size with the code BFBOXES in your message. We return a dieline and a sale price for every box size in your range.
How Should You Pack Holiday Apparel Bundles?
Pack holiday bundles such as a tee with socks and a cap in one larger mailer with a card insert that gives each item its own space.
Bundles raise the order value in the gift season, and a divided insert stops the cap from crushing the folded shirt during transit. A printed gift note slot in the insert lets buyers send the bundle straight to the person receiving it.
Plan the bundle box as its own size and design, so it counts toward its own tier rather than splitting your tee mailer order. Bundles and single items both come back for exchanges, which brings returns into the plan.
How Do Apparel Mailers Make Returns and Exchanges Easier?
An apparel mailer with a tear strip opens without a knife, so the buyer can reuse the same box when a size needs to go back.
Print the return steps inside the lid so the buyer never has to search your website for them. A mailer that survives the first trip in good shape also survives the trip back, which saves you buying a second box.
Tell your team to repack returned items in the same size of mailer, so the stock of each size stays predictable for the rest of the season. Limited drops raise a different packaging question about how much of each design you should print.
When Do Sleeves Beat a Fully Printed Box for Limited Drops?
A printed sleeve or belly band over a plain box beats a fully printed box when a design runs for one drop and then retires.
You order one plain box in bulk at the sale tier and change only the sleeve for each collaboration or capsule. Socks, tees and small accessory packs suit this approach because the sleeve carries the whole design.
The plain box keeps its value after the drop sells out, while a fully printed box with a retired design stays on the shelf. That idea of one box serving many designs also solves the biggest sizing problem clothing brands face.
How Can a Brand With Many Sizes Reach the 500 Box Tier?
A clothing brand reaches the 500 box tier by letting one box size cover several garment sizes, since the tier counts per box size and design.
| Box | Garment sizes it covers | How the order adds up |
|---|---|---|
| Slim tee mailer | Small to extra large t-shirts | All tee orders count toward one box size |
| Hoodie mailer | Small to large hoodies and sweatshirts | Extra large moves to the same box with a softer fold |
| Shoe box | Two or three adjacent shoe sizes | An insert takes up the space for smaller pairs |
A brand selling 300 tees and 250 hoodies in two box sizes misses the tier on both. One shared deeper mailer for all 550 garments earns 20 to 30% off on the whole run. Test the fold of your largest and smallest size in a plain sample before you commit.
Rigid gift boxes follow a different set of tiers, and the next section lays them out.
Which Apparel Boxes Earn Which Black Friday Discount?
Mailers and paperboard boxes earn the deal from 500 boxes per size and design, while rigid gift boxes start earning a discount from only 50 boxes.
| Box type | Quantity per size and design | Black Friday discount |
|---|---|---|
| Mailers and paperboard boxes | 500 or more | 20 to 30% off |
| Mailers and paperboard boxes | 100 to 499 | Standard price |
| Rigid gift boxes | 50 to 99 | 10 to 15% off |
| Rigid gift boxes | 100 or more | 20 to 30% off |
| Rigid gift boxes | 1 to 49 | Standard price with no minimum |
Printed corrugated mailers come to an estimated $0.56 to $3.12 per box at sale prices, while rigid boxes are quoted to your size. The full rules and the countdown sit on our Black Friday packaging boxes deal page.
With the tier for each box known, claiming the deal takes only a few minutes.
How Do You Claim the Black Friday Apparel Box Deal?
Send the garment, the box style and the quantity per size through our quote form and write BFBOXES in the message box.
Our team applies the right tier to each box size and returns a dieline with the sale price. Approve it before Cyber Monday at 11:59 PM ET, because the discount applies only to orders confirmed before the countdown ends.
If you want to test a fold first, order a plain sample that arrives in 3 to 5 business days. Production then takes 8 to 10 business days, or 10 to 12 for rigid boxes, and shipping is free across the United States.
Our guide to Black Friday bulk order guide covers the offer for every other product, and the custom apparel boxes page lists every clothing box we make.
Frequently asked questions
The short version
Match each box to the folded garment, let one box size cover several clothing sizes and use sleeves for drops that retire after one run.
Mailers earn 20 to 30% off from 500 boxes and rigid gift boxes from 50 boxes per size and design during the Black Friday sale.
Send your garments with code BFBOXES before Cyber Monday at 11:59 PM ET, and our custom packaging boxes team will price every size.
Ready to pack the holiday season in your own boxes?
Black Friday pricing runs until Cyber Monday at 11:59 PM ET with code BFBOXES. Shipping is free across the United States and setup costs nothing on any order.
