What Material Should I Use For My Packaging?
Wondering what material you should use for your packaging?
Each material has its own unique properties suited to different applications.
Detailed below are the main advantages of each material. It is broken down into what they are perfect for, a bit of detail, and the cost.
Corrugate
Perfect for: e-commerce shipping.
Detail: Corrugate is available in a variety of thicknesses from 1.5mm through to 6mm thick and beyond. This most commonly is in either single wall or double wall.
Cost: Depending on the thickness of the board and size of the box. Also, whether you want plain corrugate or white.
Folding Boxboard
Perfect for: smaller-scale packaging e.g., beauty products, fabric samples etc.
Detail: We would usually recommend using an outer shipping box made from corrugate. Depending on your product you may be able to ship using just folding box board.
Cost: Folding boxboard is a thin board that can be printed. This tends to be the cheapest material because it is not as labour intensive as other materials.
Paper-Over-Board
Perfect for: presentation packaging.
Detail: If you’re wanting something luxurious this is the way to go. Paper-over-board is a plain grey coloured board covered with lovely tactile paper. We work with a variety of paper manufacturers including GF Smith and Fedrigoni, to offer a wide range of finishes and colours.
Cost: Typically, the most expensive. Paper-over-board is labour intensive and often involves a lot of hand finishing. You also have the price of both the greyboard and the paper. Both drive up the cost (but we would argue the finished product is worth it)
The main factor that determines which material to use will be your product. Depending on the weight, size and even feel of the product would affect which material would be best.
For example, if you’re shipping heavy items folding boxboard may not be strong enough but corrugate would be perfect. Likewise, if you’re shipping lightweight satin pyjamas, they might look overpackaged in a sturdy corrugate box, but look perfectly at home in folding boxboard.
