Carton boxes come in three basic options, 3 ply, 5 ply and 7 ply. 7 ply is stronger, but more expensive. It is important that you know these different options because you will need to choose. I recommend 5 ply. How strong your boxes need to be depends on your warehousing solution. If the boxes will be handled a lot, thrown around, and stacked high on top of each other then 7 ply makes sense even though it costs more. A 5 ply box will cost around 76 cents/box whereas a 7 ply box will cost 93 cents/box. Be careful when buying garment accessories in Vietnam.
A typical box size is 60cm x 40cm x 20cm. On average you can fit 45 t-shirts in a box, so if the box costs 76 cents, then the carton box cost per garment is 1.7 cents.
Carton box factories have a minimum order quantity of at least 500 boxes. 500 boxes x 45 pieces/box = 22,500 pieces. If your total order is 2,000 pieces you will have a lot of unused boxes that you must buy. If you are lucky, the factory will have spare boxes to sell you. This scenario is true for all trims and accessories and is the reason why you should NOT produce garments in a foreign country if your quantity is small – like 100 pieces.
Add a few cents more for printing on the outside of the box as well. The artwork on the box can be shipping information plus branding (your logo and slogan.) Usually the print is just one color: black. I recommend basic shipping info like “box 1 of 30” with the destination address and your logo. Did you think about: If you put your logo on the box and your brand is famous, there is a higher chance of boxes being stolen? Are you comfortable with buying garment accessories in Vietnam?
