What Is Clothing Packaging

What Is Clothing Packaging?

Clothing packaging refers to materials used to enclose garments to protect them from damage and make them presentable to potential customers. It’s often the last step in the production process. 

There are two clothing packaging subcategories: retail and shipping.

Retail packaging enhances a product’s commercial appeal. You use it for displaying products on store shelves. Some packaging solutions—like shopping bags—make it easier for customers to bring apparel home. They’re also essential for product photoshoots, especially if you’re an online retailer.

Shipping packaging makes it easier for retailers to send clothing products through the mail or a courier. They’re great in situations where a customer orders products in bulk. You might also need them to store items in a warehouse to protect them from dust and dirt.

Today, you’ll find out why clothing packages are important and how to use them to make your products shine.

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The Importance of Clothing Packaging

Clothing packaging is a necessity. Every article of clothing sold will have some form of packaging on it. Even when you pick up a shirt off a rack, it will eventually end up in a bag the moment you buy it. The same goes for other fashion products like hats, sweaters, and jackets.

And there are reasons why businesses rely on clothing packaging. Below are just some of the biggest ones.

Protection

The main purpose of packaging is to protect products. People pick clothing up all the time — dresses, baby clothes, and even underwear. They can get stained, dirtied, or ripped if they’re not inside a container. 

Conditions get worse when you send them off to customers. You lose control over the safety of your products. Using the right packaging will help ease your mind.

Promotion

It’s possible to print promotions on product packaging. Are you having a sale soon? You can print packaging to let loyal customers know. The same goes for seasonal campaigns and limited-time offers.

Brand Identity

Branding makes customers remember who you are. It enables you to stand out from other competitors in your space. Use your packaging to make your brand memorable.

Most businesses print their company logo and brand colors on their packages. They might even place a slogan if there’s available space.

Product Information

You can use packages to add useful product information. Add hand-washing instructions for fashion apparel like cardigans. Mention what material your blouse, tank top, coat, or overalls are made from. Let customers know how they can contact you if they have questions or concerns.

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Packaging Products

What sort of packaging products can you use for your clothing business?

Here’s a list of the most commonly used clothing packaging products for retail stores and online sellers.

For Retail

You need These retail packaging materials to display clothing products in your store.

Product Boxes

Product boxes are small containers that can hold small articles of clothing like socks, scarves, bow ties, pocket squares, beanies, or gloves. If you order boxes from a supplier that offers custom sizes, you can make any clothing fit perfectly. This should help with the overall presentation.

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Shoe Boxes

While not the most obvious choice, you can customize shoe boxes and use them as clothes packaging for items like leg warmers, sarongs, or small bags. They’re especially useful if you’re selling a set of products since you can fit more in there than if you were to use a product box.

Gift Bags

Use gift bags to make it easier for customers to carry all the clothing they bought in your store. These come in multiple sizes so you can make them as big or small as you want.

Shopping Bags

Shopping bags are an alternative to gift bags. Not only do these look simpler and cleaner, but they’re recyclable too. It’s the right choice for eco-friendly clothing brands.

Handle Bags

Handle bags are more durable than paper bags since they’re made of plastic. That means they can withstand water. Customers don’t have to worry about their packages getting destroyed when they carry around plastic handle bags.

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Tote Bags

Tote bags are both reusable and sturdy. Tote bags are the answer if you can’t decide between paper and plastic bags. 

Pouches

Pouches can store small fashion items like premium underwear, stockings, and other accessories. They can make any product look classier when displayed on a shelf or cabinet, especially if you have a great packaging design.

Hang Tags

Attach hang tags to clothes to indicate their price, size, and specifications. Customers refer to these all the time when shopping. They’re fantastic marketing materials too. 

There are two types of hang tags: flat and folded. Keep things simple with flat hang tags or use folded hang tags if you need more space.

Labels

Businesses use labels to seal packages to add some flair and branding. Stick them to gift bags to partially close them up. Apply to product boxes so customers can’t open them up without you noticing.

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For Shipping

These are the packaging products you need to invest in if you plan on shipping clothes directly to consumers.

Mailer Boxes

Mailer boxes are arguably the best way to ship clothing to customers. They’re sleek, practical, and customizable. Not only can you print your designs on them, but you can also adjust the size to fit your products.

Shipping Boxes

Shipping boxes make transporting bulk orders more efficient. That’s because you can pack more products inside these boxes. They’re designed to take a beating too. Meaning it can withstand issues that are typically associated with shipping.

Poly Mailers

Poly mailers are bags that can comfortably fit shirts, shorts, pants, and other bulky apparel. Place your products inside and they’re ready to ship. So easy to use.

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Tissue Paper

Tissue paper is something you add inside the packaging to add a second layer of product protection. It also makes the unboxing experience more fun for the customer. 

Packaging Tape

Packaging tape is what you use to seal off shipping boxes. While you can use generic tape, customizing your tape has its benefits. For starters, it can make your packages easier to spot in order fulfillment centers. It’s also good for branding.

Flat Cards

While flat cards are optional, business owners like inserting them in packages to send customers a personal message. They’re often used as thank you cards but some add them to relay instructions or announce promotions.

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Clothing Packaging Process

After clothing comes off the production line, they’re inspected by QA (quality assurance) to make sure they’re up to standard. 

Clothes are then folded and stored until they’re ready for distribution. If needed, someone will tag and label products at this stage.

Before placing garments inside their containers, packers will add inserts and padding if available before finally sealing them off. If there are promotional materials like marketing flyers, they’ll slip these in before closing the packages.

When ready, these clothing packages are sent to retail stores for display or directly to consumers if they order online.

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Packaging Considerations

If you’re thinking about what type of packaging design would work for your clothing brand, consider the following points.

Packaging Design

When creating a packaging design, you want to think of your customer and what message you want to send. If you’re a fun brand, your design should reflect that. 

If your clothing line is all about minimalism, it only follows that your packaging design is also minimalist. 

You also need to think about convenience. 

If your store’s located inside a mall, there’s a good chance your customers will spend some time walking around and visiting other establishments. If that’s the case, consider using packaging with handles so customers can carry them around with one hand.

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Packaging Quality

Don’t use low-quality packaging. Customers will be able to tell right away. Customers might think poorly of your brand and products as a result. It’s not worth the bad publicity. Stick with high-quality printing at low costs.

Eco-Friendly Packaging

Consumers are mostly environmentally conscious now. They want the products they buy and the packaging they come in to be recyclable. Help reduce carbon footprint by using eco-friendly packaging.

Customization Options

Customization options aren’t just about adjusting the size of your packaging product. There are other configurations that you can adjust to make every packaging you use as perfect as they can be.

For example, mailer boxes can be upgraded from kraft (brown box) to premium white so colors will appear more vivid. You can also add designs not just on the outside but on the inside too.

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Clothing Packaging Examples

Here are a couple of clothing packaging designs to help you come up with your own.

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There are more product designs available on the PackM Design Hub if you want to see more.

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Recap

Clothing packaging is used to protect garments from damage and promote the business simultaneously.

You can use packaging to improve how products look in a retail setting or to ship products to customers. Which packaging products to order will depend on what you intend to use them for.

There are plenty of packaging products to choose from. For instance, you can ship shirts in boxes or poly mailers.

You have to think about your packaging design. It needs to complement your brand’s messaging well. The packaging quality matters too. And if you can, try to print using eco-friendly materials.

Your clothing packages will help protect your investment, keep customers happy, and promote your business.

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