Apparel sleeve boxes look simple and they carry one genuinely tricky engineering decision: how tightly the sleeve grips the tray. Everything else on the brief is straightforward by comparison. Order the format at apparel sleeve boxes and use this to decide what to ask for.
Size the tray from the folded garment
Fold a real garment the way your packers will fold it, band it or wrap it in tissue as you intend, and measure the result. Length and width come off the folded footprint. Depth comes off the stack under its band, not loose. Do this with the heaviest item in the range, because a heavyweight hoodie and a lightweight tee do not share a tray depth, and a tray sized on the tee will not close on the hoodie.
If the range genuinely spans that far, two tray depths under one sleeve width is a common answer, and each size carries its own minimum of 100.
The sleeve fit is the specification
A sleeve has to slide over the tray without falling off and without needing force. Work it through in order: the tray's external dimension is its internal dimension plus two board thicknesses. The sleeve's internal dimension has to exceed that, plus a working clearance. Too little clearance and the two printed surfaces rub every time the box is opened, which shows as a bright scuff line on dark or matte stock within a few uses. Too much and the sleeve slides off in a parcel.
| Variable | Where it comes from | Effect on the fit |
|---|---|---|
| Tray board caliper | Your board spec | Adds twice its thickness to the tray's external size |
| Sleeve board caliper | Your board spec | Sets how rigid the sleeve is and how forgiving the fit feels |
| Finish on both faces | Matte, gloss, laminate, soft touch | Matte and soft touch scuff most; a tight fit will mark them |
| Working clearance | The tooling decision | The only adjustable part, and it cannot be changed after the die is cut |
Tell the supplier which way you would rather it err, and approve it on a physical sample with the real finish on both parts.
Board and print
Most apparel sleeves are folding carton stock, often with a laminate or an aqueous coating. Rigid wrapped board is used where the tray becomes a keepsake. E-flute suits anything shipping direct to customers without an outer box, because plain folding carton crushes at the corners in a parcel. The sleeve is where the brand lives, since it is the visible surface, and the tray is often printed inside only or left plain to save cost.
Shipping considerations
A sleeve box is not a mailer. If it ships direct, either put it inside a mailer or accept that the sleeve will arrive marked. Many apparel brands use the sleeve box as the gift presentation and a plain mailer as the transit pack, which is two minimums but a far better arrival.
Minimum, price and lead time
Minimum order is 100 boxes, from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes, confirmed on your written quote. Die and plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof before anything prints are included, so cutting both parts to your garment costs no more to tool than a near-standard set. Lanes are Rush (expedited production plus air freight), Standard (air) and Cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery, with specialty imported items up to about 12 weeks. Rush adds about 7 to 25%, depending on the job.
Send your banded garment measurements and tell us how the box travels, and we will set the clearance and quote both parts at /quote/. For sleeve sizing arithmetic, see box sleeve dimensions.
