A hang hole is the cut at the top of a box, card or bag that lets it hang from a peg hook. It is a small feature with an outsized effect on where your product can be sold, because a pack without one can only be merchandised on a shelf.
The three types
- Euro slot. A keyhole shape, a round opening with a narrow slot rising from it. It is the most widely accepted retail format because the narrow slot stops the pack lifting off the hook easily.
- Round hole. The simplest cut, quick to die and fine for light packs. It slips off a hook more readily, which matters on a busy aisle.
- Delta or triangular hole. Spreads the load across a wider bearing edge, which suits heavier packs where a round hole would tear.
Placement and reinforcement
Two things make a hang hole fail. It tears out, or the pack hangs crooked. Both are placement problems.
For tearing: the material between the hole and the top edge is carrying the entire weight of the pack, so a hole cut too close to the edge will pull through. Heavier packs need either a delta profile, a reinforced header, or a doubled panel where a folded flap puts two thicknesses of board behind the hole. Corrugated tears more readily along the flute than across it, so orientation matters as well as position.
For hanging straight: the hole has to sit above the centre of gravity of the packed product. If the product is heavier at one end, a centred hole will tilt the pack on the hook and a shelf of tilted packs looks like a shelf nobody has faced. Test this with a real filled pack on a real hook, not on a drawing.
Header cards and hanging tabs
When the pack itself is too small or too soft to carry a hole, the usual answer is a separate header. A folded header card stapled or glued over the top of a bag, or a hanging tab bonded to the back of a box, moves the load into a piece of board designed for it. That header is also useful retail space, because it is at eye level on a peg and carries the brand name where a shopper sees it first.
Check the retailer's rules before the dieline
Retailers set their own requirements for pegged merchandise: the hole type, its distance from the top edge, the maximum pack weight, and sometimes where the barcode has to sit relative to the hole. Get that specification from your buyer before the die is cut, because a hang hole in the wrong position is a new tool rather than an artwork change. If the pack also has to face on a shelf in other stores, design for both from the start.
Ordering
Adding a hang feature is part of the dieline, and the die is included on every order along with the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof before printing. The minimum is 100 boxes, from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes, confirmed on your written quote. Production is quoted per product in three lanes, rush (expedited production plus air freight), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery. Two plants, West Chicago and Guangzhou.
Send the packed weight, the retailer's peg specification if you have one, and the panel you want the hole in with your quote request. If the pack is a small retail carton, what F flute corrugated is explains the board that usually carries hang features at that size.
