Custom Boutique Boxes
Custom boutique boxes for the purchase that leaves a store in a bag, from 100 units. Shallow, lift-off lid, sized to a folded garment or a boxed accessory, built to be folded in tissue at the counter and opened at home — the box that turns a purchase into a present.
The box that goes in the bag, and comes out as a gift
- Board
- 18–24 pt SBS or kraft; rigid chipboard for a premium store
- Build
- Two-piece, lift-off lid, glue-free locking corners, ships flat
- Sizes
- Shirt 10 × 8 × 2, sweater 12 × 10 × 3, accessory 8 × 6 × 1.5, long 14 × 4 × 2 in; custom
Get a price for Boutique Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Shallow, and sized to a fold
Garments fold to standard sizes — a shirt to about 10 × 8 in, a sweater to 12 × 10, a scarf to 8 × 6 — and a boutique box is built to those folds with a depth of 1.5 to 3 in, so the garment sits in a single layer with tissue over it. Accessories go in the same boxes with a platform. The depth is what makes it a boutique box rather than a carton: shallow enough to read as presentation, not storage.
| Shirt box | 10 × 8 × 2 in, lift-off lid |
|---|---|
| Sweater box | 12 × 10 × 3 in, lift-off lid, tissue liner |
| Accessory box | 8 × 6 × 1.5 in, platform insert |
| Long box | 14 × 4 × 2 in, for a tie, a belt, a bracelet |
Two-piece, folded flat behind the counter
Counter space is the constraint nobody mentions. A boutique box is a two-piece — base and lift-off lid — that ships and stores flat as die-cut blanks and is folded up in a few seconds when a sale is made. The corners lock without glue, which is why it folds flat, and the lid is cut a fraction over the base so it drops on without pressing. For a store that gives every purchase a box, the flat storage is what makes it affordable.
The lid skirt height matters. A skirt under an inch looks like a lid on a tray; an inch and a half reads as a proper box.
Restraint on the outside, print on the inside
The outside of a boutique box is seen for a moment; the inside is seen at the unwrapping. The money goes inside.
- A single color with a small logo on the lid — most boutiques, and it is right.
- A pattern printed inside the lid, seen when the box opens at home.
- A blind emboss of the logo, which photographs beautifully and costs one die.
- Tissue in a brand color, which does more for the reveal than any print on the box.
When the store ships too
Most boutiques now sell online as well, and the temptation is to ship the same box. A two-piece boutique box in a padded mailer survives a courier if the box is snug in the mailer; loose, the lid slides off in the bag and the tissue unfolds. For anything that ships regularly, the better answer is a box built to ship — the ear lock construction on our ear lock mailer boxes with a tab-locked lid page — printed to match the store box so the customer gets the same brand either way.
Boutique Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- 18–24 pt SBS or kraft; rigid chipboard for a premium store
- Build
- Two-piece, lift-off lid, glue-free locking corners, ships flat
- Sizes
- Shirt 10 × 8 × 2, sweater 12 × 10 × 3, accessory 8 × 6 × 1.5, long 14 × 4 × 2 in; custom
- One color outside, pattern inside the lid, blind emboss
- Extras
- Tissue in brand color, platform insert, ribbon
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. One side or both, with spot colors where a match has to hold.
- Color
- CMYK as standard. Uncoated and kraft stocks print lighter and warmer; a spot color is the only exact match.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1 mm, creasing plus or minus 0.5 mm, confirmed on a plain sample before the run.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per size, made once and kept. Foil and emboss dies per artwork, also kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade board and inks where the carton touches food, with the interior left plain.
- Sustainability
- Mono-material board wherever the product allows; recycled-content and FSC stocks; no claim printed the pack does not earn.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build boutique boxes on
A folding carton is one sheet of board, so the board is the product. These are the stocks we run for cartons, what each is good at, and where it lets you down.
Natural kraft
Unbleached folding board. Warm, hides marks, costs least. Mutes color — one or two flat colors print well, photographs do not.
250–350gsm sleeves; 14–24pt cartonsWhite SBS
Solid bleached sulfate: bright, coated, the retail carton standard. Takes accurate color and every finish. Shows scuffs sooner than kraft.
14–24ptWhite lined chipboard
A recycled gray core under a white printing face. Cheaper than SBS and slightly duller; the back of the sheet stays gray.
16–24ptKraft-look coated
A kraft face over a coated inner. The natural look with a barrier behind it — the answer where oil, grease or moisture would mark plain kraft.
14–20ptRecycled-content board
Post-consumer fiber with a gray-brown cast. Right for outers and inner components; poor for bright whites and photography.
16–22ptMicro-flute E and F
A fine corrugated layer where a carton needs structure it cannot get from board — a large panel, a heavy product, a box that ships alone.
E 1.5 mm; F 0.8 mmUncoated and textured
No clay coat, or a linen or laid grain. Print reads softer and warmer; a deboss goes deeper. Photographs do not sit well on it.
280–350gsmMetallised and pearlescent
A metallic or pearl face for a shelf that needs to catch light. Costly, and it fights a photograph — a mark or a pattern suits it better.
16–20ptNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Every finish here is a decision about light on a shelf, not about luxury.
Matte lamination
Reads considered, hides marks, takes a ballpoint.
Gloss lamination
Lifts color; glares under shop lighting.
Soft-touch
Velvet in the hand; shows fingerprints in a bag.
Hot foil
Real metal leaf — the most reliable premium signal.
Emboss / deboss
Shape with no ink; works in the dark.
Spot UV
Gloss shapes on a matte field.
Uncoated kraft
Warm, natural, mutes color.
Textured stock
Texture in the paper; cannot scuff off.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a folding carton so the die comes out right: boutique boxes
Measure the product, not the box it is in now. A carton is built around what has to fit inside it, assembled — cap on, lid fitted, folded if it folds — at its widest point in each direction. Send those three numbers and say which is which.
- Length x width x height
- Internal, always. External dimensions include the board and are what the carrier measures, not what the product needs.
- Clearance
- 2–3 mm a side for a snug fit; more where an insert or void fill goes in. A carton cut exactly to the product is slow to pack and transmits every knock.
- Board thickness
- Heavier board takes internal space from the product. It matters most on small boxes, where four walls of 24pt is a real share of the cavity.
- Varies between batches?
- Glass, textiles, molded parts and cured soap all do. Measure several and build to the largest.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm on folding board. Confirmed on a plain sample before the run.
- Units
- Metric or imperial, as long as you say which. Mixing them in one spec is where mistakes happen.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Boutique Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about boutique boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
Does the box store flat?
Yes, as die-cut blanks. The corners lock without glue, so the base and lid fold up in a few seconds when a sale is made.
What size for a folded shirt?
About 10 × 8 × 2 in. A sweater goes to 12 × 10 × 3. Send us your fold and we size to it.
Can I print inside the lid?
Yes, and it is where the money should go. The inside is what the customer sees when the box opens at home.
Kraft or white?
Either. White with a single-color logo is the boutique classic; kraft with black or white ink suits a natural brand.
Can it be rigid?
Yes, a wrapped chipboard version for a premium store. It does not fold flat, so it takes more space behind the counter.
Can I use it for shipping?
Snug inside a mailer, yes. For regular shipping we recommend a matching mailer built for the courier, printed to the same brand.
Do you supply the tissue?
Yes, in a brand color, sized to the box. It does more for the reveal than print.
Can I have a platform for accessories?
Yes, a die-cut platform in the base that holds a bracelet, a wallet or a small gift in place.
Is it recyclable?
Yes, as paperboard, with no lamination. A soft-touch lamination looks premium and makes the box harder to recycle; we will tell you the trade-off.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes per size. Two-piece boxes run many-up on a sheet, so short runs are practical.
How long does production take?
It depends on the finish and the quantity. We give a date with the quote rather than a number before we have seen the spec.
Will you send a sample?
An unprinted base and lid in your size, so you can fold a garment into it at the counter before print.
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