Custom Soap Boxes: Branded Packaging for Retail & Wholesale

Custom soap boxes are custom-printed boxes that are cut to the size of your bar. The most common ones are tuck end cartons, sleeves, windowed box and two piece luxury boxes. Select how the soap is packaged: a window cut or an open cutout to add the scent and color, a sleeve to keep the price down and a rigid box or two piece box to give as gifts. Bulk-quoted printed soap boxes have size and finish minimums.

One of the limited items that shoppers use their nose to evaluate is soap. They pick up a bar, smell, examine the color and replace it or retain it. A box that conceals all that, leaves them nothing to build on, and a box that tells them what the bar smells like and what it looks like seals up the sale. Empress Packaging produces custom soap boxes throughout the USA, constructed to sellers who sell in markets, in boutiques, and on a wholesale basis.

Reasons why custom soap boxes are better than stock sizes.

Soap bars do not have standards. A slice of loaf that has been cut by hand, an oval shape that is moulded, a round puck and a three ounce guest bar require various boxes. One side of a stock box is slack, and a loose bar is banging and wearing and does not appear to belong. Packaging boxes of your shape and size that are made of soap are shaped to fit on a shelf.

The second reason is space for information. A printed soap boxes contains the scent name, the tale, the weight, the ingredients, and your contact information. When the panels are made the size of the content initially, it is easier to fit all of that around the artwork. Retail buyers are not left behind. When presented with a choice of two bars of the same price, a boutique buyer is more likely to select the bar that has already been displaying on the shelf.

Soap box styles compared

Style

How it works

Best for

Notes

Tuck end carton

Flat folding box, flaps tuck in

Retail volume, wholesale

Lowest cost per box; ships flat

Sleeve (band)

Open ended wrap around the bar

Handmade bars, market stalls

Bar stays visible and sniffable

Soap boxes with window

Carton with a die cut opening

Bars where color or swirls sell

Open cutout lets scent out; film covers keep fingerprints off

Two piece box

Separate lid and base

Gift sets, luxury soap boxes

Holds multiple bars with dividers

Rigid box

Thick board, magnetic or lift off lid

Premium lines, limited edition

Heaviest feel, higher minimums

Mailer

Corrugated tuck lid

Online orders and subscriptions

Protects bars in transit

Advantages of printed boxes of soaps.

Soap shoppers make a purchase based on first sight, thus, custom printed boxes are doing a real job. It is a spa product as the foil printed name is written in matte black on a black box. There is a kraft sleeve with a one-color stamp that says small batch and natural. Neither would occur with a simple carton and neither would need a big design budget.

Security is more than just what one thinks. Bars are bulky in their weight and corners grind when they bang in a case. Boxes ensure that bars are not in contact with each other and that the smell does not permeate the shelf surrounding the bar, therefore making sure that the bar does not taste like the rest.

Volume is in your favor with cost. One of the most cost effective methods of achieving full color branding onto a product is to tuck end carton and wholesale production decreases the unit price. A selling bar of eight or twelve dollars is easily carried in a box.

Uncoated kraft and recycled board recycle by use of standard streams and print well on sustainability. To ensure that a box can be purely recycled, use a piece of paper instead of plastic film on any window.

Customer experience is the last piece. A universal gift and a universal repeat purchase is soap. What appears good on a bathroom counter is stored in a box, and reminds the customer of your name.

Location of use of custom soap boxes.

The manufacturers of handmade soaps employ window boxes and sleeves in craft fairs and within the boutiques. Hotels and Spa purchase guest size bars that are boxed with the logo of the place. The soap boxes wholesale with dividers used by gift basket companies contain three or four bars sets. One structure has the rotation of the scent that Subscription brands ship and only the print is changed. The wholesale brands of soaps have numerous retail customers and order soap boxes in bulk to maintain the unit cost low.

Customization options

Our Luxury Soap Boxes can be designed using kraft, white paper board and rigid chipboard, which will be covered with printed paper. The typical range of folding carton board lies between about 250 and 400 gsm, and thus a single bar of average weight would fall quite comfortably in the middle of the range. Larger bars, or groups of bars, require a more solid board, or a stiff frame.

The printing is done in one color on kraft to full color. Finishes are matte and gloss, soft touch lamination, foil stamping, embossing, and spot UV. Windows may be a simple die cut or may be covered with a film.

Sizing is done to your shape, therefore, send us the length of the bar, width and height including any raised design. Individualized soap boxes are simple: a name, a fragrance label or a message can be printed on each of them and differences can be made with one structure but the artwork alone is different. Provided that you are selling a number of scents, a box-shaped part with a different colour on each scent can be tooled at a lower cost.

Soap may mark uncoated board over time, particularly those bars that contain a lot of oils. Should that be important to your recipe, inquire concerning a grease resistant coating or wrap on the inside of the box.

Pre-plan the label panel in front of the art.

Labeling of soaps is dependent on the type of product. The FDA considers a product to be true soap when it is primarily composed of alkali salts of fatty acids, as it cleans solely by those salts, and is marketed as soap. Real soap is under Consumer Product Safety Commission. A bar that makes a moisturizing or fragrance claim is typically a cosmetic and is subject to the FDA, including an ingredient list in the INCI name, and additional requirements with claims on cosmetics under MoCRA. A bar that purports to kill germs or cure skin is a drug.

Most of the labels on the soap boxes bulk will contain the name of the product, the net weight (usually in ounces and grams at the bottom of the first panel), and your business name and address. The ingredient list is added by the cosmetic soaps. Regulations are modified, and what you are to print depends upon your classification, so get the wording quite straight with a compliance advisor and send him with your dimensions. We also book the panel area prior to design, preventing a reprint at the proof stage.

Frequently asked questions

Q: In what are custom soap boxes made? 

A: They are mostly kraft, or white paperboard. High end lines are made of rigid chipboard and printed paper wrapping, and shipping boxes made of corrugated.

Q: What is the wholesale quantity of soap boxes? 

A: It is based on style, size and finish. Folding cartons begin at a lower point, whereas rigid boxes usually begin at a higher point due to tooling. We assure ourselves of precise minimums on quoting.

Q: Will you give me boxes of soap with a window? 

A: Yes. A window may be a die cut, or covered with film. Open holes allow the odor to escape and make the box recyclable.

Q: Is it possible to print various scents on various boxes? 

A: Yes. Individual boxed soaps may have the same structure with the name of the print, color, or scent varying with each box.

Q: Are eco friendly soap boxes available? 

A: Yes. Most styles are available in uncoated kraft and recycled board.

Q: Is it possible to get a sample prior to a full order? 

A: Yes. Evidence exists prior to production.

Get your free quote

Free quotes on soap packaging boxes at query@empresspackaging.com or make a call at(888) 900-7629. Being a custom box manufacturer and custom box supplier of soap makers in the USA, we offer prices on packaging of single bars, sets and wholesale quantities.