Everything about Garment Packaging

Garment packaging is the final process in the production of garments, which prepares the finished merchandise for delivery to the customer. These operations come under the materials handling methods and are no less important than other systems used in the factory. 

Packaging refers to the container that carries a product. Two primary objectives of packaging are preventing any damage to the product during transportation and enhancing the product’s features for the consumer for the sale of it.

Packaging has two major functions:

• Distribution

• Merchandising

The main purpose of distribution packaging is to package the garment in a way that allows the garment manufacturers to transport the garment at a minimum cost and in the shortest time to the retailer or purchaser, without deteriorating the product quality.

Types of Package Forms

The basic types of package forms used in apparel and allied products are

 • Bags

 • Boxes

 • Cartons

 • Cases

 • Crates

 • Twine

 • Wrappers

Types of Packing Materials

The simple packaging materials used in garments and related items are paper, plastic, film, wood, nails, staples, cords, gum tape, and metal bands. 

  1. Wood cases and crates are generally used as packing materials for bulk exports or rugged shipments where shipment handling is higher. 

  2. Paper and plastic film packaging materials are used in garment and related industries. The paper types such as kraft, crepe, tissue, paper foil, paper board, and waterproof are typically used as packing materials. Plastic films have a major advantage over paper because of their clarity in range.

Quality Specifications for Packing Materials

Quality specifications for packaging paper and film are similar to that of fabric. The basic quality factors in paper and films are

1. Properties

•    Clarity 
•    Thickness 
•    Width and length
•    Weight
•    Yield

2. Characteristics

•  Tensile strength
•  Elongation
•  Bursting and tearing strength
•  Flammability
• Porosity
•  Air/moisture permeability
•  Sunlight transference
•  Resistance to odors
•  Dimensional stability to heat and sunlight

Package Design

A product’s packaging mix is the outcome of numerous requirements that decide the way the packaging achieves the distribution and merchandising functions. A package must promote or sell the product, protect the product, aid the consumer to utilize the product, offer reusable options of the package to the consumer and has to satisfy legal requirements. The main two criteria for package design are functional and sales requirements.

 Functional Requirements: Package design for a specific product should fulfill five groups of functional criteria such as in-store, in-home, production, distribution and safety, and legal. In-home requirements normally usually state that packaging should be convenient to use and store and reinforce consumers’ expectations of the product. For in-store conditions, packaging must draw the attention of the buyer, identify the product and differentiate it from the competition, and tempt the customers to purchase the product. The package should be designed such that the retailer could easily store the product, keep the stock on the floor, and it must be simple to process at a check-out counter 

Sales Requirements: Apart from functional aspects, product packaging should be designed in such a way that it appeals to customers. The four most important merchandising requirements of package design are its apparent size, the impression of quality, the attractiveness of a package, and finally readability of the brand name.

Infographic by TextileInfographics

Types of Garment Packing in the Finishing Section

Stand-Up Pack

 This type of packing is commonly used for shirts and hence termed ‘shirt packing’. For this type of packing, the garments have to be pressed prior to packing and are packed with additional packing materials like tissue paper, back support, pins or clips, inner collar patty, outer patty, etc.

The advantages of the stand-up pack are:

• It is an attractive pack so it enhances the appeal of the garments to the customer. 

• It is a safer pack as it has inner and outer cartons, therefore the packed garments can be handled easily. 

• On account of its better presentation, it can increase the sales of a product.

The disadvantages of the stand-up pack are:

 • It is costlier. 

• It needs many packing materials. 

• It involves a lot of effort as well as time. 

• Unpacking this kind of package needs more time and once unpacked it is tough to repack. 

• In case it is crushed by any source, creases and wrinkles are formed on the garments and thus the pressed condition is disturbed.

Stand-Up Pack

Flat Pack

In this packing method, the garments are pressed and folded well as like in a stand-up pack, however with fewer additional packing materials. It is generally normally used for ladies’ garments and has a flat surface. The size of the folding is based on the garment style and specifications of the buyer. The common sizes of the flat packs are 8″ × 10″ and 10″ × 12″.

The merits and demerits of a flat pack are:

 • It is less expensive than the stand-up pack as it requires less material. 

• It is less attractive than the stand-up pack. 

• For shirts it does not present the beauty of the collar portion very well. 

• The disadvantages are the same as that of the stand-up pack.

Flat pack

Hanger Pack

It is a simple garment packing method where the garments are secured in a poly bag with a hanger after pressing. Here polybag is the only material used. This type of packing can be used for all types of garments, especially for blazers, coats, pants, etc.

The merits and demerits of a hanger pack are: 

• Because of its simplicity it reduces the cost of packing and materials. 

• All the components/panels of the garments could be seen easily without removing the bag. 

• The time for packing and unpacking is less. 

• Material handling is not easy.

Hanger Garment Package

Deadman Pack

This kind of packing is used for shirts. Here, the sleeves are folded in front of the pack and pinned with each other. Next, the garments are folded in the center. As it resembles the appearance of a dead body, it is called a ‘deadman pack’. It is a simple packing method using only pins or clips and polybags. 

The merits and demerits of this pack are 

• The costs of packing materials and packing are less compared with other methods due to their simplicity. 

• The packing and unpacking time is less. 

• Garments can be examined in packed condition. 

• This type of packing enables easy handling of garments. 

• This type of packing is not suitable for shirts because it does not show the collar and the collar point as in the stand-up pack; hence, it is less attractive.

Types of Carton Packing

After garment packaging, the process of cartooning is carried out based on the size of the apparel and its color. The most used packing types are given below. 

1. Solid color solid size pack 

2. Solid color assorted size pack 

3. Assorted color solid size pack 

4. Assorted color assorted size pack

Information provided in carton boxes:

• Carton box number 

• Order number 

• Style, color 

• Number of pieces in each color and style 

• Total number of pieces 

• From address and To address 

• Contact number 

• Net weight of the carton box

 • Dimension of the carton box

General Packing & Handling Instructions

The following are the general instructions for packing garment bags:

• Ensure staff handling the garments have clean hands and that the general environment is clean and dust-free.
• Ensure that garments are clean and dry before packing in a garment hang bag.
• The hangers must be secured with a cable tie before placing them into garment bags.The cable tie may be placed through the die-mold hole in the center of the
  hanger to hold the hangers securely together. Alternatively, the cable tie may be placed around the base of the hanger necks.
• Pack garments into garment bags. No greater than 12 units should be packed into any single garment bag, and weight must not exceed 7kg.
• Seal the top opening of garment bags by placing ladder-lock cable ties at the base of the hanger hooks – taking care not to damage hangers.
• During storage and transport, ensure garment bags are not over-packed or crushed together causing unnecessary garment crushing and creasing.
• Bags must remain vertical & hanging at all times. Under no circumstances should bags be laid flat or draped over a fixture.
• Ensure that the packed garment bags are kept in a cool, dry place. Bags must not be left outdoors or exposed to adverse weather conditions.

References: Merchandise Packaging & Presentation Standards for Stores