Custom Clothing Packaging from China: Labels, Tags, Boxes & Poly Bags Guide

By Essty Garment · July 25, 2026 · 10 min read

A great garment deserves great packaging. But for new fashion brands, packaging is where the budget quietly disappears — $300 on woven labels you don't need, $500 on custom boxes that arrive late, $80 on care labels missing the legal text that gets your shipment seized at customs.

I run a garment factory in Guangzhou, and we handle packaging for brands in 40+ countries. This guide breaks down every packaging component — what it costs, what MOQ to expect, what to put on it, and what to skip. By the end, you'll know exactly what you need for your first production run.

The key takeaway: Packaging is not one product — it's seven. Each has its own MOQ, lead time, and supplier. The cheapest path is to bundle them with your clothing factory, not source each separately. But you still need to know what's inside each one so you don't overpay or under-comply.

1. The 7 Components of Clothing Packaging

Here's the full list of what a complete private-label packaging package includes. Not every brand needs all seven, but every brand needs to make a deliberate choice on each.

Complete Packaging Checklist

  1. Woven brand label — sewn into the neckline or waistband.
  2. Hang tag — cardboard tag attached with a string.
  3. Care label — fabric composition, wash instructions, origin. Legally required.
  4. Size label — your size system (US, EU, UK, or custom).
  5. Poly bag — individual garment protection.
  6. Mailer box — the outer shipping box for D2C brands.
  7. Tissue paper & stickers — the unboxing experience layer.

Let's break down each one — what it costs, what to watch for, and how to decide.

2. Woven Brand Labels

Your woven label is the fabric tag sewn into the neckline (for tops/dresses) or waistband (for bottoms). It carries your brand name and is the most permanent piece of branding on the garment.

Options

Pricing & MOQ

Tip: If your total order is under 1,000 pcs, ask your factory to include labels in the production cost. We do this free for orders of 200+ pcs — we order 1,000 labels and hold the surplus for your reorders.

3. Hang Tags (Cardboard Tags)

Hang tags are the cardboard tags hanging from the garment with a string. They carry your brand, product name, price, barcode, and sometimes sustainability or sizing info.

What to include on a hang tag

Options & Pricing

Design tip: Keep hang tags simple. A clean logo on kraft paper looks more premium than a busy full-color tag. Buyers notice restraint.

4. Care Labels — The Legal Requirements

This is the one component you cannot skip or improvise. Care labels are legally required in the US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan. A missing or incorrect care label can get your shipment seized at customs or trigger a product recall.

US Requirements (FTC Textile Fiber Products Identification Act)

Mandatory care label content (US)

EU Requirements (Regulation EU 1007/2011)

Common compliance mistake: Brands forget that fiber content percentages must be accurate to within 3%. "100% Cotton" on a label that's actually 95% cotton / 5% polyester is a regulatory violation in both the US and EU. Always send your factory the exact fabric composition — in writing — and verify it on the care label sample.

Care Label Pricing

5. Size Labels

Size labels seem trivial, but they are the second-most-common source of returns after fit. A factory's "M" doesn't always match your market's "M." Two rules:

  1. Use your market's size system. US brands use XS/S/M/L/XL or 2/4/6/8. EU brands use 34/36/38/40. UK uses 6/8/10/12. Don't let the factory decide — you decide and specify in the tech pack.
  2. Provide actual body measurements. Give the factory the measurements for each size in centimeters. The label says "M," but the spec sheet defines what "M" means.

Size labels cost $0.01-0.03/pc, MOQ 500 pcs. Most factories include them free with production.

6. Poly Bags (Individual Garment Packaging)

Poly bags protect each garment during shipping and storage. For D2C brands, this is also the first thing the customer sees when they open the mailer box.

Options

Pricing & MOQ

Critical: Every poly bag must have a suffocation warning printed on it in the language of the destination country. US requires it on all bags with a 5-inch (12.7cm) opening. This is non-negotiable — customs will flag shipments without it.

7. Mailer Boxes

Mailer boxes are the outer shipping box for D2C brands. They are the single biggest packaging expense and the biggest opportunity to elevate (or ruin) your brand experience.

Options & Pricing

Lead time is the critical factor here. Mailer boxes take 10-15 days because they require custom die-cutting and printing. Order them at the same time you start production, not when production finishes — otherwise you'll wait two weeks to ship.

Cost-vs-impact tip: A single-color logo on a kraft mailer delivers 80% of the brand impact of a full-color box at half the cost. For first orders, go single-color. Upgrade to full-color once you have reorders and predictable volume.

8. Tissue Paper & Stickers

The unboxing layer. Tissue paper wraps the garment inside the mailer box; stickers seal the wrap. This is pure brand experience — it adds no functional protection but transforms how the product feels.

For first orders, plain tissue + a custom sticker seal is the sweet spot. The sticker is the cheapest piece of branded packaging you can buy, and it's the first thing the customer touches.

9. Complete Packaging Pricing Table

Here's the full cost picture for packaging a women's V-neck waist dress at three order quantities. This assumes standard-quality components, not luxury.

Component100 pcs300 pcs1,000 pcs
Woven brand label$0.15$0.10$0.06
Hang tag (kraft)$0.12$0.08$0.05
Care label (satin)$0.06$0.04$0.03
Size label$0.03$0.02$0.01
Poly bag (frosted)$0.08$0.06$0.05
Mailer box (1-color)$0.90$0.75$0.60
Tissue + sticker$0.12$0.08$0.05
Total per unit$1.46$1.13$0.85
Total packaging cost$146$339$850

Notice how packaging scales. At 100 pcs, packaging adds $1.46 per dress — roughly 15% of the FOB garment cost. At 1,000 pcs it drops to $0.85, or about 10%. The savings come from bulk MOQ thresholds on woven labels, hang tags, and mailer boxes.

Smart sourcing: Order woven labels, hang tags, and poly bags in bulk (1,000+ pcs) even on your first 100-pc production run. The surplus carries to reorders at no extra cost. This single move can cut your per-unit packaging cost by 30-40% on the first order.

10. How to Design Your Packaging

You don't need a graphic designer for every component, but you do need consistent brand assets. Here's the minimum file set your factory needs:

Packaging Design Assets (What to Send Your Factory)

Good factories will produce a digital mockup of every packaging component before production. Review each one — especially the care label text, which is the one with legal consequences.

11. Common Packaging Mistakes

  1. Missing country of origin. The single most common customs seizure cause. "Made in China" must appear on the care label and ideally the hang tag.
  2. Wrong fiber percentages. Check the care label against the actual fabric composition. A 3% error is a regulatory violation.
  3. No suffocation warning on poly bags. Required in the US, EU, UK, Canada, and Australia. If your factory forgets this, customs will flag it.
  4. Ordering boxes too early. Mailer boxes take 10-15 days. If you order them after production finishes, you wait two extra weeks to ship. Order at deposit.
  5. Over-packaging. A $3 rigid box for a $25 dress destroys margin without increasing perceived value. Match packaging cost to retail price — aim for 5-8% of retail.
  6. Inconsistent fonts. Different fonts on the label, tag, and box looks unprofessional. Send one font set and require all suppliers to use it.

12. Should You Source Packaging Separately or Through Your Factory?

This is the question every brand asks. Here's the honest answer:

Source through your clothing factory if: your order is under 500 pcs, you're new to sourcing, and you want one point of accountability. The factory marks up packaging 10-15%, but they coordinate timing, apply labels correctly, and absorb the risk of misaligned components. For private label brands, this is almost always the right choice.

Source separately if: you order 1,000+ pcs regularly, you have a specific packaging supplier you trust, or you need specialty packaging (rigid magnetic boxes, custom inserts) that your garment factory doesn't offer. The savings are 15-25%, but you manage coordination, shipping, and quality risk yourself.

For most brands reading this, bundling with the factory is the right call. The time you save is worth more than the 15% you'd spend sourcing separately.

13. Lead Times at a Glance

ComponentLead TimeMOQ
Woven labels5-7 days1,000 pcs
Hang tags5-7 days500 pcs
Care labels3-5 days500 pcs
Size labels3-5 days500 pcs
Poly bags (plain)3-5 days500 pcs
Poly bags (printed)7-10 days1,000 pcs
Mailer boxes10-15 days100-500 pcs
Tissue paper (custom)7-10 days500 sheets
Stickers3-5 days500 pcs

Plan backward from your desired ship date. Mailer boxes are the long-lead component — order them the day you pay your production deposit.

Need Custom Packaging for Your Brand?

We handle woven labels, hang tags, care labels, poly bags, and mailer boxes in-house — bundled with your production. Tell us your brand and we'll send a complete packaging quote within 48 hours.

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