SBS folding cartons, windows, and counter displays

Folding card versus rigid gift

White-board folding cartons are retail SKUs that ship flat or glued and erect on the line. Rigid gift boxes are presentation: grey-board core, wrap, often a lid. Mixing the two on one RFQ without caliper wastes a sample round.

If the buyer means a wrapped gift with a window, that is still a gift-box converting path. If they mean an SBS sleeve or tuck carton with a patched window, that is the folding-card line. Write the family first.

Catalog cases are structures

Window sleeve, marker pack, face-mask carton, counter display, ballpoint display, open display, kraft mailer, window gift carton — these are catalog structures, not barcodes. Each has a different knife, glue pattern, and freight cube.

A marker pack that must stand on a peg is not the same die as a face-mask carton that sits in a tray. Copying a photo of “the blue one” does not name the structure.

• SBS caliper or gsm, not “card box”.
• Window, hang-tab, and display header as separate lines if used.
• Counter display vs folding carton is a different knife.

Windows are converting, not a filter

A window is a cut plus a film patch, or a cut left open. Size, panel, and corner radius belong on the dieline. “Clear window” is not a polymer.

PET versus PP is a material choice to confirm against the destination. This article does not invent a recycle-law outcome. If the brand has a preferred film code, write it. If not, we will propose a film on the sample.

Counter displays are a second job

A counter display that holds cartons is not the carton. It has its own board, print, and often a header or tray well. Quantity of the display versus quantity of the pack must be two lines.

Open displays and ballpoint stands need load notes: how many units, whether they ship packed in the display, and whether the display prints both sides. Do not paste a gift-box wrap spec onto a corrugated or SBS display without saying which board.

Print path in Longgang

In-house Heidelberg sheetfed offset prints the carton or display sheet after Kodak CTP, then die-cut and folder-gluer. That is the same plant list as wrap sheets: 8-open 4/5-color, XL-75 4/5-color, CDX102 4/5/6-color as catalog names — not a rented-press story.

Spot colours, varnish, and lamination sit on a finish map. A digital mock-up of a marker sleeve is not the production sheet.

If the carton is litho-lam corrugated instead of SBS, that is another print path: print then mount to flute, or direct print on the board. Do not paste an SBS gsm onto a flute RFQ without saying so.

Hang-tab PVC is a different stream

A hang-tab on an SBS carton is a tab cut or a glued header on paperboard. A clear PVC hang-tab box is the PVC line: gauge and hang-tab geometry as separate purchase lines. Mixing them on one PO without saying so is two samples.

If the SKU must hang on a retail hook, write hole type and which panel. Food or toy claims still need the destination on the RFQ — catalog photos are not a declaration.

Kraft mailers are not a gift wrap

A kraft mailer in the catalog may be SBS kraft-face or a corrugated shipper. Those are different knives, different print paths, and different burst stories. Write which board family you mean.

If the mailer must carry a rigid gift box, the mailer is a second item with its own inner millimetres. Do not size the mailer from the gift-box outer photo alone.

Export marks, master-carton count, and whether cartons ship flat belong on the packing conversation. This article does not publish a cube or a lead time.

What to put on the RFQ

Board (SBS caliper or gsm), structure name, inner millimetres, window film if any, hang-tab yes/no, print/finish map, quantity band, destination. Kraft mailers need flute or kraft grade if they are corrugated rather than SBS.

We do not publish a site MOQ, a price, or a guaranteed lead time in this article. Ask for a quantity band and a sample path.