Retail Bags and Boxes Key Terms

Learn the lingo when presenting your customers with retail boxes and bags

You may find yourself coming across unfamiliar terms and jargon while shopping for retail bags and boxes for your business. If you don't learn these terms, you may pass up excellent products such as jute bags, chipboard boxes, e-flute products, and boxes with a living hinge. You may even learn a little about products you already know about, like T-shirt bags and printed bags.

If you're new to shopping for retail bags and boxes, or if you just need some extra explanations to help your established business, get informed with these key terms.

 

Living hinge

A living hinge is the thin plastic piece that joins the lid to the body of a item that acts as a hinge to allow the lid to open and close. Living hinges are usually made from flexible materials such as polypropylene and polyethylene, and can open and close around a million times without failing. This is a valuable accessory in reusable retail bags and boxes.
Try: Get more information than you thought possible on living hinges from the School of Engineering at Pennsylvania State University.

T-sacks or T-shirt bags

These bags have many names: t-sacks, t-shirt bags, grocery bags and to-go bags are just a few. These are the standard plastic bags you get at the grocery check-out line. Because of the shape of the handles and bag, it looks similar to a t-shirt.
Try: European Plastics News gives a brief history of T-shirt bags.

E-flute

E-flute boxes are made from fiberboard. There's single-face e-flute and double-face. E-flute consists of a crinkled paper sheet, which is the flute part, with two sheets of paper liner glued on either side. It is lightweight and biodegradable, and can be used for temporary displays as well.
Try: See some examples of various styles of e-flute boxes at Ares Printing & Packaging. Get more information from Empire Container. DDN Industries provides more details about flutes.

Jute bags

Jute is a vegetable fiber from India used inexpensively and naturally to make bags and other products. Jute is a popular choice for reusable and biodegradable shopping bags or as customized business promotional items.
Try: See a wide range of jute shopping bag styles at Indian manufacturer Indarsen Shamlal. Green Earth International provides a wide selection of jute promotional bags for you to review. Get more information on jute from the International Jute Study Group (IJSG).

Chipboard

Chipboard boxes are a popular, lightweight choice for packaging in retail stores and other industries. Chipboard is often used for soap packaging, and as apparel and gift boxes.
Try: See some examples of chipboards at PackagingSupplies.com and All Valley Packaging.

Printed bags

Most retailers want their bags and boxes customized. Some printed bag wholesalers have bags in stock that have "Thank You" on them, and offer more customized solutions for companies that want logos and other company information printed.
Try: See some examples of printed bags at Action Bag.

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