# Strapping / packaging shirts together



## 20vK (Jul 9, 2011)

Hey guys,

has anyone ever strapped their shirts together for the customer after folding?

I was trying to think of a good way to keep the shirts folded and organised by size for delivery to the customer, and also make them a little easier to handle.

I thought that perhaps I could use strapping to bundle all the folded shirts together - I know that on a print run of 200 shirts, the piles of folded shirts start to get pretty unstable. Inevitably they start to take on a significant lean as the pile gets higher! - it would be great to be able to bundle them up.

The customer could then leave the shirts bundled until they need to use them or put them on the shelves and they will all be organised by size and folded.

It would reduce any chance of the pile falling over while we are handing over the items to the customer and should also make counting and boxing easier

I was considering a system that uses a plastic buckle that you can tension by hand, which I've used on carboard boxes before.

My only concern would be that:

I may have to protect the shirts in some way from damage whilst actually strapping the pile (as you tension, the strap will rub against the shirts and perhaps cut into the fabric or mark the shirts). I don't want to use plastic bags to protect them as I'm concerned about a customer's strapped package of shirts sitting in storage for a while and starting to rot. But perhaps I just don't need any protection - that would be perfect!

Has anyone done anything like this before? Shipping for the strapping is going to be really expensive for me, so I'd like to hear feedback before I invest! I like the idea, as plastic strap is pretty innert, so should not effect the bundled shirts. If I can strap without any protection, then I think I may have a winner!


Alternatively, if you have any other methods (simply just use cardboard boxes?) I'd love to hear from you. I really like the concept of added value. The bundles could look awesome and it is certainly better than handing over loose shirts stuffed into a bag, as I've seen done before. After spending time folding the shirts, it makes sense to make sure they reach the customer the same way as they leave the shop. For a shop, there could be nothing better than to just cut the strap and just load a bunch of pre-folded, correct sized shirts straight onto the shelf.

What do you think?

Richie


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## AtkinsonConsult (May 2, 2011)

Richie:

We print and produce shirts that go straight to retail or prestaged for warehouse distribution everyday. 

For some orders, we are hangtagging, price stickering, label changing or individual polybagging each shirt. It all depends on the order.

However, despite all that, these shirts are always going back into boxes. We label each box with what's inside. Sometimes there's a size ratio (for example 2 S, 2 M, 4 L, 4 XL) per dozen or they are simply all one size in the box. Every client has different expectations and requirements.

I've never heard of bundling before, and I would think that after you pulled the straps tight that they would crease or pull into the shirt too much. Also, it seems that they would be unprotected and prone to getting dirty or stained during transport.

In the end, it's all about what your end user / customer expects or requires.

Good luck,

-M


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## 20vK (Jul 9, 2011)

Hey Marshall,

Thanks for the input.

I was still going to box them up for the customer. I just figured that until they were ready for boxing, bundling them up would make things easier and on opening the box, it would also be easier for the customer - open box, grab a bundle of mediums and you are all set! No sorting through loose shirts to find that last XL you know is in there somewhere! Also, all our deliveries / collections are in Cayman. 8 miles by 20. Nearly all would be collected by the customer from the shop

I agree with the creasing, that certainly was a concern of mine


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## AtkinsonConsult (May 2, 2011)

Richie:

Are you charging for this work? If you aren't getting any money for this, then you might think twice about it.

Also are your clients asking for this, or are you over-thinking it? Just curious...

-M


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## 20vK (Jul 9, 2011)

It originated from me, actually!

I had some boxes of mixed shirts and had to scrabble through the lot just to find the correct sizes that I knew were there. After printing and folding I had shirts everywhere and a pile fell over and the shirts got marked.

I figured that for the time it would take to strap them together after the process of folding them - (no time at all with those plastic buckles), not only would it look pretty nice when the customer received their goods, but could save everyone a bit of hassle.

If I bundled them up in X numbers, it would also make counting shirts easier for me at the end of the day. Count the bundles, rather than every individual shirt. I don't exactly have the luxury of space with my current setup!

I know it is an extra process and small expense, but compared to the time spent folding, (which we do for free anyway), very minimal!


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## AtkinsonConsult (May 2, 2011)

Richie:

I don't know how you do it there, but we've always handled things with a "printers fold"... As the shirts come off the dryer, count to 12. Fold them in half horizontally and then tuck the sleeves in. Six stacks of these are 72. They go in the box. 

We always do it this way and it's a way to keep control. Each bundle is a dozen. You can spot these on a table and know that there's 36 or 48 from across the room.

If you have different sizes going into a box, rotate them 180 degrees going into the box for each size to make it easy for your client to unpack.

-M


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