OEM · Packaging and sample approval
Packaging formats and sample approval
Five pack formats, the fold each one carries, the series each one is made in, and the record a buyer keeps when samples are compared. Pack format and fold are not independent: a 1/2 fold is the only one that can be built as a dispenser pack, box and portable pouch are 1/4 single-sheet packs, and only those two are made in the 30 cm series. Both sections end on the same rule: confirm it on a physical sample.
Private-label programs with artwork, label, barcode, and carton specification approved before production begins.
The short version
- Five pack formats. Three dispenser bags are made in the 20 cm series only: top-pull, top-and-bottom pull, and bottom-pull large pack. Box and portable pouch are made in both the 20 cm and 30 cm series.
- The fold decides the pack. A 1/2 fold is the only fold that can be built as a dispenser pack. Box and portable pouch are 1/4 single-sheet packs. There is no 1/6 fold on this line.
- Two combinations are fixed before a quotation. 10 × 20 cm is not made as a bottom-pull large pack, and the portable pouch runs every confirmed size in both series, from 10 × 20 cm up to 30 × 30 cm.
- Approval happens on a physical sample, with the pack, fold, artwork, label, barcode, and carton confirmed together rather than one at a time.
Last reviewed 18 October 2026. Figures are the ones used in the tables on this page.
03
Packaging and dispensing
A towel on this line is classified on three axes: pack format, fold, and fiber. This section covers the first two, and they are linked — the pack format decides the fold. Fiber is the third axis and sits in Table 1 on the products page.
| Pack format | Fold | Size series | How a towel comes out | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top-pull bag | 1/2 | 20 cm only | Dispenser pack. The interfolded stack sits in a film bag and each towel is drawn through an opening at the top. | Opening style and size, piece count, film structure, print, and carton count. |
| Top-and-bottom pull bag | 1/2 | 20 cm only | Dispenser pack with an opening at each end of the bag, so the pack can be pulled from the top or from the bottom depending on how it stands. | Which end faces the customer and which is used behind the counter, opening size, piece count, film, print, and carton. |
| Bottom-pull large pack | 1/2 | 20 cm only, except 10 × 20 cm | Dispenser pack. A larger pack with one opening at the bottom; the pack stands and towels are drawn downwards. | Piece count and pack weight, whether the pack stands unaided, opening size, film, print, and carton. |
| Box | 1/4 | 20 cm · 30 cm | Single-sheet pack. The box holds a 1/4-folded stack and a towel is taken by hand. Not built as a dispenser pack on this line. | Piece count, board grade, whether a window is wanted, print, and carton. |
| Portable pouch | 1/4 | All sizes in both series | Single-sheet pack. A small pouch, usually resealable, holding 1/4-folded towels taken by hand. | Pouch structure and closure, piece count, print, and whether it sells at retail or is used in service. |
The fold rule
Fold and series point the same way. A 30 cm towel goes into a box or a portable pouch, and that pack is 1/4, so the towel is taken by hand. No 30 cm size is built as a dispenser pack on this line, whatever the piece count or the film structure. One size-level limit applies inside these formats: 10 × 20 cm is not made as a bottom-pull large pack. Every other confirmed size runs in whichever packs its series allows.
An opening is not the same as a dispenser
A pouch is not a dispenser pack and neither is a box on this line, whatever the closure looks like. A resealable pouch closes again, but its towels are folded flat rather than interfolded, so a pop-up workflow cannot be planned around it. A box is a 1/4 single-sheet pack: the lid opens, a towel is taken. Where the workflow needs one towel to follow another out of the pack, the decision is made by the fold before the pack is drawn.
What our projects show about format by market
In our face-towel projects, a 20 cm length with a 1/2 fold in a top-pull bag is common in East Asia, and a 30 cm length with a 1/4 fold in a box is more common in Europe and North America. This is our project observation, not a market study, and it is not a rule: format still follows the counter, the treatment room, or the retail shelf you supply.
Confirm these before the packaging quote
- Pack format, one of the five, and the fold it carries
- Size series — 20 cm if the pack dispenses, 20 cm or 30 cm if it is a box or pouch
- Piece count per pack, and pieces per carton
- Unfolded size, and the folded size the pack must hold
- Opening type where the format has one, and whether a closure is needed
- Artwork, label, barcode, and whose barcode it is
- Carton dimensions, marking, and pallet pattern
A texture choice does not by itself include dedicated tooling or a logo embossed into the towel. If a project needs its own embossing pattern, that is a separate question to raise with the specification, not an assumption that follows from choosing plain, pearl, or F.
From the shelf notes: packaging vocabulary has no standard — 49 of 121 retail pages never state a pack format, and the pages that do use at least 18 different names for the same five ideas.
Also from the shelf notes: fifty sheets is the default — the median pack across 110 retail pages holds 50 sheets, and the pages that say 60 cluster in Japan and Korea.
04
Comparing samples under the same conditions
A sample comparison only tells you something if the samples differ in one variable at a time. This is the record we suggest buyers keep, and the list the manufacturer works from when a sample is discussed.
Set the conditions first
- Record the unfolded size and the GSM of each sample.
- Record the fiber composition, including the blend ratio.
- State whether the observation is dry or wet, and how wet.
- Use the same water temperature and the same contact time for every sample.
- Use the same lighting and the same background when judging surface and color.
What to observe
- Hand feel, dry and wet, described in your own words.
- Surface fuzzing after rubbing the same area the same number of times.
- Lint or fragments left on a dark surface after use.
- How quickly water disappears into the towel, not how much it holds.
- Whether the towel stretches, distorts, or splits when wet.
- How it comes out of the pack, and whether the pack closes again.
Fuzzing and lint are not the same defect
Fuzzing is fiber standing up on the surface of the towel; the fabric looks fuzzy or rough but is intact. Lint is fiber or fragments leaving the towel and landing somewhere else. A towel can fuzz without shedding, and a towel can shed without obvious fuzzing. Record them in separate columns, because the fix is different: fuzzing is mainly a fiber-composition and spunlace-bonding question, while lint has to be traced to the specific surface and use.
This checklist is a purchasing record. It does not replace a laboratory test, a compliance assessment, or any certification, and it sets no pass criteria. If a specification needs measured values, agree the test method and the acceptance limits in writing before sampling.
Questions the pack table raises
Three questions follow directly from Table 4 and the fold rule. They are about how the two axes lock together, not about which pack is better — that still depends on the counter, the treatment room, or the shelf you supply.
What separates a top-pull bag from a top-and-bottom pull bag?
Both are 20 cm dispenser packs carrying a 1/2 fold. The top-pull bag has one opening, at the top. The top-and-bottom pull bag has an opening at each end, so the same pack can be drawn from the top on a shelf or from the bottom behind a counter.
Which end faces the customer is a pack decision, not a towel decision: the towel, its fold, and its piece count are the same either way. That is why the second format is worth asking about when one pack has to serve both a front-of-house shelf and a back-of-house bench.
Why is there no 1/6 fold on this line?
Because two folds cover the five formats. A 1/2 fold is what lets one towel follow another out through an opening, so it belongs to the three bag formats. A 1/4 fold is a flat stack taken by hand, so it belongs to the box and the portable pouch.
A 1/6 fold is not built here, and a brief that requires one falls outside what this line can quote. The same applies in reverse: the fold cannot be ordered on its own, because it is carried by the pack.
Can the fold be changed without changing the pack?
No. Fold and pack are one decision on this line: a 1/2 fold only works in a dispenser pack, and a 1/4 fold only in a single-sheet pack. Choosing the pack first and settling the fold afterwards produces a combination this line does not build.
So the two are read together — in the sample, in the written specification, and in the packaging quotation. If a workflow needs a towel to come out through an opening, the fold is settled at that moment, and the pack follows from it.