A five-SKU home-fragrance family — 220 g and 500 g candle jars, 200 ml diffuser, 100 ml spray, 300 ml soap pump plus rigid and folding boxes — was scoped at ~2,000 pieces per SKU against four brand-supplied Pantone references (Warm Gray 1C, 7528C, 5425C, 432C). Glass, closures, spray decoration and boxes were routed to different partner factories and colour-matched in one coordinated matte-spray run. The three-week ask was replaced by an honest 7–10 days for sprayed samples plus 25–35 days production; a stock glass family with black standard closures later brought the post-approval lead time to 15–18 days. Status: sampling stage, courier address received, sample and courier invoice raised.
The brief
The enquiry arrived through the contact form with a reference board attached. The brand already had a fragrance filler; it wanted empty packaging only — glass, pumps, caps and boxes — and a long-term partner rather than a one-off order. The board showed a single design language across every piece: straight-walled, no shoulder, the same diameter at different heights, black hardware throughout, full-body matte colour with two lines of screen print and a small hot-stamped mark on the base.
The brand supplied its own Pantone references — Warm Gray 1C (bone), 7528C (sand), 5425C (dusty blue) and 432C (charcoal) — which removes most of the colour-development loop. It wrote the quantity as 2,000 without saying per SKU or across the collection, which at five SKUs is the difference between 10,000 pieces and 400 per item; that was the first question back, with the three-week timeline the second.
What we specified
The spec was written component by component, because no single factory makes candle glass, diffuser glass, a fine-mist pump, a lotion pump and a rigid box. The route — one glass family, black stock closures, one spray house — is what keeps the family reading as one colour under retail light.
| Component | Specification | Decoration | Notes from scoping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Candle jar, small | Straight-wall thick glass, ~220 g fill (partner family offered 230 g), with lid | Full-body matte Pantone spray; 2-line screen print; base hot stamp | Lid finish to be confirmed against the black-hardware brief; partner's stock lid was wood |
| Candle jar, large | Same family, 500 g fill, same-colour glass lid | As above | Requested in the same family so the pair matches; not in the first quote |
| Reed diffuser | 200 ml, short neck, round shoulder, black moulded cap, black reeds | Matte spray | Three shapes (A/B/C) in one family at three price levels |
| Room spray | 100 ml straight wall, black fine-mist pump, black full-cover cap → brand later asked for 250 ml or 350 ml | Matte spray | 250 ml recommended as the pair to a 350 ml soap; both sizes requested for photos |
| Hand soap | 300 ml asked; family stock size is 350 ml, black lotion pump | Matte spray | Brand accepted 350 ml to keep the design language identical |
| Boxes | Rigid (lid-and-base) and folding carton, single-colour board | Print to Pantone; cut after glass is approved | Insert measured off the approved sample, not the drawing |
Per the decoration process reference, screen print plus hot stamp were held to two passes in total; soft-touch and frosting were quoted as options.
MOQ and route
The commercial logic of a family like this is that the spray minimum attaches to each shape, not to the colour. Five sprayed shapes in one tone is five set-ups run back to back, which is why the quantity question mattered more than the price question. Indicative figures below are partner-factory practice for this project, quoted at 2,000 pieces per SKU; lower tiers at 500 and 1,000 were requested and priced higher per piece.
| Item | Route | Indicative minimum | Indicative FOB China, at 2,000/SKU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprayed glass (all five) | Stock glass family + one spray house, one run | 2,000–5,000 per shape (industry floor for sprayed colour via partner factories already tooled) | Glass pieces landed in a USD 0.7–1.5 per-piece band |
| Black closures | Stock black moulded cap, fine-mist pump, lotion pump | Stock — no custom colour set-up | Included in the piece prices above |
| Screen print + hot stamp | Screen per colour, one stamp die | From ~2,000; die is a small one-off | ≈USD 0.014 per colour; ≈USD 0.055 per design |
| Rigid + folding boxes | Board printer, after glass sign-off | 1,000–2,000 | Quoted separately once the flacon was confirmed |
The point worth repeating to any brand building a family: the black closures were stock. Because the diffuser cap, the spray pump and cap, and the lotion pump all exist in black as standard, the cohesive hardware look needed no custom decoration at all, and the only set-up cost in the whole project was the matte spray.
Tests
The sample plan followed the standard battery on our QC standards page, with two items specific to a sprayed family: colour judged as a set, and candle glass judged as candle glass.
- Colour, per piece and as a family — sprayed samples against the four Pantone chips under D65, ΔE within the agreed tolerance; all five pieces approved side by side in one hand, not one at a time as they arrive.
- Coating adhesion — 3M 810 tape over a 2 mm cross-hatch on the spray, 10 passes, pulled at 45°, no lift; pencil hardness ≥2H; 3M 600 over the screen print and hot stamp.
- Candle vessels — annealing to GB 4545 and thermal shock to GB/T 4547, because a candle jar is stressed by burn temperature and a repurposed cosmetic jar is not the same thing.
- Golden sample — one sealed set retained so a reorder is judged against the same physical reference.
Timeline
The brand asked for three weeks end to end. We said no on the first reply, and offered a phased plan instead: stock glass and printed boxes first, full custom colour in a second wave, if the launch date was fixed.
- Custom Pantone matte, as originally briefed — colour development and sprayed samples 7–10 days; production 25–35 days after sample approval.
- Stock glass family with standard matte colour cards — the route eventually taken; 15–18 days after sample approval, because the family and its colours already existed at the partner factory.
- Sampling — stock pieces couriered first so the brand could judge glass weight and proportion in hand; colour-matched samples only after a colour was chosen from the cards.
- Sample payment — courier address received; a single invoice for samples plus courier proposed, with a card-based route offered so the brand had buyer protection on a small international payment.
Apply the ×1.3 buffer from the production calendar.
What the brand learned
- Bring the Pantone. Four exact references on day one shortened colour development more than any other single decision.
- Write the quantity per SKU. "2,000" is not a quantity for a five-piece family until it says per item or in total.
- Let the family set the sizes. Accepting 350 ml instead of 300 ml for the soap, and sizing the spray up to sit beside it, kept every piece in one glass family — which is what makes one spray run possible.
- Stock black hardware costs nothing extra. Custom-colour closures would have added a 10,000-piece plating floor; stock black added none.
Method: how a perfume family stays one colour. Formats: fragrance bottles, glass bottles, gift sets; programme: fragrance and home fragrance solution.
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider — a sourcing partner, not a factory. On this project we routed candle glass, diffuser glass, pumps, spray decoration and boxes to vetted partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP, held all five pieces to one Pantone reference and one decoration run, and put stock samples in the brand's hand before any colour-matched sample was made. Not sure what to specify? Start with the Packaging Spec Builder.
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