FoldedColor Targets Small Businesses with Web-to-Carton Capabilities

FoldedColor, a Web-to-carton solution for custom folding cartons, is built around the needs of small businesses, providing cost-effective, high-quality production of short-run orders as small as 50 boxes. FoldedColor arms customers with a browser-based interface that combines an intuitive design editor and 3D proofing system with an online storefront, speeding up the design and buying process. FoldedColor’s proprietary extended color gamut printing technology employs a seven-color offset process to produce brilliant colors and graphics on all cartons.

FoldedColor fills a void in the industry, according to Jan Steiner, president and CEO.

“It’s an all-in-one DIY solution for designing and ordering small quantities of affordable custom cartons,” she said. “And we’re not talking about just any folding cartons. We print every carton using our seven-color offset process, which beats four-color process and digital printing any day.”

The process begins when customers visit FoldedColor.com and begin browsing a library of carton styles. After selecting a style and size – from all the most popular carton styles in nearly any size – and reviewing instant online pricing, customers then download a die line and design their cartons using FoldedColor’s online editor, or offline using Adobe Illustrator. FoldedColor’s advanced printing technologies and seven-color process can match virtually any spot color. Every project is fully designed, uploaded and approved as a 3D rendering prior to order submission and payment.

All cartons are manufactured on premium solid bleached sulfate (SBS) paperboard that is SFI certified and fully recyclable, and using aqueous and UV coatings, as specified by customers during the ordering process. FoldedColor reduces lead times and saves customers up to 70 percent as compared to competitors’ pricing on short-run custom carton orders of 50 to 15,000 pieces.

While the FoldedColor name is new to the industry, the Steiner name is not. Jan Steiner grew up in the packaging industry, and for the past 33 years, she has been successfully running and growing luxury folding carton manufacturer Thoro Packaging, which was founded by her father, the late Macy Dabek, in 1967. FoldedColor Packaging is a new online division of Thoro Packaging.

“Over the years, I’ve seen our cartons unleash great power – elevating products to higher playing fields and kindling lasting connections between consumers and the brands they love. FoldedColor puts this power directly into the hands of entrepreneurs and do-it-yourselfers.

Erik Knear, inventor of The Santa Signal, is one such entrepreneur.

“The Santa Signal package, made by FoldedColor, strengthens the brand and increases credibility,” he said. “It has impressed my investors, retailers and customers, and ordering as few as 50 at a time keeps costs manageable.”

In addition to small businesses and startups looking for an easy and affordable way to extend their brand into packaging, the low 50-piece minimum also speaks to ad agencies and businesses that want to experiment with carton designs or tap into the benefits of versioned or seasonal packaging. FoldedColor is also a great fit for promotional items, trade show giveaways and party favors.

Source: FoldedColor.