What is the Cheapest Way to Ship Clothes? How to Mail Apparel?

Clothes are a popular commodity for online shopping. Moreover, you get a wide range of collections when it comes to online shopping. With online shopping going popular with all, most of the small to popular businesses are equally investing in the online retail channels to sell. Moreover, with the help of advanced technologies, it is easy to depict the designs in a better way that is more appealing. All the advanced technology has given the option for customers to go browse the online store just like visiting a physical store. And again, yet another fact that invites shoppers is the easy refund and return policies. Store owners need to make some effective planning in terms of shipping their products efficiently and affordably. Let us take a look at the cheapest way to ship clothes if you have an online apparel store.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Clothes or fashion items are an eCommerce staple especially nowadays. Shipping clothes are rather easier than shipping books or even shipping heavier items, as they are not heavy, or have irregular shape and size etc. Hence shipping clothes might sound easier. The apparel industry is always looking for better options to ship the clothes in better ways. It is important to know how to ship clothes effectively and safely to your customers. Hence it is important to familiarize yourself with these methods for shipping clothes.

Here we take a look at how we can pack the clothes in the safest way, how to ship them and overall the best cheapest way to ship clothes[ Compare the Shipping Cost & Estimated Delivery Date from Leading Shipping Carriers ].

So let us go ahead and see how.

How to Ship Clothes

While shipping clothes, the first and the foremost thing to know are how to pack the same. You need to understand the proper way of packing to ensure that the shipping is intact and the clothes are not damaged. When you pack your clothes for shipping properly, it reduces the shipping cost. Interestingly, clothes are the easiest to pack among physical products, as they are not irregularly shaped, not spiky, or have sharp edges. And yes, it doesn’t break!

Packing Materials required for Shipping Clothes

Using the right packing material is very important when it comes to shipping. The right shipping material will help your products to reach safely to the customer and also reduces the shipping cost. So here are the things you need to pack the clothes.

Cardboard boxes are ideal when it comes to shipping large quantities of clothes, and especially when it is to the same customer.
For single pieces of clothes use plain Tyvek envelopes.
If you are packing delicate items with trinkets or buttons attached, then use bubble mailers and flat clipboard mailers.
Use corrugated boxes for shipping if you are shipping for long-distance.
And yes, do not forget your scissors and tapes to secure the packing.

Here are some points to remember while packing and shipping :

Avoid extra cushioning in the package.
Choose a rigid packaging to protect delicate clothing inside.
You can make use of not so expensive poly mailers to pack inside.
Ship items together when you are shipping.
To help make adjustments in the weight, ensure you pack and then weigh it correctly.
Before packing, fold the clothes neatly.
Always try to use the smallest packages to ship.
When you are shipping, compare the prices at a flat rate.
Consider using USPS Flat Rate Priority shipping for distant destinations or heavy packages.
Look for volume discounts when you are shipping to reduce the cost incurred.

How to Package Casual Apparel for Shipping and save money on it

Whether you are shipping shirts, or pants or jeans, it is good if you follow certain rules in packing. Always ensure the packing is neat and clean, and for the same choose a neat space to cover your packages. Stains on clothes are not formidable.

So here is how to pack shirts :

Firstly fold the shirts neatly with facedown and sleeves folded backward with no visible wrinkles.
Once folding is done, place it in plastic bags and seal them with tape into a poly mailer. You can also add the shipping label.
If you are shipping multiple shirts, then pack them individually and then don’t forget to stack them. Also pack them in slightly larger boxes to ship, to ensure that the shirts aren’t slipping.
If the cardboard box is big for large shipments of shirts, ensure that the shirt is packed with Kraft brown paper so they are intact.

Here is how to pack jeans and pants :

When it comes to pants, lay them smooth and then fold one leg on top of the other. Then from knees to the pockets and then finally fold them into half.
If it’s just a single piece, you can easily fold it and seal it into a plastic poly mailer for shipping.
If you are shipping multiple pairs of pants and jeans, then pack them individually and stack them up in a cardboard box. Make sure the pants are weighed and then the box for the same is chosen to pack that can withstand the weight of the pants.
Ensure to seal the box securely.
Add the relevant shipping label.

How to Ship a Wedding Dress

Unlike shipping books, shipping clothes are different. And yes the wedding dress is something very important to be preserved. And clearly, it needs great attention. Here are some important things to keep a note of while shipping a wedding dress.

It is ideal, if the bridal shop does the packing of the dress, as they know the detailing well, and also know how it can be preserved.
If that’s not possible, then pack the items by yourself. Ensure you use a sturdy box, with enough room in it. Also, ensure to wrap the dress in acid-free tissue paper. Finally, place it in a garment paper box.
Ensure you mark on the box that it is a “Wedding Dress”.
Make sure the box is taped well enough to secure the dress.

What is the Best Way to Ship Clothes?

You can’t just go directly and ship the clothes, you need to find the cost-effective method to ship them and also choose the right shipping carrier for the same. Among the shipping carriers that do shipping at low cost are :

USPS First class is the most affordable option to send lightweight items. It is the best priced for items weighing up to 13oz. The delivery is quite fast too and generally takes 1-3 business days. FedEx ship manager lite is yet another option for shipping clothes. Packages that weigh less than 68kg can be sent through FedEx. UPS has always been one of the prominent shipping options when it comes to lightweight and even oversized items. Though it takes technically 1-5 business days for package delivery, it is quite reliable and a cost-effective one

Related Article: UPS vs USPS 2020 – A detailed Comparison

What is the Cheapest Way to Ship Shirts, Pants or a Box of Clothes?

When you consider clothes, they aren’t that expensive to be shipped. The major factors that work to add up the cost are the packaging material, the shipping carrier choice and the packaging dimensions. Hence it is ideal to compare the shipping prices from popular shipping carriers before deciding the same. You can easily do so by integrating your store with the popular shipping options to fetch real-time rates and then provide an estimate in terms of prices.

Roughly speaking here is an estimated price and other options by some shipping options:

Shipping Options	Estimated Delivery Time	Packaging Options	Price Estimate
USPS First Class	2-3 days	large envelope under 1pd	$2.66-$5.44
USPS Priority Mail	2 days	12 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ Envelope	$7.15-$8
USPS Flat Rate Box	2 days	8 5/8″x5 3/8″x1 5/8″ Box	$7.65
UPS Ground	4 days	8 5/8″x5 3/8″x1 5/8″ Box	Around $12
FedEx Ground	4 Days	8 5/8″x5 3/8″x1 5/8″ Box	Around $12

To Conclude

Remember, you can pack your clothes in the right way and choose the right shipping option to ensure you get the cheapest way to ship clothes. When it comes to pricing and shipping, it is ideal to get all the rates and then compare the same before choosing one. For example, UPS Ground might be the regular, cheapest option for you to ship, but what if the weight varies? You can always go for the USPS Flat Rate options, which are yet again affordable. Clothing and apparels are popular items when it comes to online shopping. It is important that the store owners know exactly how to ship the same so it arrives in one piece to the customers.

Making use of an all in all shipping plugin in your WooCommerce store would make your work easier. It not only helps to fetch the live shipping rates with estimated delivery dates for the orders, but it also lets you calculate the shipping cost after serious consideration of the packaging options possible. These shipping plugins have certain algorithms running in the background for better analysis in packing rightly and efficiently. Here are some of the shipping plugins that can be found handy to help you find the cheapest way to ship clothes.

Refer to the product pages to know more about the same.

Further Reading :

Sreepriya

Content Writer Writing on Various ELEX WooCommerce Plugins.

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