Have you seen those rather good-looking cardboard envelopes that come through the door containing CD’s, books, posters and more? You know, the expandable ones made of cardboard? Well, whenever they are delivered to your door, there’s a good chance they’ll be one of ours.

The boffins at Lil Packaging started making these envelopes decades ago – but in the past few years, we’ve really gone for it and have innovated like crazy. Which has resulted in a product that is difficult to beat, and most definitely one of the best in the industry at what it does… which is getting product from point A to point B quickly, safely, securely and in style.

So what makes our way of doing this, just that bit special?

We have ended up using the toughest possible card to get the right balance of mailing weight vs strength for clients – because you know… weight costs money in mailing!
It’s fair to say we like being environmentally friendly, so Lil products are manufactured using FSC® certified environmentally sustainable materials on all products bearing the Lil name.
Our manufacturing plant ‘contours’ the shoulders of our glue seams on these envelopes to ensure a maximum of 3 material thicknesses in the finished product. This way, we make sure our envelopes ‘fit’ in the situations they are delivered into.
Ever tried to fold a card envelope that doesn’t want to fold? We thought the same as you did… so we included the task of pre-folding the flaps in an extra section of our machines to make it easier for our clients to close our envelopes. Simples.
The spookiest part of producing these envelopes was when we decided to include ‘ghost creases’ on all our Lil envelopes to allow for capacity of inserted items/contents being mailed – because we’ve all had that experience trying to get a book or dvd out of a package that’s just too darn tight right?
Fulfilment speed is a big thing in e-commerce. When you’re packing boxes and envelopes all day, every second counts to get product out and delivered quickly. Overhangs on the white release paper on our envelope flap make it quick and easy to remove. Having the fastest packaging speed for our clients is always a win! With video evidence to prove it!
We are one of the only European cardboard envelope manufacturers that use hot melt glue, a special way of sealing envelopes that actually makes sure they stay closed until the customer has them! (See our special article on hot melt glue!)

What makes them really special is the fact that they’re continually being improved through feedback from our real internet retailers – including some of the biggest! If we identify an improvement tomorrow, the chances are it will be implemented within 4 weeks of successful testing. For example with our envelopes, it wasn’t exactly obvious to us that we should write ‘open’ on the tear strips. Several customers suggested this, and now all of the tear-strip products we do carry this instruction. When you’re close to a thing, it’s difficult to have the perspective that another viewpoint can give you – we rely on our customers for exactly that.

Because of this, our products and our service are continually improving, and ranges like our Lil envelope are continually getting better and better.