3134 of the moulds on this site already exist. That single fact removes the two largest costs and the longest lead time in a packaging project, and it is worth being precise about what it does and does not buy you.
| Tooling cost | Stock mould: none. Custom: typically US$1,800–6,500 for a simple bottle or jar mould, higher for multi-part assemblies and airless. |
| Tooling lead time | Stock mould: none — the mould is running. Custom: add several weeks for design, tool cutting, trial shots and T1 approval before a single saleable unit exists. |
| Sampling | Both routes: samples in 7 days. |
| Production | Both routes: 10 days after approval, once the mould is running. |
| MOQ | From 1,000 pcs per SKU, on either route. |
| Differentiation | Stock mould: yours through decoration and colour, not through silhouette. Custom: a shape no competitor can buy. |
Almost always, on a first order. You get to market without spending tooling money before you know whether the product sells, and the decoration budget — which is where the brand actually shows — is not competing with a mould bill. It is also the right call permanently for any pack that is not the hero of the range: the outer carton, the refill, the travel size, the secondary SKU.
When the silhouette is the brand. If a buyer would recognise your bottle on a shelf with the label covered, that shape is an asset with a measurable value, and a one-off four-figure tool cost is cheap against it. The other honest case is a functional constraint no stock mould satisfies: a specific dose, a specific closure, a pack that has to fit an existing retail display or an existing cap.
What a custom tool never fixes is a weak formula or a weak claim. Buyers decide on the product, not the bottle.
Every mould page here gives you the pack reference, the capacities, the material and the decoration options — the same brief you would send to a tool shop, except there is no tool shop involved. Pair it with a formula from the 93,751 entry formula database and the quote covers the fill and the pack as one line, in one reply, within 24 hours.
Send us the fill and we will come back with the pack, the decoration and one FOB price covering both, within 24 hours. 3134 moulds are in production — there is no tooling fee at any size.
Start a combined quote →