“Can we just print our logo on a pack of tissues” sounds like a one-line brief. It is not. A Singapore buyer ordering printed tissue paper has to choose between at least five very different pack formats — namecard, standard pocket, plastic wallet, square pack, cardboard pack and cube box — and each one has a different print area, sheet count, per-unit cost and audience fit. Pick the wrong format and you either pay for a cube box when a namecard pack would have done the job, or you hand out pocket packs at a hotel amenity station where a square pack would have looked ten times more premium. This is the practical format-comparison guide for the tissue paper custom catalogue.
How to read this guide: every format below is indexed on five spec rows — pack dimensions, sheet count and ply, usable print area, typical per-pack landed price at 300 MOQ, and the audience and setting the format is built for. Read the “audience fit” line first; a format that is wrong for the audience cannot be rescued by a bigger budget.
The six pack formats, one-line summary
Before the deep spec table, here is the audience and use-case shorthand most Singapore buyers can operate on. If one of these reads as obviously right, you probably don’t need to read the rest of the guide — jump straight to the pricing bands and MOQ detail.
- Namecard pack — the smallest format, business-card-sized, fits a brochure pocket. Best for trade shows, networking handouts, in-pack inserts.
- Standard pocket pack — the default. Best for hawker-centre / MRT giveaways, event swag bags, clinic waiting rooms.
- Plastic wallet pack — transparent wallet wrapper, shows the tissue through the pack. Best for hygiene-focused brands, pharmacies, clinics.
- Square pack — a flat, premium square format with larger print real estate. Best for hotel amenities, F&B tabletop, wedding favours.
- Cardboard pack — rigid cardboard sleeve, reads as gift-grade. Best for VIP client gifting, corporate year-end gifts, retail bundling.
- Cube tissue box — a full printed cube box, stands on desk or counter. Best for office reception desks, restaurant tabletops, event registration tables.
Namecard pack — smallest, cheapest, most hand-outable
A namecard tissue pack is roughly 90 × 55 × 10 mm — the footprint of a standard Singapore business card, just slightly thicker. Inside sits 4–6 sheets of 3-ply pocket tissue, folded twice. The wrapper is a single polyethylene sleeve printed on one or both faces. At 300 MOQ you are looking at S$1.60–S$2.00 landed per pack; at 3,000 MOQ you are at S$0.72–S$0.90.
What the format is built for is handout volume. A 1,000-pack run of namecard tissue drops into a briefcase or an event goody bag without bulking it, and the receiver registers the brand on a surface they already associate with business-card-style information. Where it falls down is perceived quality — at a hotel or premium F&B setting, a namecard pack looks and feels disposable. Use it for trade shows, MRT giveaways, and in-pack inserts. Do not use it for wedding favours or VIP gifts.
Print area and artwork notes
Usable print area per face is around 80 × 45 mm once safe margins are taken out. That is enough for a logo, a one-line tagline, and a QR code — but not enough for a paragraph of body copy or a complex illustration. A tight, flat, single-colour or two-colour mark is what makes this format sing; full-bleed photography looks muddy at this size. For the technical artwork rules, see the logo placement per pack section.
Standard pocket pack — the Singapore default
Eighty per cent of the printed tissue packs you see handed out at hawker centres, MRT stations and office lobbies in Singapore are in this format — roughly 115 × 65 × 12 mm, 8–10 sheets of 3-ply tissue, polyethylene wrapper with a clean tear notch. Cost at 300 MOQ is S$1.80–S$2.10 landed; at 3,000 MOQ it is S$0.75–S$0.95.
The format is a default for a reason. Print area is generous (roughly 105 × 55 mm per face, so 210 × 55 mm if you split the artwork across front and back), the pack fits into a pocket or handbag, and the perceived quality is neutral — it reads as a freebie without reading as a cheap freebie. Use it whenever the campaign is a volume giveaway and the brand wants the logo seen across a city, not displayed on a desk.
Plastic wallet pack — the hygiene-and-pharma format
A plastic wallet pack is a resealable transparent-front wrapper, roughly 115 × 75 × 15 mm, that holds 10–12 sheets of 3-ply or 4-ply tissue with the tissue visible through the wrapper. Because the front face is transparent, the brand artwork goes on the back face and sometimes on a full-colour paper insert that sits between the tissue and the clear front. Cost at 300 MOQ is S$2.00–S$2.40; at 3,000 MOQ it is S$0.85–S$1.10.
This is the format to pick when the brand is explicitly hygiene-, wellness- or healthcare-adjacent. Pharmacies, clinics, dental practices, beauty and cosmetic counters all favour this format because the visible tissue signals product quality — the buyer can see the ply and feel the softness before using. Do not pick it for general-purpose marketing handouts; the transparent front is both unnecessary and slightly more expensive than a standard pocket pack.
Square pack — premium F&B, hotel and wedding format
A square pack is the format that rescues tissue from “freebie” status. Flat square footprint around 95 × 95 × 10 mm, 8–10 sheets of 3-ply or 4-ply tissue, and — critically — a matte paper wrapper rather than plastic. Print is flexographic or offset on a paper substrate, which gives photographic colour fidelity and a tactile premium feel. Cost at 300 MOQ is S$2.40–S$2.80 landed; at 3,000 MOQ it is S$1.00–S$1.30.
Square packs are the format to use when the tissue sits on a table rather than getting handed out — restaurant tabletops, hotel amenity trays, wedding table favours, spa receptions, salon chair-side kits. The aesthetic reads as intentional. Print area is about 85 × 85 mm per face, so around 170 × 85 mm across both faces — the largest unbroken print canvas of any small-format pack. Full-colour photographic artwork works on this format whereas it would fail on a pocket pack.
Cardboard pack — gift-grade, rigid, retail-ready
A cardboard tissue pack sits between a pocket pack and a cube box — a rigid 300 gsm cardboard sleeve around a bundle of 10–12 tissue sheets, roughly 110 × 75 × 20 mm. The rigid substrate allows for spot UV, foil stamping, debossing, and other premium finishes you cannot apply to a soft polyethylene wrapper. Cost at 300 MOQ is S$3.80–S$4.60 landed; at 3,000 MOQ it is S$1.80–S$2.30.
This is the format to pick when the tissue is part of a bundled gift — a corporate year-end gift set, a hotel welcome kit, a retail-bundled SKU. The rigid form factor protects the tissue in transit and survives a shelf-merchandising rotation, and the print finishes elevate a freebie into a gift-grade object. We do not recommend it for high-volume giveaways; at S$2–S$4 landed per pack, a hawker-centre campaign of 3,000 packs ends up with a four-figure budget that a pocket pack would have delivered for a fraction.
Cube tissue box — the tabletop and counter format
A cube tissue box is a full 110 × 110 × 110 mm printed cardboard cube housing 80–120 sheets of 2-ply or 3-ply tissue, drawn through a central elliptical opening. Print is full-colour offset on 250–300 gsm cardboard, all six faces available for artwork. At 300 MOQ you are at S$4.20–S$5.20 landed per cube; at 3,000 MOQ you are at S$2.00–S$2.50.
Cube boxes are a tabletop format, not a handout format. A single cube sits on a reception desk, a hotel nightstand, a restaurant table, or an event registration counter for weeks — the brand gets passive exposure every time a user pulls a sheet. Quantity planning is very different from pocket packs: a restaurant chain with 12 outlets rotating a cube every 4 weeks needs about 156 cubes per year, not 3,000. Price per impression on a well-placed cube beats a pocket pack comfortably; price per handout does not.
At-a-glance spec comparison
How to choose in 30 seconds
Walk through these four questions in order and the right format usually surfaces before you reach the end. If you are still torn after question four, default to the standard pocket pack — it is the “safe” choice and almost never looks wrong.
- Will the tissue be handed out or sit on a surface? Handed out → pocket, namecard, or plastic wallet. Sat on a surface → square, cardboard, or cube.
- What does the brand signal need to be — disposable or gift-grade? Disposable → namecard or pocket. Gift-grade → cardboard or square.
- Is the audience hygiene- or healthcare-adjacent? Yes → plastic wallet (transparent front signals product quality). No → skip it.
- How much print area does the design actually need? Compact logo → any format works. Full-bleed photo or illustration → square, cardboard or cube only; never namecard.
Once the format is locked, the procurement questions — quantity band, per-unit pricing, lead time, surcharge for expedited delivery — are all answered in the MOQ and per-pack pricing tiers breakdown. If the campaign is a specific industry use case, cross-reference the F&B and hospitality giveaways playbook to get industry-specific quantity recommendations.
Frequently asked format questions
Can we mix two formats in one order?
Yes. A common configuration for hotels is 500 square packs for in-room amenity plus 500 cube boxes for reception, both carrying the same artwork. Each format is priced as a separate 500-pack MOQ, but artwork and colour-match costs are only charged once.
Is the sheet-count ply genuinely adjustable?
Sheet count yes, within the pack dimensions — a pocket pack can carry 8 or 10 sheets of 3-ply, not 20. Ply is adjustable up to 4-ply on pocket, square and cardboard packs; namecard stays at 3-ply because of the folding tolerance.
Which format is the most eco-friendly?
Square paper-wrapper packs on FSC-certified recycled pulp, printed with soy-based ink, are the cleanest composition. Plastic-wrapper formats (pocket, namecard, wallet) can be specified with biodegradable PE wrappers on runs above 1,000, which closes most of the gap without rebuilding the format. Cube boxes are also strong on recyclability because the cardboard is mono-material.
Can we print on the tissue sheet itself?
Yes, but only as a low-pressure single-colour emboss or water-based inline print in pale colour — full-coverage or dark-colour print on the sheet is not food-safe and not recommended. The wrapper is where the heavy branding belongs.
Pick a format, then price the run
Samples of every format above ship free on request. Browse the live collection and view sample packs in the branded tissue paper catalogue, then send a one-line RFQ with pack format, quantity and print colour count.
