How GSM and Unit Count Change What a 40HQ Carries

A buyer comparing three quotations for the same 25 × 30 cm face towel is usually comparing price per piece. A container does not care about price per piece. It cares how many retail boxes fit inside it, and that number moves with three things: GSM, the unit count in each box, and the way the towel is folded.

Three recorded configurations, one towel size

• 25 × 30 cm, 80 GSM, 50 pcs per box, EF texture: retail box 15.5 × 13.5 × 12.5 cm, master carton 50 × 43 × 52 cm, 36 boxes per carton, 614 cartons per 40HQ, 22,104 boxes per container.
• 25 × 30 cm, 90 GSM, 50 pcs per box, EF texture: retail box 15.5 × 13.5 × 13.8 cm, master carton 50 × 43 × 43.4 cm, 27 boxes per carton, 737 cartons per 40HQ, 19,899 boxes per container.
• 25 × 30 cm, 80 GSM, 60 pcs per box, EF texture: retail box 15.5 × 13.5 × 15 cm, master carton 50 × 43 × 63 cm, 36 boxes per carton, 492 cartons per 40HQ, 17,712 boxes per container.

These are recorded reference configurations as of 30 October 2026, using the default EF pattern and quarter-folded retail boxes. They are references, not commitments: the final loading quantity is confirmed after the retail box, the master carton, the packing tolerance and the order specification are approved.

Lever one: GSM moves the box, not the towel

The towel is the same 25 × 30 cm in all three rows. What changes at 90 GSM is the height of the stack of fifty, and therefore the height of the retail box: 12.5 cm becomes 13.8 cm. Ten percent more fibre, roughly ten percent more box height. That additional 1.3 cm is enough to cut the carton from 36 boxes down to 27.

Lever two: carton count sets freight, piece count sets cost

The 90 GSM row carries more cartons (737 against 614) but fewer boxes in total (19,899 against 22,104). Converted to pieces: 22,104 × 50 gives about 1.11 million pieces at 80 GSM, against 19,899 × 50, about 995,000, at 90 GSM. A heavier towel means fewer pieces per container, and that arithmetic — not the quoted unit price — is what moves landed cost.

The third row is the reverse experiment. Back at 80 GSM but with 60 pieces per box, the box grows to 15 cm and the container takes 492 cartons instead of 614; because each box holds twenty percent more, the total is 17,712 × 60, about 1.06 million pieces. Unit count and GSM do not add up on freight. They multiply.

Lever three: the fold decides whether the format works at all

A quarter-folded towel in a box cannot be dispensed one piece at a time. Our 30 cm series is quarter-folded and boxed for that reason, and the 20 cm series uses a pop-up bag because the format is built around pulling one towel at a time. Choosing a fold to save carton height and then asking for pop-up dispensing is a specification that cannot be produced.

What to request with a quotation

Ask for four numbers per configuration: GSM, pieces per retail box, boxes per master carton, and cartons per 40HQ. With those four you can compute pieces per container yourself and compare two quotations on the same footing. Without them, a price per piece is a number without a denominator.

The configurations above sit in the disposable face towel range; carton fields for the salon and spa formats are on disposable towels.