Pallets for Clothing Warehouses

Almost every carton of clothing that moves through a warehouse travels on a pallet. Pallets turn loose boxes into a single stable load that a forklift can lift, rack, load onto a truck and unload at the other end without handling each carton separately. This page is the Apparel Search guide to pallets for clothing warehouses and apparel shipping companies: what a pallet is, the manufacturers and suppliers that serve the industry, and the related equipment — pallet lifts, slip sheets and used forklifts — that works alongside them.

What a Pallet Is

A pallet is a flat transport structure made of wood or plastic (and in a few cases metal) which can support a variety of goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by any mobile forklift device. The goods are placed on top of the pallet, and can be secured to it by straps or stretch-wrapped plastic film. For the full definition, visit the Pallets Definition linked above; the site also carries a full set of shipping definitions, linked in the importing section below. In a clothing warehouse the load is usually cartons of folded garments, footwear or accessories, stacked to a height the racking and the truck can both accept, then wrapped so the stack travels as one piece.

Choosing Pallets for Apparel Stock

Clothing cartons are light compared with many industrial loads, but they are bulky, easily crushed at the corners and damaged by moisture and splinters. A sound pallet for apparel work has a flat, clean deck with no protruding nails, a footprint that matches the carton sizes being stacked — check the standard dimensions on the Pallet Sizes conversion chart linked above — and enough strength to be racked without sagging. Pallets that stay inside one warehouse can be heavier and longer-lived; pallets that leave with a shipment should be cheap enough to treat as one-way, or traded through a pallet exchange so they come back.

Slip Sheets: The Pallet Alternative

Some warehouses replace the pallet itself with a slip sheet — a thin sheet of plastic or fibreboard that sits under the load and is pulled by a push-pull forklift attachment. Slip sheets cost less than pallets, take up almost no storage space and add no pallet height to a shipment, which matters when freight is charged by volume. ITW Plastic Packaging, listed above, is a pioneer of the plastic slip sheet, and the Apparel Search Slip Sheets page, linked above, covers the manufacturers. The trade-off is handling: slip-sheet loads need the right forklift attachment at both ends of the journey, so they suit regular routes between equipped warehouses better than one-off deliveries.

Importing Pallets With Clothing Shipments

Keep in mind that if you are importing pallets into the United States with your clothing shipments, it is important to understand the legal issues involved. For example, some types of wood are not permitted. You may want to research customs clearance issues before the goods leave the factory, and the site also carries a Customs Broker Directory and a Customs Attorney Directory if the shipment needs professional help, plus the full set of Shipping Freight Definitions.