Anvil Standard or Anvil Custom
Every component in your product comes down one of two paths. Standard is what we already hold and know the price of. Custom is what we go and get for you. Most projects use both: a standard tub with a custom label, or a custom jar with a core-stock flavour system.
Our usual advice
Standard components with a custom label for the first run. It gets you to market faster and tells you whether the product sells before you commit to a container of bespoke jars.
Path A
Anvil Standard
A curated range of tubs, bottles, pouches, caps, scoops, label stock, ingredients and flavour systems that we buy regularly and hold. Priced, tested, already working in other products.
- Faster quoting. We already know the cost, so a quote takes days rather than weeks of supplier chasing.
- Shorter lead times. No import wait on components. The constraint becomes your formula, not a shipping container.
- Lower minimums. You buy from stock we already carry instead of triggering a supplier's MOQ.
- Fewer moving parts. Fewer purchase orders, fewer things that can arrive late.
- Easier reordering. Repeat runs draw on components we keep on the shelf.
Best for a first run, a market test, or any brand where speed to shelf matters more than a bespoke bottle.
Path B
Anvil Custom
We source packaging, ingredients or components specifically for your brand, including colours, dimensions and closures nobody else in your category has.
- Real differentiation. Your tub does not look like every other tub on the shelf.
- Custom colours and dimensions. Matched to your brand rather than to a catalogue.
- Unique components. Specific closures, scoops, seals, cartons and premium finishes.
- Ingredients outside core stock. Actives and extracts sourced and verified for you.
- At least two quotes. We RFQ multiple suppliers on anything important and show you the landed comparison.
Best for an established brand, a hero SKU, or a product whose packaging is part of the pitch.
What custom actually costs you
Plan for these before you commit
Custom is not worse. It is a different set of trade-offs, and knowing them upfront is the difference between a launch that moves once and a launch that moves four times.
Money
- Higher minimum order quantities
- Tooling costs on moulded components
- Client-funded procurement
- Freight and import duties
Time
- Longer supplier lead times
- Sample rounds before approval
- Sea freight and customs clearance
- Incoming inspection on arrival
Commitment
- Client-owned inventory held for you
- Leftover stock ties up capital
- Design changes mean new tooling
- Additional sampling costs
Moving from standard to custom later
Once a product has proven itself, switching the packaging to custom on the second or third run is straightforward. The formula, the label artwork and the process are already approved and on file, so only the component changes and only the component gets requoted.
Client-owned stock
You can buy components yourself, or fund a custom purchase through us, and we hold them reserved for your products only.
- Ownership
- Recorded against your account, never pooled with Anvil stock
- Visibility
- Quantity received, allocated and available, in your portal
- Allocation
- Reserved to your projects and drawn down per batch
- Expiry
- Flagged before a component reaches its retest date
Not sure which path your product needs?
Tell us the product and the shelf you want it on. We will show you both quotes, standard and custom, side by side with the lead times attached.