Key takeaways
- A custom bottle mould costs several thousand dollars and up; a stock mould costs nothing.
- Tooling is usually amortised across the first order, not paid separately.
- Who owns the tool when the relationship ends must be in the contract.
Tooling is the mould or die that turns a design into a manufactured object. It is a one-time cost paid before the first unit, and it buys exclusivity: nobody else can buy the same bottle from the same mould. Whether that is worth the money depends on volume, product lifespan and how much the shape itself sells.
1. What gets tooled
Bottle bodies, caps, jars, pumps, tubes, carton dielines, label dies, blister trays and lipstick bullets can all require tooling. Each has its own cost range: a carton dieline is cheap, an injection mould for a bottle is expensive, and a multi-cavity mould for a cap is more expensive still.
2. Cost ranges
A simple carton dieline costs a few hundred dollars. A single-cavity injection mould for a 50 ml jar runs several thousand. A multi-cavity bottle mould with a hot runner can exceed twenty thousand. A lipstick bullet mould sits in between. These are one-time figures and they are usually quoted in USD.
3. Cavity count
A one-cavity mould produces one part per cycle and is cheap to make and slow to run. A sixteen-cavity mould produces sixteen and costs far more but brings the unit cost down at volume. The cavity count should be chosen against annual volume, not against the first order.
4. Amortisation
Tooling is usually amortised into the unit price over the first order or over an agreed volume. A brand should ask for the amortisation schedule in writing, because an unclear schedule is how a unit price quietly rises at the second order. Some suppliers invoice tooling separately; both models are legitimate and both need to be explicit.
5. Ownership
The tool belongs to whoever paid for it. If the brand paid, the tool should be titled to the brand and be transferable to another moulder. If the supplier paid, the tool is theirs and the brand’s exclusivity lasts only as long as the relationship. This clause matters more than the price.
6. When to tool
Tool when the volume justifies it, when the shape is a brand asset, and when the product will run for at least two years. Do not tool for a first launch at low volume, a seasonal variant, or a shape that a stock component already provides. Most first launches should use stock components.
7. Stock versus custom
A stock bottle at 1,000 units has no tooling cost and a higher unit price. A custom bottle at 30,000 units has tooling cost and a lower unit price. The crossover is usually around 10,000 to 20,000 units, and it depends on the component. Calculate the crossover before committing.
8. Modification costs
Changing a mould after it is cut costs a fraction of the original tool but still costs. A wall thickness change, a thread change or a colour change to the resin can each require a new tool or a modification. Freeze the design before cutting, because post-cut changes are the expensive ones.
9. Lead time
A new mould takes 4 to 8 weeks to design, cut, sample and approve, plus trial shots. That time sits at the front of the project and is often forgotten in the launch plan. A tooling project that starts in month one delivers product in month four at the earliest.
10. The audit trail
Keep the mould drawing, the steel certificate, the trial shot report and the approval sign-off. When the tool moves to a second moulder, those documents are what allow the part to be reproduced. Without them, the second moulder starts from a physical sample and the dimensions drift.
11. Where it fits
Tooled formats sit in the lip liner range; the volume question continues in the MOQ entry.
Reference: Tooling quotations and supplier agreements, 2025
