Peak Season Pointer: 5 Ways Apparel Brands Can Use Right Sizing To Optimize SKU Slimming

Apparel brands heading into peak season 2025 are playing a new kind of defense: fewer products, tighter inventories and sharper focus on margin. According to a recent McKinsey fashion report, leading brands are “minimizing complexity and unproductive SKUs” to protect profitability. This SKU slimming trend is already reshaping the fulfillment landscape.

However, cutting SKUs doesn’t automatically make operations simpler. It can, in fact, expose gaps in packaging set ups built for a broader assortment. If boxes, mailers and materials no longer fit what’s actually being shipped, the result can be wasted space, slower throughput and bloated unused packaging inventories. Without thoughtful packaging adjustments, a SKU slimming strategy can backfire and erase the very cost savings it was designed to unlock.

With U.S. online holiday sales projected to rise 2.1% this season, while warehousing costs continue to climb, apparel brands can’t afford inefficiency.

How Right-Sizing Restores Speed, Resilience and Margin

Right-sizing is a smart packaging strategy that tailors each box or mailer to the specific dimensions of the product inside. Beyond reducing material waste, it aligns packaging with your SKU mix so fulfillment stays agile, efficient and ready to scale even during periods of peak demand.

Here’s how apparel brands can make that happen:

1. Reevaluate Packaging Ratios

Start by assessing the relationship between your product assortment and your packaging mix. The “ideal” ratio isn’t fixed, it’s about flexibility. Packaging should minimize excess void and weight but remain adaptable considering product lines could look very different by spring. Gusseted mailers that expand are designed to accommodate a range of dimensions without overhauling your line every season.

2. Eliminate Idle Inventory

If discontinued SKUs have left stacks of unused boxes or mailers on the floor, that’s space and money wasted. National asking rents averaged $10.10 per square foot in Q3 2025, up 1.7% year-over-year, and remain 60% above pre-pandemic levels. Transitioning to on-demand packaging, like air pillows with a right-sized box, eliminates the need to pre-stock multiple formats. Your packaging footprint and costs shrink accordingly.

3. Simplify Without Slowing Down

Right-sized packaging improves pack-out efficiency by eliminating guesswork. Operators spend less time finding the “closest fit” and more time getting orders out of the door. Automated packaging systems using variable right-sizing streamline the process further, adjusting to product dimensions in real time to maintain throughput.

4. Consider Total Cost Of Ownership Performance

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) captures every cost tied to packaging—materials, labor, freight, storage and even sustainability. When right-sizing is applied after SKU slimming, it contributes to a lower total TCO by simplifying and standardizing packaging across production, logistics and fulfillment.

5. Build Resilience For Peak Volatility

As apparel campaigns, sourcing, or influencer collaborations spike demand unexpectedly, packaging (and packaging systems) that allow your team to absorb those surges become more important than ever. Gusseted mailers, automated baggers or on-demand void-fill solutions give fulfillment teams resources for right-sizing efficiently and room to pivot fast without sacrificing speed or accuracy.

Signs It’s Time To Right-Size

You may be ready for a packaging reset if:

• You’re storing large volumes of packaging that no longer match your SKU mix
• Pack-out times or freight costs have crept up since assortment changes
• You’ve slimmed SKUs successfully, but aren’t seeing the expected gains

If SKU slimming has streamlined your catalog but your fulfillment still feels stuck, right-sizing is your next lever for efficiency.

Turning SKU Slimming Into A Performance Advantage

Simpler assortments are good for merchandising, but the real gains come when packaging and fulfillment strategies evolve alongside them. Right-sizing turns SKU slimming into an operational advantage: faster pack-outs, less waste, lower freight and stronger margins.

Peak season will always bring uncertainty. The brands that win will be those that make flexibility part of their foundation through smarter, adaptive packaging systems that scale up or down with confidence.