Frequently Asked Questions
- How quickly will I get my order?
We post orders twice daily at around 12am and 12pm Monday to Friday and 11am on a Saturday by Royal Mail 2nd class or Standard International Mail. Orders heavier than 2kg may be posted by a different tracked carrier.
- Do you offer discounts for bulk purchases?
Yes we do. On each product page you will see a link that says "buy in bulk to save". If you order 2 items you will get a 10% discount, 3 will achieve 12%, 4 gets 15% and 10 gets a whopping 20%. If you need 25 or more of our products, get in touch to discuss.
- How do I know which size of sleeve to buy?
Usually we specify the contents size, such as Photograph 6 x 4" meaning the sleeves are suitable to hold photographs of that size. Then we will also usually put an external dimension size in mm. We suggest you add 3mm to each side of the size of the item you are looking to slip into a sleeve (assuming it is paper or card width). Therefore, if you are trying to find a sleeve to fit an item that is 100 x 100 mm then add 3mm to each side to make 106 x 106mm for a snug fit. Any problems, you can send it back to us for replacement or a full refund.
- Where are your products made?
All our products are manufactured in the UK. Some we even make ourselves.
- Where are you based?
We are based on the beautiful rural west coast of Scotland. Our head office is based in West Kilbride in the CEO's garden. We have three warehouse locations in North Ayrshire. As we are an internet based company, we do not allow visits to our office, manufacturing or warehouse but we do encourage you to leave nice review on our google maps page here.
- Can I buy bespoke sized products?
In most cases, yes. Your order may be subject to a minimum order quantity. Contact us using the contact form on the website or email us directly at hello@storage.boutique
- Are your protective sleeves thick plastic?
Not generally, we try to avoid using thick plastic for environmental reasons. For small items such as postcards, thick plastic can bend or scratch the item on insertion or removal, and often dulls over time. Thick plastic is not archive standard and does not offer much, if any, protection against Ultra Violet light.
- Do you print your brand on your products?
No. Printing on archive materials can alter the integrity of the material it is printed on. Our archive materials are designed by us to last for decades whereas the gases given off by some print inks can reduce this longevity or degrade the archive item inside.
- Do your sleeves seal?
Our archive standard materials are all open ended and do not peel and seal. This is because the adhesives used in peel and seal give off harmful gases over time and can damage the contents of the sleeve. This means we do not regard them as archive standard. However, we do understand that some of our customers require peel and seal products for such as retail display (our extra clear film really does enhance the display of the contents for retail purposes) and so we make some limited products in peel and seal - we always specify this in the title.
- How do you reduce plastic in the environment?
Our materials have a significantly lower plastic content than other archive materials. In 2022 we expect to replace more than eight tonnes of plastic from the archive and collectable environment. Our company is also carbon neutral in its operations. We mainly use recycled cardboard boxes and sugar cane mailers to post our products. All our archive materials are recyclable.
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Tell me more about your materials?
storage.boutique has developed an innovative new, lightweight three layer, acid free, archive standard sleeve specifically sized for various collectables. They are manufactured here in the UK to our own exact specifications, from three different layers of very high quality biaxial-oriented polypropylene (BOPP).
The outer layer is low density coated on the outside to retard the harmful effect of ultra-violet light. The middle layer is a dense core giving strength which prevents tearing but as the material is biaxal-oriented it retains the extreme clarity for decades. The inside layer is untreated and inert, which ensures that the sleeves are completely acid free on contact with your precious collectable.
Our sleeves are sealed at the edge by compression and ultrasound, meaning that they fit neatly around your collectable putting the focus on the contents.
If you have previously stored paper-based items in hard plastic sleeves, albums or even polypockets you will know how they dull over time, degrade, and allow the ink on your collectable to fade through exposure to ultra-violet light damage.
The result of all this technology is a new, unique way of storing your archive or collection for a very long time, reducing hard plastic usage, and enhancing the display quality of the contents – and thereby possibly the value of your collection.
Envelopes
We design our own envelopes to exactly fit the collectable or archive item. We only use known UK manufacturers who can certify that the paper and any other material is acid free and archive standard. We do not print on our envelopes due to the fact that ink does not last well exposed to ultra violet light and the slight gases that may be emitted from print may harm the storage environment in which the item is kept.
For tips on storing your archives or collectables, please see our page entitled Top Tips.