The vacuum layer is what makes this work: with almost nothing left to conduct heat away, hot food stays above serving temperature through a working day, and in the larger sizes you can pour in boiling water and raw rice in the morning and open cooked congee at lunch. The inner wall is 304 stainless throughout — the grade matters because lower grades pick up odours and pass them to whatever goes in next. The closure seals inverted, which is the only test that matters for something that travels in a bag.
Also on the buyer’s checklist here: the body finish, handle, office use.
Broken into the parts a buyer actually checks: On cheap versions the handle comes away. The 304 liner throughout — the grade decides whether it holds odours, and lower grades do. The rim is machine-polished, which matters more on glass than most buyers expect. The closure seals under inversion rather than merely closing, which is the only test that matters for something carried in a bag. Thermal performance holds through a working day rather than fading after the first hour, because the vacuum is drawn properly rather than partially. The closure holds under pressure rather than merely closing over the opening.
Also on the buyer’s checklist here: handle, nothing coming loose, heat retention, cold retention, coating.
What keeps this model on repeat order: complaints are rare enough that the buyer stops budgeting for replacements; the complaint rate is low enough that they stopped budgeting for replacements. Worth reading as a checklist rather than a boast — if those reasons do not apply to your channel, a different model in the range probably fits better.
Also cited on repeat orders: classic, office use, consistency, consistent custom, restock, handle, nothing coming loose.
Choosing between them
How SB-1003 compares with the rest of the range
Buyers rarely arrive knowing which model they want — they arrive knowing the brief. This table is the fastest way to check whether SB-1003 is the right answer or whether a sibling fits better. The row highlighted is the one you are looking at. Every model listed runs from 500 pieces per design.
Every model above ships from 500 pieces per design. Mixing several of them in one container is normal — a 20ft container holds roughly 26 m³ of cartons, so a mixed load is planned on carton volume rather than on piece count. Send the full list at enquiry rather than model by model.
Who is buying SB-1003, and what they do with it
A supermarket chain orders this one regularly, and from there out to smaller shops downstream; and the orders themselves are for office pantries.
Also on the buyer’s checklist here: office use, heat retention, restock.
What buyers tell us their customers do with it: shelf retail; staff welfare and corporate packs; coffee; desk use through a working day; gifting; staff welfare packs. If your end use is not on that list, tell us anyway — it usually points at a different model in the range.
Also on the buyer’s checklist here: office use, coffee, custom decoration, gifting, home use, retail.
Where this model has been pushed: A buyer in France placed a large single order with their own logo printed. We ran the line on overtime and moved their batch up the queue, and we worked the freight booking through with them rather than handing it over at the gate. The reason it is here rather than in a case-study page: this is the kind of run that tells you whether a supplier can handle your peak, not your average.
Also in play on that job: high volume, custom decoration, trade shows, shipment planning, coating.
Brand owners & private label
SB-1003 ships white only, and that is by design rather than a limitation — sublimation ink is transparent, so it dyes the coating instead of covering it and needs a white base to read true. What decides your landed cost here is the carton, not the unit price: ask for the container plan before you fix a retail price, because a wide-body jar fills a 20ft on volume long before it hits the weight limit. We quote EXW Yongkang, FOB Ningbo or Shanghai, or DDP door to door, and we will say which of the three costs you least given where you are rather than defaulting to whichever is easiest for us.
Retail chains
SB-1003 packs 50 per carton, so a 12-store drop lands on a clean carton multiple rather than a split case. Budget it as three lines, not one: decoration sits inside the unit price, a matched Pantone is its own spray run from 1,000 pieces, and packaging is separate with its own tooling and proofing round. Brands that budget these as a single number are the ones surprised at quotation: decoration sits in the unit price, a matched Pantone is a separate spray run from 1,000 pieces, and a printed colour box carries its own tooling and one proofing round. We sign an NDA before you share artwork, and a shape you tool for stays reserved to you — the same terms we have run with Hallmark since 2017 and with KRAUS for over ten years.
Promotional distributors
SB-1003 is a single-capacity line, which is the fastest thing we can turn around when a date is already tight. Retail-ready means more than a colour box: UPC or EAN printed and scan-tested before the carton is sealed, carton marking to your own packaging manual, and inner counts that match what your DC expects. A barcode that fails at the till becomes a chargeback, and it is entirely preventable at our end: we print and scan-test every UPC or EAN before the carton is sealed. Ask for the retail packaging spec sheet with your first quote — it lists carton dimensions, inner counts and the UPC placement we scan-test before sealing.
Amazon & e-commerce sellers
SB-1003 ships in a 62 cm × 47 cm × 66 cm carton — send us your FBA plan and we will confirm whether that splits cleanly under the dimension cap before you book. Work backwards from the in-hands date, not forwards from the order date: 7–10 days for a pre-production sample, about 30 days production after approval, then 30–35 days sea freight to Europe or 25–30 to the US west coast. Production is 30 days after deposit and artwork approval, plus 7–10 days for a printed pre-production sample, plus sea freight — roughly 30–35 days to Europe, 25–30 to the US west coast. Late artwork is normal in this business; a date discovered late is not survivable — artwork approval is what starts the 30-day production clock, not the deposit. Tell us the date at enquiry and we will say honestly whether it is achievable.
End users & institutions
On SB-1003 laser engraving is the safe call for daily institutional washing. FNSKU labels, Prop 65 and suffocation warnings applied here, cartons built to FBA dimension limits, and we can split a shipment across fulfilment centres if you send the plan. Doing it at the factory removes a prep-centre handling fee and about a week of transit on every restock. Watch dimensional weight on this category — the carton is light for its size, so FBA usually bills on volume.
Failures we hear about from buyers who switch to us
When a buyer changes supplier on this product, it is usually one of the following. We list them because they are checkable before you commit, not after.
✓
On cheap versions the handle comes away
This is the failure buyers describe when they explain why they changed supplier.
✎
Coating that will not take sublimation evenly
A thin or uneven polymer layer prints pale and washes out after a few cycles. This one thing decides whether a blank is worth buying.
⚑
A vacuum that fades
A weak draw passes a same-day test and disappoints two months later. We check vacuum integrity on 100 % of bodies as semi-finished parts — before assembly, before coating — because on a finished branded unit the flaw stays invisible until it becomes your customer’s problem.
Where SB-1003 is actually made
Eight workshops in Yongkang, Zhejiang, running since 1998 — mould development, vacuum welding, injection moulding, spray painting, laser marking, printing, assembly, inspection and packing, all in one building. For SB-1003 the stage worth watching is the white coating line.
On a sublimation blank the whole product is the coating. The steel body is ordinary double-wall vacuum 304 — the same liner we draw for our flasks — but the white polymer layer on top decides whether your printer gets a clean transfer or a blotchy one. It is sprayed and cured on a dedicated line, and cure temperature is the variable: under-cured coating takes ink unevenly, over-cured goes slightly yellow so every print sits on warm white instead of white. We press-test samples from each batch, because a coating problem is invisible until someone presses it. If you press in-house, ask for pre-production blanks and run them on your own machine at your own settings before bulk starts.
We inspect 8% of every batch rather than a fixed sample per shipment. Buyers are welcome on site — eight workshops in Yongkang, Zhejiang, running since 1998, about three hours by road from Ningbo port and two from Hangzhou airport, which makes a factory visit a realistic side trip rather than a separate journey. Ask to see that bench specifically; it is where the difference shows — we check vacuum integrity on 100% of bodies at the semi-finished stage, before assembly and coating, because a micro-leak is undetectable once the jar is built.
Is SB-1003 the right one for your programme?
Importers & wholesalers — A good fit — this one already ships in mixed-size containers for buyers testing which capacities move. Stock colours are white, and 500 pieces per design gets you started rather than 5,000.
Brand owners & private label — Yes. Two separate lines to budget: the print sits in the unit price, and packaging is the second — this model ships in a plain white box as standard, and anything else is a separate tooling and proofing round.
Retail chains — Currently on shelves through buyers in this channel. Retail-ready colour boxes, printed UPC or EAN, and we scan-test the barcode before the carton is sealed.
End users & institutions — Suited to offices. For institutional buying, specify laser engraving rather than print — a printed logo on a coated body typically fades within one season of daily commercial dishwashing, while an engraved mark is cut into the 304 steel and does not.
Not the right pick if… — you need a finished printed product rather than a blank. We supply the blank with its coating; the printing is yours. If you want us to print as well, that is a different conversation and a different quote — say so at enquiry.
FAQ
Ordering SB-1003 — common questions
Why SB-1003 rather than another model in this range?▾
This one runs 14 oz (410 ml), and it is the one with. End users are supermarket retail, gifting programmes, desk and office use. Where it stops making sense: any programme where the end user needs something this model was not shaped for. Tell us the use case and we will say so plainly.
Will sublimation print evenly on SB-1003?▾
That depends entirely on the polymer coating, which is the only thing separating a good blank from a bad one. Ours goes on at even thickness across the whole body and cures fully — too thin and it prints pale then washes out, too thick and it yellows at the rim. Before committing to a run, take two blanks from the batch, press them and put them through ten dishwasher cycles. If the difference shows, do not print the tirage on those blanks.
Which colours can we order SB-1003 in?▾
Stock colours are white — those run from 500 pieces per design. There is no Pantone option on a sublimation blank — the coating has to stay white for the ink to read true, so your colour comes from the artwork. Mixed-size containers are normal here: buyers routinely split a container across capacities to see which sizes move before committing.
How do we brand SB-1003?▾
Silk screen for one to three flats onto a sprayed body, UV digital for full colour, laser for a permanent single-tone mark. If the end user runs it through a commercial dishwasher every evening, engraving is the only method that still looks right after a season.
What is the MOQ, lead time and carton spec for SB-1003?▾
500 pieces per design gets you started. Budget 1,000 if the brand colour has to be exact. Production runs 30 days after deposit and artwork approval, sample in 7–10 days. Packing is 50 pcs per carton at 62cm × 47cm × 66cm. Shipping terms: EXW Yongkang, FOB from Ningbo or Shanghai, or DDP straight to your warehouse.
Get a quote on SB-1003
Tell us the quantity, colours and how you want the logo applied — we reply within 24 hours, Monday to Saturday.
More sublimation blanks
Compare with similar models to find your exact match
