Enter your export carton size, choose a EUR or US pallet and set the maximum stack height — the calculator returns how many cartons fit per layer, per pallet, and how many pallets your order needs. The maths is exact and it tries both carton orientations, but it assumes a single uniform stack, so treat the result as a planning figure and confirm the final palletisation and weight limits with your forwarder.
⚠️ Planning figure, not a load plan. The maths is exact for your figures, but a real pallet load also depends on carton crush strength, stack stability, overhang, and the pallet and floor weight limits — none of which this tool checks. It assumes one uniform carton orientation per layer (no interlocked or mixed packing) and subtracts about 15 cm for the pallet base. Confirm your actual carton spec at sampling, and the safe stack height and weight per pallet with your warehouse or freight forwarder before booking.
Before a knitwear shipment leaves the floor it gets stacked onto pallets, and two numbers drive the rest of your logistics: how many cartons fit on one pallet, and how many pallets the whole order becomes. This tool answers both. Pick a pallet, tell it your export carton's dimensions and the maximum height you can stack to, and it returns cartons per layer, cartons per pallet, the number of pallets your order needs, and how much of the pallet top and the height you actually use. Everything updates as you type.
It is a count, not a stow plan. Each pallet — including the last one, even if it's part-full — is still a whole pallet on the truck, so the pallet count is always rounded up.
Nothing here is hidden or invented. The exact maths is:
Cartons per layer = max( ⌊palletL ÷ cartonL⌋ × ⌊palletW ÷ cartonW⌋ , ⌊palletL ÷ cartonW⌋ × ⌊palletW ÷ cartonL⌋ ) — both orientations, keep the larger
Usable height = max stack height − ~15 cm pallet base
Layers = usable height ÷ carton height, rounded down
Cartons per pallet = cartons per layer × layers
Pallets needed = total cartons ÷ cartons per pallet, rounded up
Worked example (the default values): a 60 × 40 × 40 cm carton on a 120 × 80 cm EUR pallet. Footprint is ⌊120 ÷ 60⌋ × ⌊80 ÷ 40⌋ = 2 × 2 = 4 per layer (the rotated 3 × 1 = 3 is worse, so 4 wins). Usable height is 180 − 15 = 165 cm, giving ⌊165 ÷ 40⌋ = 4 layers, so 16 cartons per pallet. For 500 cartons that's 500 ÷ 16 = 31.25, rounded up to 32 pallets — 31 full pallets of 16 plus a last pallet holding just 4 cartons. Change any input and the numbers follow.
This is a geometry calculator: it packs footprints and counts layers. It does not know how heavy your cartons are, how much load the pallet is rated for, or whether a tall stack of soft knitwear cartons will stay square. In practice, light and bulky knitwear pallets are almost always limited by height and stability rather than weight, but that is not a guarantee — a EUR pallet's safe stacked load is well below its static rating, and warehouses and carriers set their own maximum pallet heights (often 120–200 cm depending on whether pallets are double-stacked). Treat the cartons-per-pallet figure as the packing ceiling and confirm the safe working limits with the people handling the freight.
Cartons per pallet = cartons per layer × the number of layers you can stack. Cartons per layer is how many carton footprints fit on the pallet's top surface — the tool tries the carton both ways round and keeps whichever fits more. Layers = usable stacking height ÷ carton height, rounded down, where usable height is your maximum stack height minus about 15 cm for the pallet itself. For example, a 60 × 40 × 40 cm carton on a 120 × 80 cm EUR pallet stacked to 180 cm gives 4 per layer × 4 layers = 16 cartons per pallet.
A carton can sit on the pallet lengthways or turned 90°, and the two orientations often give different counts. The tool computes both floor(palletL ÷ cartonL) × floor(palletW ÷ cartonW) and the rotated floor(palletL ÷ cartonW) × floor(palletW ÷ cartonL), then keeps whichever fits more cartons per layer. It assumes one uniform orientation across the layer — not a mixed or interlocked brick-bond pattern — so an experienced loader arranging cartons by hand can sometimes fit a few more.
No — it is a footprint-and-height count only. It assumes cartons sit fully on the pallet with no overhang and that the stack is stable to your chosen height; it does not check the pallet's weight rating, the carton crush strength, or how heavy the stack becomes. A EUR pallet is typically rated to roughly 1,000–1,500 kg static but far less when racked, and tall knitwear stacks are usually height- or stability-limited long before weight. Always confirm the safe stack height, weight per pallet and any overhang allowance with your warehouse or freight forwarder.
Use the real figures from your factory and forwarder, confirmed at sampling. EUR pallets are 120 × 80 cm and US/industrial pallets are 120 × 100 cm; the carton dimensions come from how your goods are packed. Kiwi Giyim is a Gaziantep, Türkiye knitwear OEM and private-label manufacturer (MOQ 250 pieces per colour, per size), and we lock the export carton size, pack ratio and gross weight during sampling so your pallet and container planning rests on real numbers. Until you have those, enter a realistic estimate — this tool only does maths on the values you give it.
Related free tools: Container Loading Calculator, Carton & CBM Shipment Calculator and MOQ & Order Value Calculator — or browse all free knitwear tools and head back to the US knitwear hub.