/york-ghost-merchants
2022
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York Ghost Merchants
York Ghost Merchants are the makers and sellers of the original York Ghost - a handcrafted figure, each one a true original. Since going viral with queues stretching down The Shambles, they've grown into a global phenomenon, selling to collectors in far-away places worldwide. The packaging - an exquisite travelling box bearing the hand-drawn crest of The Sorrowful Guild of Master Ghost Makers - is as much a part of the experience as the ghost itself.
Industry
Gifts & Collectibles
Category
Specialist Stock
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Gold Foil
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Tight-register Cutting
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E-Commerce
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Bespoke Packaging
Timeline
5 weeks
Website
York Ghost Merchants had built something genuinely special - a product with its own mythology, its own guild, its own language. Queues stretching down The Shambles. Collectors logging on from across the world for limited edition launches. A brand that had, almost overnight, become a phenomenon. The packaging had to be worthy. Unfortunately, previous suppliers kept letting York Ghost Merchants down - going under, overcharging, using the wrong materials, producing boxes that simply weren't good enough. For a business where the unboxing is part of the product, the packaging element was starting to feel cursed. The travelling box is a technically demanding job. It's printed on a heavyweight textured stock chosen specifically for the premium, slightly vintage feel - in keeping with the Guild's traditions and the brand's distinctive aesthetic. A unique gold foil is applied in tight register with intricate printed detail, meaning every cut has to be precise. There's very little tolerance between the foil, the print, and the cutting line. Get it fractionally wrong and the whole effect is lost. Sprint got it right. And they've continued to get it right, at scale, every month since.
Since partnering with Sprint in 2023, York Ghost Merchants have had something they'd struggled to find: a packaging supplier that simply delivers. Tens of thousands of travelling boxes every month, consistently, at the quality their product demands and their customers expect. Each box leaves Sprint finished in gold foil, printed and cut in tight register, on a heavyweight textured stock that feels as considered as the ghost inside it. Limited edition runs - for special colour-ways, collaborations, and rare releases - are produced with the same precision as the standard line. For Steve, the relationship matters as much as the work. Walking into York Ghost Merchants - a business he'd admired long before they became clients - and being a valued part of what they've built, is exactly the kind of partnership Sprint was made for. York Ghost Merchants continue to sell a lot of ghosts.
