Launching a custom candle line and choosing a great candle manufacturer is one of the greatest and most exciting ways for brands, retailers, and creatives to expand into a growing category of home fragrances and premium lifestyle goods.
But behind every candle that looks and smells great is an action plan that's structured, deliberate, and considers all the aspects of a brand's identity and guidelines to ensure a premium, multisensory, consistent brand experience for consumers.
If you’ve ever wondered how custom candle manufacturing actually works, this guide walks you through the full step-by-step process used by professional manufacturers like Spark Candles.
Whether you’re launching your first candle line, scaling your business from small-batch production to a private label supplier, or pivoting to a domestic custom candle manufacturer, this breakdown will help you understand exactly what to expect.
Step 1: Planning & Brand Requirements
Every candle manufacturing project begins with understanding your brand vision, goals, and requirements for the project. During this phase, we clarify:
Your Target Market & Brand Positioning
Will your candle collection be for everyday use, cost-effective, and accessible by lots of consumer groups, or will it be a premium, luxurious, and limited collection at a higher price point?
Your Vessel Sizes & Styles
Are you looking for travel-sizes like a 4oz Amber Glass Jar with Logo Imprint (link) with 24 hours of burn time, a classic full-size candle like a 10oz Custom Color Glass (link) or something much larger like a 3-Wick 15oz White Glass Candle (link)?
Your Fragrance Profile
Arguably, one of the most important components of creating a candle, there are thousands (and probably tens of thousands) of fragrance combinations to choose from. Many candle manufacturers have large libraries of pre-formulated Signature Fragrances (link) across the olfactory spectrum, and have an in-house team of perfumers who create Custom Fragrances (link) aligned with your brands’ identity. The most important question to ask is: do I want something seasonal, year-round, woodsy, earthy, or universally appealing?
Your Packaging, Labeling, and Artwork Requirements
The first thing people see when they buy your candle or you gift it to them is the packaging. It’s functional because it keeps the candle safe during transit, it contains information about your brand and your product that may not be listed on the candle itself, and it's another layer of opportunity for you to infuse your branding to complete the story of your custom candle. Do you want something that is minimalist, with few words and neutral tones like kraft paper and white text, or a gift box with lots of features like spot gloss, metallic foil stamping, embossing, or a wax seal?
Quantities, Budget & Who’ll Enjoy Them
Most custom candle collections manufactured in quantities of 100-500+ units per SKU (style/design/scent) are used for promotional items and marketing initiatives and not for resale. That’s because the price point per candle at lower quantities is more than at higher quantities. Pricing with candle manufacturers is always tiered, and the higher the quantity, the lower the cost per unit. Most buyers planning to resell their candle collections purchase 1,000, 5,000, or tens of thousands of units or more, lowering their costs by more than 50% and vastly increasing their margins.
Your Ideal Timeline & Launch Date
If you’re looking to have your custom candles in-hand in a few weeks, your options may be limited to the styles the manufacturer has in-stock with light branding and customizations. For highly specialized candle lines, with custom packaging and special-sourced or custom color vessels, it’s best to start planning and finalizing your order details 2-3 months or more in advance.
This step ensures the final candle matches your aesthetic, meets your price point, and aligns with your brand story.
Step 2: The Vessel
Manufacturers typically offer lots of vessel options:
- Candle Tins: Lightweight, Include a Lid, and available in Gold (link), Silver (link), Black (link), and custom colors.
- Glass Tumblers: The most popular choice for the majority of brands because of their versatility, chic aesthetic, and color options including Matte Black (link), Matte White (link), Clear (link), Frosted Clear (link), Amber (link), and any Custom Pantone Color (link).
- Luxury Vessels: Ceramics are bespoke, ornate option that can be crafted in a variety of colors, and include elevated finishes like gold rims, and embossings.
- Custom-Molded or Specialty Containers: Think a coffee company candle in a coffee bean can, or a beer company candle in a beer can, or a wine or spirits brand using their old cut down wine bottles as their vessels.
For fully custom projects, candle manufacturers can help source unique vessels and coordinate custom finishes for your collection.
Step 3: Fragrance Selection or Custom Scent Development
Next, the fragrance direction is chosen. You may select from:
Existing Signature Fragrances (link):
Candle manufacturers like Spark Candles offer more than 50+ Signature Fragrance options to choose from. There are typically lots of seasonal, spicy, earthy, floral, masculine, musky, sensual, and universally appealing options that work well for any brand and the direction of their candle project.
Develop a Custom Fragrance (link):
Developing a custom fragrance is a fun process. Many perfumers like our team at Spark Candles have a library of 1,000+ fragrance notes to create your top, middle and base notes. It’s a fun process where you provide guidance and inspiration, then the perfumers create multiple rounds of scent samples for you to experience in person, then provide feedback for revisions as they narrow down your final selection.
Some branding guidelines require the fragrance to smell like a vegetable garden, or their coffee, or supposed to remind you of a place like the Amalfi Coast or Provence. Other brands explore eco-friendly, natural options like ISO 9235, which is a certification for fragrances that are naturally-derived with no lab-derived or synthetic fragrances.
Client-Supplied Fragrances:
Many clients have already invested in the perfect fragrance which they use in other products such as body soaps, room sprays, perfumes, colognes and diffusers. For seamless brand continuity, and to avoid having to reinvent the wheel, some brands choose to develop their custom candle collections with client-supplied fragrances. Candle manufacturers like Spark Candles do this all the time, so long as the fragrances meet their studios’ clean requirements, and do not contain any phthalates, parabens, or hormone disrupters.
Pro Tip: Consider how strong you want your fragrances to be. Some brands choose fragrances that have a soft throw and more subtly, which can be more universally appealing, while others prefer a strong scent throw when lit or unlit, and a candle that will fill the room with their brands’ chosen scent notes.
Now that you've chosen the direction for your fragrance, or if you’re developing several candle SKUs, you’ve pinpointed all of the fragrances you want to include so they compliment each other, but occupy different sections of the olfactory wheel for a more diverse collection.
Step 4: Wax & Wicks
Candle manufacturers are usually experts in their field, and can provide guidance to determine the optimal wax and wick combination for your project.
All-Natural Wax Options
Pure Soy: The most universally popular wax option for custom candle collections, producing minimal soot while burning and eco-friendly because soybeans are one of the most plentiful, renewable crops on earth.
Pure Soy–Coconut: A great option for candle collections that want a strong scent throw with minimal frosting that may occur with pure soy.
Coconut-Beeswax: A luxury, premium feel, amazing burn performance and an added sweetness of a natural honey scent note.
Wick Selection
Pure Cotton Wicks: The most universally used wick in the candle industry, with excellent performance, and compatible with all wax types when sized correctly by your candle manufacturer.
Real Wood Wicks: Appealing for natural-leaning and alternative-luxury brands who want a soft crackling while their candle is burning, and best when paired with either pure soy or pure soy/coconut waxes.
Step 5: Design, Artwork Proofs & Production Scheduling
Before production can begin, your candle manufacturer will want to confirm all of the details of your project, including the artwork and designs. This is usually a seamless process, similar to working with a print shop when they prepare marketing materials.
While not all candle manufacturers offer in-house design services, Spark Candles does, and our team of designers can create all of the required artwork for your custom vessels, labels, and custom packaging elements.
Your artwork proofs or mockups will include all your design details, font styles, special finishes of your labels such as embossing, metal foiling, and Pantone colors, and ensure there are no spelling errors, typos, and all the information matches your project notes.
Once your artwork mockups and proofs are approved and you’ve finalized your order details and SKUs, the project moves into production planning. This is when your manufacturer ensures every element of the project is lined up and ready before the first batch is poured.
During this stage, the manufacturer will:
- Order or pull vessels, lids, wax, wicks, labels, fragrances and boxes from their inventory and suppliers
- Reserve capacity with their production team for your project window
- Confirm lead times based on delivery and production schedules
- Prepare or finalize print-ready artwork for your labels and packaging to be produced
- Coordinate any custom components that require longer sourcing timelines
This stage ensures accuracy for all your project components, and that all materials arrive on schedule without delays or errors so candle production flows smoothly.
Step 6: Wax Melting, Mixing & Pouring
This is the heart of candle manufacturing and the step most clients imagine when they think of a custom candle studio. It's precise, controlled, and one of the most exciting parts of the process for candlemakers.
Professional manufacturers:
- Melt wax in temperature-controlled melters, which can vary by wax type, fragrance load, desired finish, and the size and material of the vessels the wax is being poured into
- To ensure continuity throughout each candle in the collection, chandlers premix all the custom or signature fragrances, measuring the exact amount of each component following the recipe
- Finished fragrances are then preblended into wax at the ideal moment for stability and scent throw, at the exact required ratios for each batch being prepared
- Candle production teams pre-wick the candle vessels, and align them on the production floor so it's easy for the chandlers to fill them with wax
- At Spark Candles, we hand pour all of our collections with pitchers, with is the artisanal and classic way of pouring, and master chandlers do it to the fill lines so precisely they avoid delays, excess spillage, overpouring or underpouring
- Once the pouring is complete, candles wicks are set in place, and the collection is allowed to cool and cure for a minimum of 24-48 hours
Step 7: Curing, Finishing & Quality Control
After pouring, and the candles have rested on the production floor without disturbance for 24-48 hours, the production team can begin curing, cleaning and quality control:
During finishing and QC, the manufacturer will:
- Inspect and clean every individual candle for drips, spills, and any imperfections that may have occurred during production
- Confirm or adjust wicks so they are centered and trimmed to their correct length
- Heat treat the candle tables with an overhead specialized commercial heater for better bonding to the vessel, and to create a smooth, clean surface for the candle wax
- Set aside and discard any units that do not pass their quality control checkpoints
This crucial step is what separates professional-grade candle manufacturing from careless or unsatisfactory candle production. Every candle in your order must be consistent — same scent profile, same burn behavior, same wax fill lines, same overall look and feel, because its reflective of your brand and craftsmanship.
Step 8: Packaging & Branding
Once your candles have fully cured, cleaned and passed inspection, the next step is preparing them for retail, gifting, events, or distribution.
This stage can include:
- Applying branded labels, including main candle labels and safety labels
- Gathering and assembling custom boxes and packaging elements, inspecting them for any imperfections or defects and discarding any that don't meet QC standards
- Organizing and queuing up the candles by SKU and design using the order summaries
- Packaging the candles in their gift boxes, and adding any add-ons or layers like dust covers, matchboxes, wax seals, or ribbon
Packaging is a crucial extension of your brand story. It’s the first impression buyers have, and for many brands, it’s equally as important as the fragrance and vessel design itself. It’s important to partner with a candle manufacturer who handles this step with care and the attention to detail required to ensure your collection looks amazing.
Step 9: Bulk Packing, Shipping & Logistics
Finally, your finished candles are prepared for their journey to you, your employees or clients, or your 3PL and distribution partners.
Your manufacturer will:
- Pack candles into shipping boxes or master cartons
- Prepare orders for LTL freight or parcel shipping
- Confirm the packing order, candle quantities per box, weights and dimensions
- Prepare your shipping documents and confirm the contact information and destination address
- Schedule with carriers and couriers to pick up your order at the candle factory
A reliable candle manufacturer will ensure your order has been packed safely, and provide tracking info once the order is in transit so you receive an ETA and monitor the shipment while it's on its way.
Final Thoughts
Custom candle manufacturing is a detailed, collaborative process that transforms your brand vision into a premium, tangible product. Whether you're creating a small private label launch or scaling a national retail program, choosing the right manufacturer is the key to consistency, quality, and long-term success.
Spark Candles supports every step — from fragrance development, designing, and vessel sourcing to pouring, packaging, and logistics — ensuring your custom candle line is beautifully made, thoughtfully branded, and ready to impress.
Ready to manufacture your own custom candle line? Connect with our team (link) to start your project today!