Custom Manufacturing
Custom-Manufactured Bags: Your Own Model to Specification
Weekender, sports bag, backpack or institutional bag built to your construction – not printed catalogue stock, but your own model. 78,159 units manufactured to customer specification.
When your requirement for a bag goes beyond what a catalogue offers, we build the model. Not printed stock with your logo on it, but a custom-manufactured bag: construction, dimensions, material, colour and features to your drawing, your specification sheet, or a sample to work from.
Materials and what they carry
Material choice follows the construction, not the other way round. A rough mapping as a starting point for your specification:
- Canvas / cotton, heavier weights: weekenders, bowling bags, institutional bags. Holds shape and handle load, takes screen printing well.
- Organic cotton, GOTS quality: where procurement policy requires certified fibres. As a GOTS dealer this is routine business for us, not an exception.
- Recycled polyester (RPET): backpacks and sports bags with a sustainability requirement. Our largest single lot, 29,621 units, was an RPET backpack.
- Polyester in denier strengths: where abrasion resistance and water repellency outrank hand feel – panniers and outdoor bags.
- Non-woven: entry price point for high-volume giveaways. Constructionally limited, but unbeatable economically for exhibition totes.
- Synthetic leather as an accent: handle reinforcements, base corners, label panels. Raises perceived value without the cost structure of a full material.
The details that drive the price
With custom manufacturing the price is not set by material alone. These points move the costing most – and are therefore the ones we need an early decision on:
- Lining: unlined, part-lined or fully lined. One of the single largest levers.
- Padding: back panel, strap padding, laptop sleeve – each an additional layer and seam set.
- Webbing: width, material quality, standard stock or jacquard with a woven-in logo.
- Zip: standard stock or branded hardware with a specified tooth size; number of sliders.
- Base and reinforcement: insert board, reinforced corners, feet.
- Labelling: woven label, care and origin marking, hangtag with article number.
- Packing: individual polybag, box quantity, carton marking for your goods-in process.
Reference volumes from live projects
We name clients only with their consent – the volumes and constructions speak for themselves:
- 57,586 units of a customer-owned bag model for a German university library, spread across several identical repeat runs referencing the original model.
- 29,621 units RPET backpack in custom production, as a single lot with a net order value of €253,562.
- 11,694 units institutional bags, delivered pre-picked in boxes of 80 rather than palletised.
- Pannier manufactured in accordance with tender documentation and supplied design artwork.
- Repeat production to an existing specification for a university of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia – the same specification manufactured again years after the first lot.
In total: 78,159 bags and backpacks in custom production for 10 clients, €620,718 net. This is ongoing business, not a closed chapter.
Decoration: in-house and at the factory
Two levels worth keeping apart in your specification. At our facility in Bochum we run screen printing, DTF transfer and embroidery – we control and inspect these steps directly, including short-notice replenishment from stock. At the factory everything that affects the construction is produced: woven labels, jacquard webbing with a woven-in logo, through-dyed material in a custom shade, welded seams on cooler and wet bags. Details of the processes are on textile printing and embroidery.
Submit your specification
Send a drawing, specification sheet or product photo with target quantity, target date and target price. You will receive a feasibility statement and a price corridor – and if the construction is not viable at your quantity, you will hear it from us before samples are built.
By phone: +49 234 601417-60 – or submit your specification via the contact form. The full process, the evidence position and the requirements arising from tender procedures are on the overview page custom manufacturing of promotional products. If the product is not yet defined, the route begins at product development and sourcing. If you are instead looking for printed stock in smaller quantities, bags and pouches with a logo is the right page.
Constructions we build to specification
Weekender and bowling bag
Round or box-form base construction with end caps, wrap-around zip, twin handles and detachable shoulder strap. Cost drivers are lining, base reinforcement and whether handles are reinforced overlays or stitched through.
Sports bag
Elongated construction with a main compartment, optionally a wet or shoe compartment at the base. The load points are webbing anchorage and zip ends – workmanship there determines service life.
Backpack and daypack
From a simple roll-top construction to a padded daypack with laptop sleeve, back panel and ergonomic straps. Largest single lot we have produced: 29,621 units of an RPET backpack.
Institutional and library bag
A robust carrier for sustained daily use with a high likelihood of repeat orders. We have taken one customer-owned model of this type to 57,586 units across several identical repeat runs.
Pannier and bike bag
Construction with a rack mounting system, water-repellent material and a defined volume specification. Already produced by us in accordance with tender documentation and supplied design artwork.
Tote and shopper
The most accessible construction for an own model: cut, handle length, base gusset and material weight are all freely definable. Viable at considerably lower quantities than padded constructions.
Cooler bag
Insulated construction with food-safe inner lining and welded seams. Here material testing is part of the specification, not an afterthought.
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Request a consultationWhat we can evidence on bags
78,159 units to specification
Bags and backpacks in custom production for 10 clients.
29,621 units in a single lot
RPET backpack in custom production – one order, one lot.
57,586 units of one model
Customer-owned bag model across several identical repeat runs.
Manufactured against a tender
Pannier produced to award documentation and supplied design artwork.
Delivered pre-kitted
11,694 units handed over picked in boxes of 80.
Decoration in our own facility
Screen printing, DTF and embroidery in Bochum – directly controllable.
Frequently asked questions
Can we supply an existing sample as a reference?+
Yes – a physical sample is the most reliable reference you can give us, more precise than any description. The obvious candidate is a predecessor model from an earlier procurement or a model already in your own range. We assess the construction professionally, identify the cost-determining details and tell you what is viable at your target quantity. Constructions that visibly replicate a registered third-party design are not something we will build.
What is the minimum quantity for an own bag model?+
That depends entirely on the construction. A tote with a simple cut is viable at considerably lower quantities than a padded backpack with a custom dyed material and a woven label. Tell us the construction and target quantity and you will get a concrete answer rather than a blanket figure.
Which materials are available for custom manufacturing?+
Canvas and cotton in various weights, organic cotton in GOTS quality, recycled polyester from PET, conventional polyester in various denier strengths, non-woven for entry price points, and synthetic leather for accents on handles and bases. Which material works follows from the construction – a weekender needs a different weight from an exhibition tote.
How do we specify colours bindingly?+
Via PMS values, stated separately for material and decoration. A colour described in words or shown as a screenshot is not sufficient for a production run. With custom dyed materials the shade is part of the factory approval and is signed off on the sample, not on a monitor.
What runs in your facility and what runs at the factory?+
Screen printing, DTF transfer and embroidery we carry out ourselves in Bochum – that is the part we control directly. Anything that affects the construction happens at the factory: woven labels, jacquard webbing, through-dyed material in a custom shade, welded seams.
Can we reorder the same model in future years?+
Yes, and that is exactly what the approved pre-production sample exists for. We have re-manufactured bag models to an identical specification years after the first lot, documented as a repeat run referencing the original model.
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