Printing your own bags, possible?

[pen2670]

Hi Everyone

I wondered if anyone could help me out with a bit of a dilema?

As a lot of our items will be fairly bulky ideally, I'd like customers' goods to be carried in recycled (brown) paper bags with our colour logo and details of the types of items we sell as kind of a walking advertisement.

Been looking into this for a while and I know our average price per bag will be a lot higher this way and am ok with that, but to get a reasonable price I'd have to order a lot which I'm struggling with as I don't yet know what will sell best ie what quantities of which size bags I'll need; I don't feel very comfortable with ordering lots from an unknown company before seeing what they will look like; the design may need to change a few times in the early days as we won't be able to stock everything from day 1.

From reading Doodles posts and the apprentice bag printing tasks I wondered if it would be possible for me to do it myself, maybe with a stencil and paints, until I'm happy with both the design and the size and style of paper bags.

Can anyone give me any advice on if this would be possible and how?

Many thanks
Penny

 

[AmazingGiftBoxes]

To be truthful I don't see it as a viable idea, do you know how long would it take to pain a logo on let say 100 bags, a very long time. You will have a business to run which will take most of your time.

Good Luck.

Jerry

 

[pen2670]

To be truthful I don't see it as a viable idea, do you know how long would it take to pain a logo on let say 100 bags, a very long time. You will have a business to run which will take most of your time.

Good Luck.

Jerry

Thanks, I was more looking to see if it would be possible for someone with my limited creative skills.

Time shouldn't be too much of an issue as we're looking at least a month between getting the lease and being able to stock the shop so thought it might be nice to have something therapeutic to do!

Wont take offensive if it's thought to be beyond my capabilities :redface:

 

[AmazingGiftBoxes]

You can always try and see the results, if you have time to spare why don't you order 20 bags of each size and just do it.

I don't know how complicated you logo is and if it is going to look alright but if you won't try you won't know.

Good Luck with it and make sure to share your results with us please.

Jerry

 

[AshCasey]

Hi Everyone

I wondered if anyone could help me out with a bit of a dilema?

As a lot of our items will be fairly bulky ideally, I'd like customers' goods to be carried in recycled (brown) paper bags with our colour logo and details of the types of items we sell as kind of a walking advertisement.

Been looking into this for a while and I know our average price per bag will be a lot higher this way and am ok with that, but to get a reasonable price I'd have to order a lot which I'm struggling with as I don't yet know what will sell best ie what quantities of which size bags I'll need; I don't feel very comfortable with ordering lots from an unknown company before seeing what they will look like; the design may need to change a few times in the early days as we won't be able to stock everything from day 1.

From reading Doodles posts and the apprentice bag printing tasks I wondered if it would be possible for me to do it myself, maybe with a stencil and paints, until I'm happy with both the design and the size and style of paper bags.

Can anyone give me any advice on if this would be possible and how?

Many thanks
Penny

Hi Penny,
Im in the Carrier Bag business and I have seen this done many times before. Its ideal for you as you mention to have the Bags printed usually means ordering a high minimum order. The stencil / spray may be time consuming but its good to start with until you finalise a design, we have also had customers use swing tags or transparent labels to self customise the bags. The labels might add to your costs but it would be allot less time consuming then the stencil. Alternatively if you really want to stand our I'd go for a bright coloured bag e.g Lime Green / Yellow a colour that no one else has in your area. Now a days most paper bags are made from at least 40% recycles paper regardless of the colour so it could add to your brand awareness.
Best of luck with it!
Ashley

 

[aussiecameras]

Couldn't agree more, get some great looking bags and put a sticker on them. stencil them or do some other creative thing!
My local coffee place have a stamp they put on every cup, they have the best coffee in town and could easily get thousands printed but everybody likes the way they do i!

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

Hi Pen - you could do it yourself, but it would be time consuming. However, if you want to try, I'd suggest uploading your logo/draft of your logo onto a disk and get your local printer to transfer it on to acetate and cut it for you; use that as a stencil.
OR get yourself a rubber stamp made up (lots of companies do these) - it could look kind of rustic and homemade. Stamp pads come in loads of different colours, metallics, glitters etc, so experiment. We sell stamp pads from just 99p in loads of different colours so you could definitely get a selection very cheaply, they'll last ages too (don't overload the stamp though, you'll get blobs!)
Ask at your local art college/tech see if any of their students are doing lino printing, you may be able to get a good deal.
I think personally I'd go along with the getting stickers done though, they'd look more professional, be cost effective and more time efficient too. Good luck! Let us know what you decide!