How Paper Bags Are Made: Carrier, Takeaway and Food Bag Production

How are paper bags made? The process in eight stages

Most paper bags are made from a reel of kraft paper on a continuous bag machine that prints the web, folds it into a tube with a glued seam, cuts the tube to length and folds and glues the bottom. Handles, windows and reinforcing patches are added in the same line or in a separate step. Premium bags follow a different route: they are made from printed sheets, with far more manual work.

Reel-fed route (most carrier, takeaway and food bags):

Sheet-fed route (premium hand-finished bags):

The eight stages that matter for a buyer:

1. Paper selection and incoming inspection: grade, grammage, shade, moisture and reel width.
2. Prepress and tooling: print layout, plates and, for a new size, format parts and print sleeves.
3. Printing: usually water-based flexo, inline on the bag machine or on a separate press.
4. Web operations: top fold, handle patches, window cutting and patching, punching.
5. Tube forming: folding the web around a former, tucking the gussets, gluing the seam.
6. Cut-off and bottom forming: straight, serrated or stepped cut; bottom glued or heat-sealed.
7. Handle application (if not done on the web), counting and in-process checks.
8. Bundling, packing and palletising once the glue has set.

The route depends on the bag family:

Grammage ranges are typical working ranges used across this site; the final grade for a given bag depends on its load, size and use.

Kraft paper reels: what goes into a bag machine?

A reel-fed bag machine runs a reel of kraft paper whose grade, grammage and width are matched to one bag format. Grammage typically runs from about 30 gsm for thin food bags to about 130 gsm for heavy carrier bags, and the reel width is calculated from the bag's width and gusset plus a seam overlap.

MF and MG kraft, and the barrier papers

Machine-finished (MF) kraft is dried over a series of steam-heated cylinders and has two broadly similar surfaces. It is the usual base for carrier and SOS bags, where tensile and tear strength matter more than surface gloss. Machine-glazed (MG) kraft is dried against one large polished cylinder, which gives one smooth, glossy side that takes print well and one rougher side; it dominates thin bakery and snack bags. Both come in brown (unbleached) and white (bleached) versions, and in recycled-content grades that typically need a higher grammage to match virgin fibre strength and show more shade variation from batch to batch.

Food bags add barrier papers: greaseproof paper (densely refined fibre with low porosity), glassine (refined and supercalendered), grease-resistant kraft with a water-based barrier coating, and PE-coated paper with a thin polyethylene layer applied by extrusion coating. Each runs differently on the bag machine, which is covered in the food bag section below. How these papers are produced at the mill is explained in how greaseproof wraps and napkins are made and compared in packaging paper grades explained; grade selection for carrier bags is in kraft vs white kraft paper bags.

Reel width and cut-off length

On a tube-forming machine the paper web wraps around the full circumference of the bag, so the reel width follows from the bag's face width and gusset. A common working estimate is:

• Web width ≈ 2 x (bag width + gusset) + seam overlap. The overlap for the longitudinal glue seam is typically in the region of 15-25 mm.
• Cut-off length ≈ finished height + bottom allowance + top-fold allowance. For a block or SOS bottom, the bottom allowance is roughly half the gusset plus a glue overlap; a turned-in top for handle bags typically adds a few centimetres more.

Worked example: a carrier bag of 320 x 140 x 420 mm (width x gusset x height) needs a web of about 2 x (320 + 140) + 20 = 940 mm. With a bottom allowance of about 85 mm and a top fold of about 50 mm, the tube is cut at roughly 555 mm. Each manufacturer's calculation differs slightly with the machine and bottom design, which is why the print layout always comes from the manufacturer rather than being drawn by the buyer.

Every bag machine has a minimum and maximum web width and cut-off length, so a bag outside one machine's range has to move to another machine or construction, and an unusual width can mean extra trim waste or a special slitting order. Sizing logic is covered in paper carrier bag sizes, takeaway bag sizes and paper food bag sizes.

Moisture and conditioning

Kraft paper typically leaves the mill at a moisture content of roughly 6-9 %, depending on the mill and grade, and it keeps exchanging moisture with the surrounding air. Paper that is too dry becomes brittle at folds, builds static and can crack along gusset creases; paper that has picked up moisture loses strength, tacks glue slowly and can produce wavy edges and wrinkles on the machine.

The common practice is to keep reels in their wrapping and let them reach pressroom temperature before unwrapping, often for a day or two when reels arrive cold from transport or unheated storage. Unwrapping a cold reel in a warm hall causes condensation on the outer layers. Stable storage conditions, first-in-first-out stock rotation and protection of reel edges from knocks all reduce waste at start-up.

Incoming inspection of bag papers

Mills supply a certificate of analysis per batch, and converters typically check the properties that most affect bag performance before a reel goes on the machine.

Documents that should travel with food-contact and regulated grades include a Declaration of Compliance for the paper (in Europe usually referencing Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 and BfR Recommendation XXXVI; in the US, FDA rules such as 21 CFR 176.170 and 176.180), a statement on PFAS for barrier papers, recycled-content evidence where a US state bag law sets a minimum, and chain-of-custody documents where a certified-fibre claim will be printed on the bag. The document set itself is covered in food-contact packaging compliance and PFAS-free food packaging; the market rules on recycled content are in paper bag regulations by market.

Prepress and tooling for paper bags

Bag artwork is placed on a print layout supplied by the manufacturer, which shows the front and back faces, gussets, seam overlap, bottom fold area and any top fold, handle patch zone or window. Flexo plates are made from that layout, one per colour, and on reel-fed lines the print repeat must match the bag's cut-off length.

The layout is different from a box dieline because the bag is formed from a continuous web. Points that catch first-time buyers:

• Bottom area and seam overlap: the lower part of the web becomes the folded base and a strip along one edge sits under the seam, so artwork there is lost.
• Gussets and top edge: fold positions vary slightly, a serrated cut trims the top and a turned-in top hides several centimetres, so critical elements belong on the main faces.
• Eye mark: a small solid mark in a margin lets a photocell keep the cut in register with the print.
• Legal text: recycled-content statements and markings need a fixed, legible position; see the packaging artwork guide.

Flexo plates for bags are photopolymer, mounted on sleeves or plate cylinders with compressible mounting tape. Softer and thicker plate and tape combinations are usually chosen for rough kraft, where the plate has to follow an uneven surface, while firmer combinations hold finer detail on smooth MG paper. Because the plate is wrapped around a cylinder, the artwork is slightly shortened in the print direction at plate-making to compensate for the stretch, which is one reason plates are made from the manufacturer's final layout rather than a generic file.

On many machines the circumference of the plate sleeve or cylinder must correspond to the cut-off length, or to a multiple of it. A new bag height can therefore require a new set of sleeves or cylinders as well as new plates, while a repeat order of an existing bag reuses both. Proofing normally runs in three steps: a PDF proof on the layout, colour drawdowns of the spot colours on the actual production paper, and where needed a printed pre-production sample. Colour standards are discussed in Pantone vs CMYK in packaging, and plate and prepress terms are defined in the printing and prepress glossary.

Printing paper bags: inline flexo or a separate press?

Most kraft bags are printed by flexography with water-based inks, either on print units built into the bag machine (inline) or on a separate flexo press that prints the reel before it goes to the bag machine (offline). Inline printing is the economical route for one- to four-colour designs; a separate press is used when the design needs more colours, tighter registration or finer screens than the bag machine's print units can hold.

Rotogravure printing of bag reels is used occasionally for very large, repeating programmes that need photographic print on reel; digital inkjet printing of reels or sheets suits short runs and test designs. The general comparison of processes is in flexo vs offset vs gravure vs digital printing.

Print parameters that decide the result on kraft

• Anilox volume: the anilox roll meters the ink film. As an indicative guide, solids and line work on kraft are often run with coarser rolls, roughly 200-360 lines per inch at about 6-12 cm³/m², and fine screens with finer, lower-volume rolls. Exact choices depend on the press, ink and paper.
• Screen ruling: halftones on uncoated kraft are kept coarse because absorbent paper spreads the dots; brown kraft sits at the low end of flexo's range on paper. Spot colours usually give more consistent results than four-colour builds.
• Ink system: water-based inks dominate paper bag printing. Their viscosity and pH are monitored during the run (water-based flexo inks typically run slightly alkaline), because drift changes colour strength and drying. UV-curing flexo inks are used on some lines for whites or high-gloss effects and need food-contact suitable, low-migration formulations where food bags are concerned. Solvent-based inks are rarely used on paper bags.
• Drying: on kraft, much of the ink's water is absorbed into the paper and the rest is driven off by hot air between and after the print units. Heavy solids, greaseproof, glassine and coated papers absorb less and need more drying capacity or slower speeds.
• White on brown kraft: white ink can be laid down as an underlay, but its opacity on porous kraft is limited, so colours printed over it rarely match the same colour on white kraft.

Food-contact printing and set-off

Inks on a bag are normally on the outside, but they can still reach the food-contact side. When a printed web is rewound after an offline press, the printed surface is pressed against the reverse of the next layer, which becomes the inside of a bag; bags stacked in bundles press faces against each other in the same way. The Annex to the EU Good Manufacturing Practice Regulation (EC) 2023/2006 requires that inks on the non-food-contact side are formulated and applied so that substances are not transferred to the food-contact side, through the substrate or by set-off in the stack or reel, at levels that would breach the food-contact requirements, and that printed materials are handled and stored so that this transfer does not occur.

In practice that means ink systems suited to food-contact packaging, full drying before rewinding or stacking, and controls on heavy ink coverage over thin papers. EuPIA guidance and the Swiss Ordinance on materials and articles in contact with food (SR 817.023.21, Annex 10) are widely used market references for ink selection, and Germany's Printing Ink Ordinance, a positive list for inks on food-contact materials under the Bedarfsgegenständeverordnung, applies from 1 January 2027. The paper-specific detail is in printing on greaseproof paper.

Converting step by step: from printed web to finished bag

A reel-fed bag machine converts the paper in a fixed sequence of stations, each with a small number of settings that decide whether the bag stands square, opens cleanly and holds its load. The table follows the web through a typical handled or SOS line; flat food bag machines use the same principle with fewer stations.

Tube forming and the longitudinal seam

After printing and any web operations, a glue unit lays a line or a pattern of dots along one edge of the web. The web is then drawn over a former plate that folds it into a flattened tube, while gusset tuckers (folding boards or wheels) push the side panels inward to form the gussets. Pressing rollers close the seam. The seam usually runs along the back face, close to a gusset fold.

Two settings decide the quality of this step. Overlap width and glue amount set seam strength: too little glue and the seam peels open, too much and it squeezes out and glues bags together. Each gusset must be equally deep; an asymmetric gusset is the usual reason a bag leans or fails to stand.

Cut-off: serrated, straight or stepped

The formed tube is cut into individual bag lengths by a rotating knife or by tearing against a serrated blade.

• Serrated (zigzag) cut-off: standard on SOS, grocery and many food bags. The toothed edge makes the bag easy to open and tolerates small length variations visually, but it cuts through anything printed right at the top, so artwork needs a margin.
• Straight cut-off: used where the top is turned in for handles, where a die-cut handle is punched near the top, or where a clean edge is part of the look. It shows any length or squareness variation more clearly.
• Stepped (staggered) cut: the front and back layers are cut at slightly different positions so the end can later be folded over in overlapping steps, which is the basis for pinch-bottom bags.
• Thumb cut: a small semicircular notch at the mouth of flat food bags, so staff can open bags quickly at the counter.

Cut-to-print register is controlled from the eye mark on pre-printed reels, or by the machine's timing on inline lines.

Bottom forming: SOS, block, flat and pinch bottoms

The bottom construction largely defines the bag type, and each has its own forming tools on the machine.

"SOS" (self-opening sack) and "block bottom" describe the same principle: the US term SOS is mostly used for handle-less food and grocery bags, while block bottom is common in Europe for carrier bags. How the SOS format and its numbered US sizes work is explained in SOS bags explained.

Glue types and drying

Paper bags are held together by three families of adhesive, plus heat sealing on PE-coated papers. The choice depends on the paper surface, the joint and the line speed.

Water-based glues reach handling strength within minutes, but full bond strength develops over many hours as the water migrates into the paper and evaporates. Bags are therefore stacked under light pressure at the delivery, and strength tests on handles and bottoms are only meaningful once the glue has cured, typically the following day. Packing and wrapping bags while the glue is still wet is a frequent cause of bundles sticking together and of mould or odour complaints after a sea voyage.

For food bags, the adhesive is part of the material in contact with food at the seams and bottom, so the Declaration of Compliance for the finished bag should cover it; in the US, adhesives in food packaging are addressed under 21 CFR 175.105.

How are paper bag handles made and attached?

Twisted and flat paper handles are made from narrow paper strips and glued inside the bag top with paper patches, usually by a handle unit on the bag machine; die-cut handles are punched through a reinforced top; rope, cord and ribbon handles are fitted by hand on premium bags. The handle method is one of the biggest drivers of machine choice and speed.

Twisted paper handles

Twisted paper cord starts as reels of paper slit into narrow strips, which are twisted on dedicated twisting machines into a cord a few millimetres thick and wound onto bobbins. Coloured cords are made from dyed or printed paper strips; a custom brand colour usually means a separate cord production run with its own minimum.

On the bag line, the handle unit draws two cords and a strip of patch paper from reels. It cuts the cord to length, shapes it into a loop, places the ends onto a patch and bonds them, usually with hot-melt or a fast-setting cold glue, then cuts the patch to size and applies the finished handle assembly to the web where the top fold will sit. The top fold is turned over the patch, doubling the paper at the point where the load is carried. The handle position, patch size and glue coverage are set at this station, and they decide most handle failures.

Inline handle units apply handles to the web before tube forming, so bag and handle are made in one high-output pass, but handle type and position are fixed by the unit. Offline application, on a separate handle-pasting machine or by hand after the bag is made, adds a handling step and is slower, yet it suits short runs, unusual sizes and bags outside the inline unit's format range.

Flat paper handles

Flat handles are made from a strip of paper folded lengthwise into a multi-ply tape, formed into a U-shaped loop and glued to a patch strip that often runs across most of the bag width. The assembly is glued inside the bag mouth, again usually by an inline unit on SOS or block-bottom machines. Because the patch is long and the glue area large, flat handles carry compact heavy loads well and run at high speed, which is why they are the default on takeaway and grocery bags.

Die-cut handles

A die-cut handle is a slot punched through the top of the bag. Before punching, a reinforcing patch of paper or thin board is glued inside the top on both faces, or the top is folded over to double the paper. The punch can work on the web inline or on finished bags. The punched-out pieces (slugs) have to be extracted reliably, because a loose slug left inside a bag is a foreign-body complaint, particularly for food use.

Rope, cord and ribbon handles

On hand-finished bags, holes are punched through the turned-top area and its card reinforcement, sometimes with metal or plastic eyelets. Cords of polypropylene, cotton or paper, or ribbons, are threaded through and knotted inside, or fixed with glued tabs or toggles. This is manual work, so cost scales with quantity in a way machine-applied handles do not. The comparison of handle types for load, comfort and recyclability is in paper bag handle types compared.

Sheet-fed bag making and hand assembly for premium bags

Premium carrier bags for fashion, cosmetics and gifts are made from printed sheets rather than reels. The sheet is printed (usually by offset), finished, die-cut into a flat blank and then folded and glued into a bag by a sheet-fed bag machine, by hand, or by a combination of both.

The typical sequence:

1. Offset printing on coated art paper or heavy kraft, typically around 150-250 gsm, often in CMYK plus spot colours.
2. Finishing: film lamination (gloss, matt or soft-touch), hot foil, embossing or spot UV, as specified.
3. Die-cutting the sheet into a blank with crease lines for the faces, gussets and bottom; the cutting die is made for that bag size.
4. Folding and gluing the side seam to form the tube, and folding and gluing the bottom, either on an automatic sheet-fed bag machine or by hand.
5. Turning in the top and gluing a card reinforcement strip inside it; inserting a card base.
6. Punching handle holes and fitting cord or ribbon handles by hand.
7. Piece-by-piece visual inspection and flat packing in cartons, often with interleaving to protect laminated or foiled surfaces.

Because the size is set by the cutting die rather than by machine format parts, almost any dimension and short runs are practical. The trade-offs are labour time per bag, more variation from hand work and, with film lamination, a paper-plastic composite that may face recyclability questions under the PPWR grading from 2030. Sheet-fed die-cutting and creasing work the same way as for cartons, described in how folding cartons and takeaway boxes are made. The choice between machine-made and hand-finished construction is covered on the paper carrier bag hub.

How are window bags produced?

Window bags are made on the same reel-fed lines with an added window unit: a rotary cutting die cuts the opening in the web before tube forming, a film patch is cut from a narrow reel, adhesive is applied around the opening and the patch is pressed on. The window is registered to the print using the eye mark, so its size and position are part of the bag tooling.

Window quality depends on a continuous adhesive frame that does not squeeze into the visible area, even film tension (no ripples), a position clear of gussets, seam and bottom, and reliable removal of the cut-out slugs. Film type matters too: PLA softens at relatively low temperatures, which affects hot-melt application and warm products; film choices are compared in window paper bags.

Translucent glassine or greaseproof paper windows are applied the same way and keep the bag all-paper. A change of window size or position usually means a new cutting die and re-registered artwork, which is why the window is fixed at the layout proof stage. Bakery-specific window choices are covered in the bakery bags guide.

Food bags: running greaseproof, coated and PE-coated papers

Food bags are made on the same families of machines as other paper bags, but thin barrier papers behave differently: they absorb ink and glue more slowly, tear more easily and, in the case of coated papers, may need heat sealing or special adhesives instead of standard water-based glue.

• Thin MG kraft (around 30-50 gsm): runs at high speed on flat and side-gusset machines. Web tension and static control matter more than on heavy carrier papers, and register is harder to hold on light, stretchy paper.
• Greaseproof paper and glassine: dense, low-porosity papers. Water-based inks and glues dry more slowly, so drying and glue amount must be adjusted; otherwise seams stay wet and bags block together. Sharp creasing can crack the dense fibre structure and reduce grease resistance along folds, so grease testing should include the folds, not only flat paper.
• Barrier-coated grease-resistant kraft: the coating faces the food and the print goes on the uncoated outside. Glue joints have to be designed so the adhesive bonds where it can, and some coatings can stick together in the reel or stack under heat and pressure.
• PE-coated paper: the PE layer faces the food. The seam and bottom are closed by heat sealing or by hot-melt. Heat sealing needs PE to meet PE, so a simple lap seam (coated side against uncoated side) does not seal reliably; the seam is folded so that coated surfaces meet, or an adhesive suited to the PE surface is used. Sealing temperature, pressure and dwell are set against the PE grade and line speed, and molten PE picked up on hot machine parts is a common source of seal defects. The same sealing principles run through plastic bag making.

Grease resistance in the EU has to be achieved without PFAS treatments that would exceed the limits applying under Regulation (EU) 2025/40 from 12 August 2026, and several US states ban intentionally added PFAS in food packaging. That pushes production towards dense-fibre papers and non-fluorinated coatings; see barrier coatings for paper packaging and the comparison in grease-resistant food bags.

Counting, bundling and packing

Finished bags are counted at the machine delivery, stacked into bundles of a fixed count, bound or wrapped, and packed into cartons or bales on pallets. Packing has to protect the bags from moisture and crushing and keep counts accurate for stores that order by the bundle.

• Counting: machine counters at the delivery, often backed by check-weighing of bundles.
• Bundle counts: chosen for the point of use, commonly in steps such as 25, 50, 100, 250 or 500 depending on size; strung bags, threaded on a string for hanging at bakery counters, are a UK format.
• Cartons or bales: cartons protect bags and carry a label with item, size, count and batch; compressed bales use less material but can crease bags.
• Pallets: EUR (1200 x 800 mm) and 1200 x 1000 mm pallets in Europe, 48 x 40 in pallets in the US, with interlocked stacking, corner boards, top sheets and stretch wrap.

Moisture is the main transport risk. Paper exchanges moisture with the air, and sea containers crossing climate zones can produce condensation inside the container. Wrapping pallets, keeping cartons off container floors and not packing bags while glue is still wet all reduce the risk. After delivery, bags should be stored dry, away from heat sources and in their packaging until use. Container loading, documents and freight from Türkiye are covered in sourcing packaging from Türkiye.

Quality control in paper bag production

Quality control on a bag line combines a first-off check against the approved sample after every set-up, periodic in-process checks during the run and a final inspection using AQL sampling. The functional tests that matter most are handle pull and load tests, bottom and seam strength, and for food bags grease resistance; dimensions and print are checked against agreed tolerances.

There is no single standard handle or load test that every market uses: retailers, chains and manufacturers apply their own protocols for load, hold time, safety factor and lift cycles. Agreeing the method, the load and the sampling plan in the specification makes results comparable between suppliers. Sampling plans, golden samples and inspection levels are covered in packaging sampling and quality control, and test terms in the testing and quality glossary. Failure modes at handles and bases are analysed in the paper bag GSM guide.

Typical paper bag defects

How the production route drives MOQ, cost and lead time

Reel-fed bag lines are very efficient once running but take time and material to set up, so most of the minimum order quantity and much of the unit price on short runs comes from set-up rather than running time. Sheet-fed and hand-finished bags have lower set-up costs but far higher labour per bag.

Machine output varies widely with machine, format and material. As a qualitative guide, small flat and SOS food bags run at the highest speeds, often hundreds of bags per minute; handled carrier bags run more slowly because of the handle unit and larger format; automatic sheet-fed bag making is slower again, and hand-finished bags are measured in labour time per bag rather than machine speed. That is why a design change on a fast food-bag line costs proportionally more on a small order than on a large one.

For buyers, the practical levers follow from the table: share widths and gussets across a size range, keep sizes on standard papers, reduce colours where the design allows, keep handle colours standard, and reorder unchanged artwork so plates and sleeves can be reused. The logic is set out in what determines MOQ in custom packaging and custom packaging cost drivers.

Lead time is set mostly by stages around the machine run: artwork approval, plate and tooling production, paper procurement (longer for special grades), scheduling, glue cure and packing, and transport. The run itself is often the shortest part. Stage-by-stage timing is in packaging lead times.

What should a buyer specify or ask a paper bag manufacturer?

Specify the bag by construction and performance, not only by size and artwork, and ask how it will be produced, because the production route determines what can be guaranteed. The questions below turn this guide into a checklist for an RFQ or a supplier review.

Beyond construction, dimensions, paper, handles and print, add the items that this guide shows are process-dependent: the performance tests and their method (handle pull, load, drop, grease resistance at folds), the packing format (bundle count, carton or bale, pallet), and a food-contact declaration that covers paper, inks, adhesives and any film or coating.

Questions about the process:

• Will the bag be printed inline or on a separate press, and how is print-to-cut register controlled?
• Are handles applied inline or offline, and which adhesive is used at the handle?
• Which adhesives are used for seams and bottoms, and are they covered by the food-contact declaration?
• For PE-coated bags, is the seam heat-sealed or glued, and how is the seam constructed?
• How long are bags left to cure before packing, and when are handle tests carried out?
• What is checked at first-off, how often during the run, and what sampling plan applies at final inspection?
• What dimensional and colour tolerances apply, and against which master sample?
• Which tooling is new for this order, and which can be reused on repeats?

The complete request structure is in the packaging RFQ guide, and how to evaluate a supplier's process and quality system is covered in how to choose a packaging manufacturer.

Food-contact hygiene in paper bag production

Food bags, and carrier or takeaway bags that may touch unwrapped food, are food-contact materials. In the EU they fall under Regulation (EC) 1935/2004, which also requires traceability, and under the GMP Regulation (EC) 2023/2006, which requires a documented quality assurance system, quality control and documentation at each production stage that affects the material. Great Britain applies assimilated versions of the same regulations.

On the factory floor, hygiene in bag production typically covers:

• Separation of food-contact papers, inks and adhesives from non-food-contact materials, with clear labelling of reels and ink batches.
• Covered, clean storage of reels and finished bags, and wrapped finished goods.
• Pest control, cleaning schedules and controls on machine lubricants near the paper path.
• Glass and brittle plastic policies, blade control, no loose metal near food bag lines, and slug extraction so cut-outs do not end up in bags.
• Batch coding on cartons and retained samples per batch, so a complaint can be traced to a reel, an ink batch and a production date.

Buyers often ask whether a supplier is certified to a food-safety or hygiene scheme for packaging manufacture. The schemes most often requested are BRCGS Packaging Materials, FSSC 22000 (which combines ISO 22000 with the packaging prerequisite programme ISO/TS 22002-4) and ISO 22000 on its own. If certification is a requirement, ask for the certificate and check that its scope covers the site and the product type you are buying; this guide does not describe the certification status of any particular manufacturer. Documentation requirements for the finished bag are covered in food-contact packaging compliance.

Production terms you will see in bag quotations

Quotations and machine specifications use a mix of English, German and US trade terms. These are the ones most likely to appear for paper bags; more definitions are in the converting and manufacturing glossary and the materials glossary.

Next step: turn the process into a specification

If you are preparing a bag order, start from the product hub that matches your bag, paper carrier bags, takeaway bags or paper food bags, and use the checklist above to fill in construction, paper, handles, print, performance tests and packing. Send that specification with your artwork or brand guidelines, quantities per size and destination markets through the contact page; the production route, tooling and test plan are confirmed at quotation and technical review.

Related reading

• How custom printed packaging is made
• How paper cups and food containers are made
• How plastic bags are made
• How greaseproof wraps and printed napkins are made
• All custom printed paper bag types