Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2026-10-30 Origin: Site
Non-woven is the default fabric for promotional and grocery bags, and that is exactly why so many orders go wrong. Two suppliers can both quote "80 gsm non-woven bag" and deliver products that feel nothing alike, because the specification behind that sentence is missing four decisions: laminated or not, welded or stitched, which handle, and which print method.
This page sets out those four decisions, what each one does to the price, and how to verify that the fabric you were quoted is the fabric you received.
Non-woven polypropylene is cheap, light, printable and strong enough for a weekly grocery run. It is also the material most often bought on price alone, which is why the failure modes are so familiar: handles that tear out at the seam, bags that go shiny and creased after a month in a car boot, and print that fades before the campaign ends.
None of those are inherent to non-woven. They are the result of buying 60 gsm unlaminated stock for a job that needed 90 gsm laminated, or a glued handle where a welded one was required.
GSM is grams per square metre, and it is the single most useful number in a non-woven specification. It sets the feel, the stiffness, the load the bag can carry and the price. A bag that feels flimsy beside a competitor's is almost always a lower GSM, not a worse factory.
GSM | How it feels and behaves | Commonly used for |
|---|---|---|
60–70 | Thin, soft, creases easily | Giveaways, short campaigns, low-cost events |
80–90 | The mid-range default, holds shape reasonably | Retail promotions, conference bags |
100–110 | Noticeably stiffer, better print surface | Branded retail bags, repeat-use grocery |
120+ | Heavy, structured, closer to a tote | Premium retail, bags expected to last years |
Two practical consequences. First, GSM and load capacity are not the same thing: a 100 gsm bag with a badly attached handle fails sooner than an 80 gsm bag with a welded one. Second, the printed area is a variable — heavier fabric takes a sharper print, and very light fabric lets ink sit on the surface where it can scuff.
Lamination bonds a thin film to the non-woven surface. It gives you a gloss or matt finish, sharper photographic print, and water resistance, and it makes the bag feel more expensive. It also adds a process, a cost line, and a material that has to be separated before the bag can be recycled as mono-material PP.
Unlaminated non-woven is the honest budget option: cheaper, lighter, and recyclable as a single material. If your programme has a sustainability claim attached to it, that difference matters more than the finish.
This is the decision buyers most often leave to the factory, and it is the one that decides where the bag fails first.
The layers are bonded by high-frequency vibration, with no thread and no adhesive. It is fast, clean, and the seam is as strong as the fabric itself. Most high-volume non-woven production runs on it, which is why welding capacity is usually the cheapest option per unit at scale.
Thread through the fabric. It looks more traditional and suits heavier or laminated stock, but every needle hole is a weak point and a water path. On thin non-woven, a stitched handle can tear out where a welded one would hold.
The cheapest and least durable. Adhesive fails with heat, cold and time, and it is the method most associated with handles detaching in use. If a quote is materially cheaper than the others on the same GSM, ask which of these three it assumes.
Specification decision | Effect on unit price |
|---|---|
GSM, up or down one band | Directly proportional — the largest single material lever |
Lamination | Adds a process and a film cost; also raises the minimum quantity at which it is economical |
Welded vs stitched vs glued | Welding is cheapest at volume; gluing is cheapest only in small runs |
Number of print colours | Each silkscreen colour is a separate setup; late artwork changes repeat it |
Handle type | Die-cut, welded tape, stitched webbing and rope all price differently |
Quantity per colour | Colour changes force separate print runs and material setup |
GSM cannot be judged by eye, and "feels about right" is how buyers end up accepting 70 for 90. Three checks that cost nothing:
Weigh it. Cut a known area of the bag, weigh it on a kitchen scale, and divide. A 30 cm × 30 cm piece of 90 gsm fabric should weigh about 8.1 grams. If it weighs 6.3 grams, you have 70 gsm.
Ask for the fabric roll label. Mills print GSM on the roll ticket. A supplier who cannot photograph one is buying from a converter who cannot either.
Compare two bags from different suppliers in the same light. Hold them up together and look at the edge where the fabric is cut. Density differences show up there before they show up anywhere else.
Send the bag style you want, finished size (width × depth × height in mm), GSM, laminated or unlaminated, handle type, print colours and artwork, quantity per colour, and the destination country. With those seven items a non-woven quote is comparable across suppliers; without them it is not.
Our RFQ template formats those fields so each supplier answers the same question, and the breakdown of shopping bag price drivers explains how each line moves the total.
Unlaminated non-woven polypropylene is a single material and can be recycled where PP collection exists. Laminated bags combine PP with a film and need separating, so many recycling streams will not take them. If recyclability is part of your claim, specify unlaminated.
It depends on GSM, seam method and handle attachment together, not on GSM alone. Ask the factory for the load figure they will guarantee for your exact construction, and ask how it was tested. A number without a test method is a guess.
Yes, on laminated stock, where the film carries the print. Unlaminated non-woven is best with spot colours through silkscreen. The printing methods comparison explains why the same artwork prices differently on the two.
Non-woven is often produced in batches, and undyed or lightly dyed stock varies. Specify a Pantone reference for the fabric itself, not only for the print, and ask for the shade to be matched to a retained sample from the previous run.
We produce non-woven shopping bags with logo printing and the wider reusable shopping bag range from Cangnan, Zhejiang, alongside reusable grocery bags and foldable shopping bags.
Send your specification through the contact form and we will confirm the GSM, the seam method and the print approach we would actually run for your artwork — and tell you if a cheaper construction would do the same job.
