The bag market is set to outpace designer apparel to be worth $100 billion by 2027! This is the time to own an e-commerce brand! Here’s my product playbook – with factories – to start your own bag brand now.

 

I’ve worked on many bag products, tens of thousands of total units. There are so many opportunities out there, ranging from product presentation, to retail exit bags, to school bags, to designer bags, to mini bags. The size of this market can’t be underestimated!

 

 

Here’s a rough cost outline for bag products of different qualities from China:

• Translucents/mini bags: $10
• Artificial PU leather: $5-20
• Simple canvas totes, duffels, etc: $3-10
• Lower end genuine leather: $30-$55
• Real leather/sheepskin at designer quality: $100-250

 

 

 

Garment and tote bags to include with products is a great option for existing brands.

I purchase a lot of Rick Owens. What you may not know is that many Rick Owens’ products come with a super high-quality canvas bag that I use absolutely all the time. Providing a quality option for this helps cement your brand.

 

 

The Tiny Purse movement isn’t dead yet, and there’s lots of vendors with starting options. You need to ignore their styles, and design yourself. Take a loose concept they have so its a realistic starting point, but do you own design.

 

 

For most people it makes sense to start with an existing popular design and modify it to be something unique. This is a men’s option from Guangzhou Gaofeiya Leather Co

 

Translucent bags are also popular and affordable. Good option to easily put out a design in a unique style (over shoulder, fanny pack, tote, etc) with fun designs – especially for TikTok.

These are $10, custom logo at 100 minimum order quantity (MOQ).

 

 

These are 500 MOQ with custom graphics and packaging, but only $4.60 each

 

 

A vendor option for PU leather and patterned options on the cheaper end? Look at Shijiazhuang Anhong Trade Co

 

 

Quanzhou Fanlostar Int’l Co and Chongqing B.m. Import & Export are two legit factories who will import various materials as needed for quality options for any style you want to make.

Tips for sending a great “brief” to your chosen vendors:

• Note materials/colors inside & out
• Note logo placement and type of print (embroidery/silk etc)
• Clarify stitch types when possible
• Note material + quality of parts and hardware for straps, zippers, highlights etc

Process notes: Include sketches or cad drawings with dimensions in cm/mm. If you want real leather, get a sample of the leather sent prior to an actual bag mockup. Expect to pay hundreds for a real quality single sample. This can usually be applied against your order invoice (just ask).

 

 

If you want to go expensive and charge a premium, read How to Differentiate a Luxury Brand. This is my starter guide for different techniques for differentiating a premium brand over time.

 

Laundry list of ideas I’ve had in this space you should use:

• Kids’ book bags suck and haven’t changed in forever. There’s got to be better options to create.
• With designer knockoffs so prevalent, I feel high-end personalization is the next big trend, own this!
• Pattern development like Goyard/LV, etc. but using high-end digital techniques and renderings
• Utilizing complex textiles enabled by services like Byborre
• Mens’ bags is still wide open…

 

Backpacks are for kids, messengers aren’t much better. What’s a new form factor?

 

Quick checklist for succeeding with sourcing your product:

• Find a reputable vendor with existing transaction history
• Provide your product brief in significant detail
• Always sample ahead of time
• Go through all the details of packaging, shipment, and use by your customer

 

In today’s economy, differentiation is what’s going to make you stand apart from the crowd, like this vendor. With almost 1 million transactions under their belt (so to speak) the Dongguan Rainbow Touches Garment Co. is a great vendor for differentiated and custom men’s fashionwear. 

 

No time to read? Watch my TikTok short instead…

 

@orenmeetsworld

A great overseas manufacturer for mens fashion #productdevelopment #clothingline #appareldesign #fashionbrand #ecommercetips @orenmeetsworld #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen

♬ ASTRO Trap Beat – Hip Hop Instrumental – AfterInfinityMusic

 

Let’s start with this logo tee. If you look closely, this is actually a nice acid wash which will help make it stand out from what a basic tee is. You can start customizing your tee with a low MoQ (minimum order quantity) of just 30 pieces. Customized packaging also starts at just 30 pieces.

 

 

We’re looking at about 8.50 a piece on these if you want custom logo and packaging. Lead time for 100 or so pieces is just 7 days, and ordering 100 pieces also qualifies you for the $60 discount.

 

 

Let’s move on to this kind of jacket windbreaker, modeled here by legendary male model Stephen James. This is a great item for anyone doing merchandise because the actual cost is pretty cheap. And you don’t have to rush this for a super-high price point; You can make something useful and versatile for multiple seasons.

 

 

This is one of my favorites out of the options they offer. This is a satin-feel bomber jacket. Its obviously not real satin, but its embroidered with some really nice ideas.

With these, it would take about 200 pieces to get a customized logo, etc., and you’d need to order 500+ pieces for custom packaging. The good news is that you’re only looking at about $20 per piece, so you can get your thing up and running for about $1,000, plus shipping.

Here’s another unique item which would sell quite well. These all-over print shorts are polyester so I’d try to get a nicer fabric (like cotton or linen, perhaps). This has definitely got a very unique look that would help your merchandise stand out. This kind of all-over print is available in a range of options to choose from. 

What’s great about this is that a sample of your custom design is only $50 and you can get custom packaging at only 50 pieces. 200 MoQ for your own logo and the end cost is only about $10 per unit. 

 

 

 

Last is a great option for custom shorts if you’re looking for that 5-in. baggies look and all of the print. I actually like these camo ones right here, and with custom logos so you can make a fun product. Cost on these are only about $12 a piece.

Overall, this is a great vendor to look to if you want to start manufacturing clothing overseas. They have some versatile options and you can make more money than you would domestically.

 

Let me know in the comments below or on my TikTok video embedded above how far you got and what you eventually had made. And don’t forget to let me kno9w if you find other, similar vendors you think I should add to my curated list.

– Oren

 

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This is how you take a standard product and make it stand out. Satisfy Running is a great example of how to nail down on your customers’ user experiences, and create a fantastic product you can sell for a premium. There’s also my free product development guide on building a private label activewear brand in this niche.

Let’s do this.

 

By the way, if you missed my TikTok short on this, you can catch it below, or scroll to keep reading here on the blog.

 

@orenmeetsworld

How do you take a basic product and make it work for your niche? Lets start with how to make a stsndout activewear product @orenmeetsworld #fashionbrand #fitnessbrand#activewear #productdevelopment #ecommercetips #trends

♬ Close Eyes – DVRST

 

There are dozens of companies on Alibaba that offer basic polyester shorts for activewear. These designs are relatively well thought-through and modern, in an affordable price range.

 

 

These above will run you about $7.75 each for 200 pairs.

This pair from Satisfy costs $270 because they’ve really zeroed in on the intense, long-distance runners’ user experience.

 

 

So, how do you take a short and customize it to be effective for a target niche?

 

Creating the Perfect Private Label Activewear Brand

This comes down to the user experience for exactly the sport or whatever active lifestyle element that your customer is looking for. So, what Satisfy has done is to make all of these little features that are perfect for the long-distance runner.

 

 

These features include things like this sweatproof back zipper pocket so you can carry your credit cards and cash with you. It also has inner key pouches to stop your keys from jingling in your pockets as you run.

As any long-distance runner knows, these are really annoying things that you need to think about while you’re running.

Follow this up with hip pockets that carry the gels you use to hydrate and get fuel in on a 10+ mile run.

 

 

There’s also a sweatproof phone pocket that’ll keep your screen dry. The pocket is on the inside (not the outside) which is key for running.

 

 

The drawstrings tuck into the double waistband to avoid chafing, and also so you don’t have them just flying around while you run. A great addition is the mini carabiner you can use to clip in valuables or jewelry while you run, which can also be stashed in the double waistband.

All of these visible benefits add up to the perfect user experience while you’re running.

So, if you’re designing activewear for a specific niche like yoga, baseball, lacrosse, etc., how can you find all these little details and add to the base short so your customer feels your product is speaking directly to them?

As a distance runner, I’d look at this product and think, “Okay. I’m about to run a marathon. I’m going to be wearing these because they have the perfect user elements for what I need as a distance runner.”

Now, how can you achieve that in your target niche?

 

RELATED READING:
How to Build a Brand in Activewear and Supplements

 

Using Style and Design as Differentiators

In this cheetah print (that I love, by the way!), you’ll see the detachable care label. I don’t have to remove the tag to avoid chafing, but the option is there if I want it. There’s also the unique style and design of it to consider, as well.

 

 

A super-crucial thing to consider is materials. All of those Satisfy designs are using 100% polyamide, or 72% polyamide and 28% elastane blends, which they’ve actually created themselves as part of their process.

All the shorts I’ve shown you are usually going to start off as polyester, but what you’re going to want to do is identify other high quality products and ask your vendor if they can find similar materials or things that will produce a similar effect.

Polyester really isn’t a great material, and I believe there could be a great opportunity to offer these shorts in linen and some other, more-natural fabrics. Either way, experiment with this, look at what the blends are (because they’re listed on almost any product listing these days) and then ask your vendor for what that better material is. That’s going to be the big thing that sets your product apart.

Hope this introduction to private label activewear was helpful for your product ideation. Let’s take a look at product development next.

 

Private Label Activewear Product Development Guide

So, what separates one product from another larger, more successful product is:

• a great supplier
• innovative designs
• brand authenticity
• a sense of community
• and content.

I’m breaking this down with a particular emphasis on activewear. The factory link below is the perfect vendor to get started with your own private label activewear brand.

 

I break all of this down in my TikTok short on product development for private label activewear brands, using Satisfy products to guide you. Watch it now or scroll to keep reading here on the blog:

 

@orenmeetsworld

If you want to start an activewear brand, heres things to consider #fashionbrand #clothingbrand #fitnessbrand #sportswearbrand #activewear #ecommercetips #ecommercebusiness @orenmeetsworld

♬ original sound – Oren John

 

This is a $220 pair of running shorts from Satisfy Running, a cult brand who makes super performance items for specific sport niches.

 

 

Here’s where the real brand advantage is:

• take a specific niche (like running) and create the highest end product you possibly can
• add every little user experience detail you can think of to your design (like pockets, pain point solutions, etc.)
• now charge a premium for it.

This is a pretty extreme example of a premium for a pair of running shorts, but this is an activewear vendor from Alibaba. Most of the scaled activewear is made in Vietnam or Cambodia (not China) and you can get some pretty decent, high quality stuff on the platform.

You’re looking at $7.74 at scale for those. They’re also a blend in a similar way, featuring customized pockets, etc. While they’re not quite as customized as Satisfy is, you can still take a vendor like this and work with them.

 

Differentiating Your Product From Other Activewear Brands

One of the key things in your design that’s a major differentiator is materials. That’s also definitely one of Satisfy’s key differentiators, and that’s because they’re made of 72% polyamide and 28% elastane.

 

 

There’s a significant difference between these and say, a typical polyester short. The blend is definitely of better, more-durable, and longer-wearing quality than plain polyester is, for instance, in the long-distance running niche.

You can take information like this and approach manufacturers to find out of they can replicate it. Send them links to the shorts, or better yet, send them a sample of the shorts and ask if they can improve on the materials, design, or user experience.

There is currently a big, untapped advantage in linen or non-polyester/non-poly-based activewear, really. There are so many runners and athletes getting into the idea that comfortable may not always be good for you line of thinking, and that includes their clothing.

The big opportunity is to niche-down in this, and here’s what I would do:

• find a vendor that’s already “invented the wheel” (like Satisfy) for what you’re trying to create
• make a list of similar vendors you can approach that are more affordable yet can also solve the specific user problems your product will offer
• reach out to bridge the gap of how you can create your own material blends and designs that solve those problems for a niche sport.

This is a great approach to get you started on building an activewear brand of your own.

If you’re looking for a vendor to do it with, I recommend Guangzhou Jinfeng Clothing Co., Ltd.

Their designs have been featured here in some of the images above. They also have a bunch of ongoing sales and lots of existing styles to choose from.

Talk to them and work with them on what you can customize. Let me know how it’s going in the comments below or anywhere you see my tips and tools.

My newsletter drops with more like this. Sign up now and be first in the know.

 

You’ve got this!

– Oren

 

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