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

There’s not much that beats the convenience, peace of mind, and total reliability that the best luxury luggage brand offers you.

Luggage helps you get from point A to point B with all the comforts of home you need to feel at ease when you land on the other side. A good set of luggage can take you all the way from college to your first family holiday with the kids two decades later.

As a frequent flyer, I’ve come to rely on just one brand: Rimowa. Understand that there’s a lot of mileage between me and this decision.

The only luxury luggage brand I feel is the perfect universal status brand is Rimowa. They’re best known for the silver silhouette, which is ultra-recognizable and goes with just about any outfit, whether you’re going classy or wearing street wear.

Rimowa works, no matter what… Plus, the quality of the construction is just renowned.

No time to read about the best luxury luggage brand?

Watch the TikTok short below…

@orenmeetsworld

Rimowa is the perfect status luggage brand #luggage #trends #aesthetics #fashiontiktok #brandingtips #brandingstrategy

♬ original sound – Oren John

In addition to the standard silver above, they also do collabs like this one with Fendi

and this one with Moncler. I think Moncler in general has a killer collab across the board. This one isn’t my favourite of them but still a really good looking version of Rimowa.

I’ve done other videos on Moncler’s collaboration history. You can find those in my TikTok gallery.

It’s very common where you’ll actually see people sticking their Rimowa. There’s a culture around that, and you can buy sticker packs. I believe this is one of the sticker packs they sold themselves, which is particularly intriguing and a great way to add some identity to an otherwise really plain package.

Stickers offer a unique set of upsell opportunities for Rimowa as a brand because it’s a really smart idea that could do very well over time. If you have a suitcase, you can leave it plain and it will still look really classy… or you can go with stickers and create your own vibe. 

Their collaboration with Virgil Abloh on a completely clear suitcase knocked it out of the park! Now you can see almost entirely everything you put in there, which is a great way for people to show off sneakers, etc. This should make for an interesting trip overall.

If you do want to organize or keep things out of the spotlight then definitely put some pouches in there, labelled in the trademark off-the-side in white. This is one of my favorite pieces of luggage of all time. 

After the Abloh collab, they also launched a seasonal series, a neon pink and green clear version. The green goes really, really hard in person. When you see it in a photo, you kind of say “I don’t know if I can really go for that” but it’s just an incredible stand-out version in person.

Rimowa also did pastels this season, which I think is just mainly trying everything they can do to keep the brand new and fresh. I’m not a huge fan of this pastel but I’ve seen it around enough where I think it does complement if you have a really specific idea or concept for the fashion of your luggage in mind. 

I do prefer this pearl if you’re going to go with a different color from a different season, but again, it requires a certain type of person to make it work versus the all-silver version – almost anything works with the all-silver version.

These bags are often replicated like this one from MVST, but that makes sense because the price points are always pretty high. That’s because people want the same style so they’re going to look for something more unique.

At the end of the day, I think with luggage, you’re going to be using it a ton. I’d go with the original because you’re going to want to have quality as something you can use for the rest of your life and it’s often worth the price. 

You just can’t go wrong with Rimowa. If you’re looking for a piece of luggage that will last you for the rest of your life, then go ahead and get that Rimowa suitcase whether you end up with the clear, the silver, the pastel, etc., it’s up to you.

I would absolutely recommend having the silver suitcase that fits in the overhead bin and then keeping that around till you can pass it on to your children. 

I appreciate you reading. Let me know in the comments below which Rimowa you prefer!

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