What Should a Handbag Tech Pack Actually Include

What should a handbag tech pack actually include? Ten sections: identity and commercials, geometry, materials with yield, construction, hardware and trim, colour and finish, branding and marking, packing and labelling, compliance and test evidence, and a version record. The test for each section is whether someone who has never met you could build and inspect the bag from it alone; if any section fails that test, it will come back as a question and cost you two to three working days. A pack that passes all ten moves a first brief from nine questions to none, which is the difference between a sample in 6-10 working days and a sample in five weeks.

Ten sections, and what each one prevents

The Wednesday the Brief Came Back With Nine Questions

A direct-to-consumer label in Rotterdam sent twenty-two photographs of a bucket silhouette it wanted for a spring drop: studio shots, detail crops, a screenshot of a competitor listing and a note saying please quote. The photographs were good. The reply the following Wednesday asked nine questions, and every one of them had been answerable in an hour: overall diameter, strap drop, body material thickness, lining, closure size, plating colour, whether the base was reinforced, where the mark went, and how many per colourway.

None of those questions was difficult. They were difficult only because they had not been written down, and each one moved the sample clock rather than the design. The label answered them over nine days because the answers required a decision from three people. Sampling then started on day ten of what was meant to be a 6-10 working day window, and the spring slot was gone by the time the second revision landed. The bag itself was never the problem.

What follows is the ten-section structure that would have prevented all nine. It is deliberately ordered by consequence rather than by document convention: the first section prevents the most expensive error, and the last prevents the most annoying one. Where a section already exists elsewhere on this site, it is linked rather than repeated, and the private label process from enquiry to shipment shows where each section is read inside the wider programme.

Section One: Identity and Commercials

The least glamorous section prevents the most expensive error, which is a bulk run built from a superseded drawing. It carries the style code, a version letter, a revision date, the season, quantities per colourway, a target retail price per SKU, the destination market and the trade term. Two of those fields do commercial work that no drawing can do.

• Quantity per colourway. MOQ is 500 pcs per style / colourway, so two colours of one style is 1,000 pieces, not 500 split between them. Each colourway is its own dye or coating lot.
• Target retail price per SKU. With a ceiling, the specification is engineered to it. Without one, the first quotation is built to the wrong grade and the whole conversation restarts.
• Destination and term. FOB Xiamen by default; CIF and DDP are available. The term decides who books freight and who carries the risk during transit.
• One named decision owner. Revision comments from five inboxes produce five specifications of one bag.

Section Two: Geometry, and the Three Numbers That Decide Fit

Geometry is where most first packs are thin, and three numbers carry almost all of the fit risk: body width, gusset depth and handle drop. State them in millimetres with a tolerance and a measurement condition. A bucket at 240 mm diameter and 260 mm height reads nothing like one at 280 mm and 300 mm, and handle drop decides whether the bag sits on the shoulder or in the hand.

Note the condition column, because it is what stops arguments later. Dimensions measured empty differ from dimensions measured with a 1 kg load by 5-8 mm on leather and by more on webbing. State the condition once and every later measurement is comparable. This is the same principle the handbag sampling timeline depends on: a measurement that cannot be repeated is not a specification.

Section Three: Materials, With the Yield Figure Stated

Materials are priced twice — once by the tannery or mill and once by the cutting table — and the second price depends on yield. A pack that names full-grain cowhide at 1.6-1.8 mm without stating how much of a hide one bag consumes is asking for an estimate. Yield on a clean rectangular panel set typically runs 78-82%; on a curvy or pieced silhouette it drops to 62-68%, and that difference is real money on every hide bought.

• Body. Full-grain or top-grain cowhide, thickness in millimetres, temper, and finish type — aniline, semi-aniline or pigmented.
• Lining. 210D polyester, 190T or a cotton twill; state the gsm for woven linings, commonly 120-140 gsm.
• Interlining. 0.6 mm non-woven for body shaping, 2.0 mm board for the base; foam laminate where a soft structure is wanted.
• Reinforcement. 2 mm split leather or webbing patch behind every strap and handle attachment.
• Source. Named tannery with or approved equivalent, so a substitution does not become a three-week search.

Where a programme claims recycled content, a Global Recycled Standard transaction certificate is the document that backs it; where hide provenance matters, Leather Working Group traceability is the equivalent. Both belong in this section rather than in a marketing file, because both are checked by retail buyers during onboarding rather than at launch.

Section Four: How the Bag Is Put Together

Construction is the difference between a sample that looks right and a bag that lasts. This section names the operations, not the intentions: seam type and allowance, stitch density, thread, needle, edge treatment, and the reinforcement at each stress point. Two sentences cover most of it, provided both contain numbers.

1. Seams. 10 mm allowance on structural seams, 8 mm on lining, closed with a single-needle lockstitch at 7-9 stitches per inch using Tex 40 bonded polyester.
2. Needle. #18 for 1.6-1.8 mm hide, #14 for lining and light trim, so the hole is not larger than the thread.
3. Strap joint. Box stitch 25 × 25 mm plus a rivet through a 2 mm reinforcement patch; this is the joint that fails first in the field.
4. Edges. Either two passes of edge paint at 1.2 mm width, or turned and topstitched at 3 mm — state which, because the two price differently.
5. Base. 2.0 mm board plus a reinforcement panel, with 5 mm studs where the bag is set down loaded.
6. Drawcord. Channel bound at 12 mm, cord 4 mm diameter, toggle positioned 40 mm from the centre line.

Reinforcement deserves emphasis because it is the line most often deleted to save a few cents. A strap attached with a single-pass seam fails a 15 kg static pull; the same strap box-stitched through a reinforcement patch holds. In the field that difference shows up as a return in month three rather than as a defect on day one, which is why it belongs in the pack rather than in a conversation.

Section Five: Hardware and Trim as a Schedule

Hardware is the longest lead-time line in most packs, and a photograph is not a specification. Write a schedule with a row per component: type, size, base metal, plating and thickness in microns, finish colour, mechanical requirement and test hours. A #5 coil zip on 8 mm tape is not interchangeable with a #5 metal chain, and a light gold at 0.3 microns is not the same purchase as one at 0.6.

Two tests close this section and both are cheap to require and expensive to add later. Neutral salt spray to ASTM B117, 24 hours to first corrosion, is the standard corrosion check for plated parts, and it is the one that stops a second season arriving three shades different. Nickel release to EN 1811 covers anything in prolonged skin contact where the destination is the EU, and the requirement should be written before plating rather than after.

Section Six: Colour and Finish References

One page, one rule: every colour is a Pantone TCX reference and every contrast is its own reference. Body, thread, edge paint, lining, webbing, zip tape and printed marks each get a code. The acceptance criterion is a Delta E of 2.0 or better against the approved physical swatch, measured under D65 with the light source named, because a match judged under store lighting is not a match.

• Body colour. Pantone TCX code plus the approved physical swatch as the master reference.
• Contrast. Thread, edge paint and lining codes stated explicitly; unstated contrast is a first-round question.
• Fastness. Rubbing to ISO 105-X12 at grade 4 or better, light to ISO 105-B02, perspiration on handles.
• Leather chemistry. Chromium VI restricted under REACH Annex XVII and tested to ISO 17075.
• Lot control. A retained dye-lot card per colourway so the repeat order starts from a standard.

The retained lot card is the quiet asset in this section. Most colour drift between a first order and a second is not error; it is the absence of a physical reference to match against. A card kept by the brand and one kept by the programme removes the argument entirely, and it is the reason a repeat can skip part of the swatch cycle.

Section Seven: Branding, Marking and Labelling

Branding is a tooling decision and a geometry decision, and the order matters because the die is cut after the position is agreed. Method first — emboss, deboss, foil, woven label, embroidery or metal plate — then position in millimetres from a stated datum edge on both axes with a ±1 mm tolerance, then ownership. Centred on the front panel is not measurable; 85 mm from the datum edge and 60 mm up is.

• Emboss or deboss. Depth 0.4-0.6 mm, die dimensions, and a written clause that the die you paid for is yours, stored, and never run for another brand.
• Foil. Foil code plus temperature and dwell; a foil applied at the wrong temperature lifts after three to four weeks of handling.
• Woven label. 20 × 45 mm, fold line, stitch or heat-seal, ends tucked or not.
• Care and composition label. Wording, language set for the destination market, and fibre or material composition.
• Country-of-origin marking. Required wording for the destination; get it right before printing, not after.

Country-of-origin and care wording belong here rather than in a packing email, because both are printed rather than applied, and printed items have lead times. This is also the section that decides how much of the prototype cost sits in tooling, since a die, a plate and a woven-label setup are three separate one-off charges with three separate owners.

Section Eight: Packing, Cartons and Marketplace Prep

Packing is specified last and discovered latest, which is exactly why it hurts. State the polybag gauge and venting, dust bag material and drawcord, hangtag stock, barcode symbology and placement, carton ply and dimensions, pieces per carton, gross weight and the carton marks. Marketplace prep rules are their own set of requirements and a carton that misses them is reworked at the destination, which is the most expensive place to rework anything.

• Polybag. 0.04 mm LDPE, vented, warning text in the destination language.
• Dust bag. 210D or 80 gsm non-woven with a drawcord, printed one colour.
• Hangtag. 350 gsm card at 50 × 90 mm, with EAN-13 or UPC-A as the market requires.
• Carton. 5-ply export carton, stated dimensions, pieces per carton and gross weight.
• Marks. Shipping mark, side mark, carton numbering and any marketplace prep code.

Section Nine: Compliance and the Evidence Behind It

Compliance is a set of documents rather than a statement, and naming them in the pack means they are collected while the order is running rather than demanded when it is packed. The list is short and depends on destination: REACH Annex XVII for the EU, Proposition 65 for California, CPSIA where an item is marketed to children, and social-compliance audit references where a retail buyer requires them.

The inspection reference belongs here too. ISO 2859-1 defines how many units are drawn from a lot of a given size and how many defects of each class trigger a pass, a fail or a re-sort; naming AQL 2.5 turns quality into a threshold with an accept and a reject number. Audit references for BSCI and Sedex, and an ISO 9001 quality-system reference, can be supplied for our validated partner factory Quanzhou Yingming Bags.

Section Ten: Version History and Who Signed It

The last section is one table and it prevents the most expensive administrative failure in the whole programme. Every revision gets a row: date, version letter, what changed, who asked, and whether the change affects cost or calendar. Bulk runs have been built from drawing revision B when the brand approved revision C, and no amount of goodwill recovers 500 units.

Sign-off works the same way. One named owner approves each revision in writing, and the approval is dated. Where the change is material — geometry, finish, hardware — the revision carries a cost and a calendar note before it is accepted, so nobody discovers the consequence after cutting has begun. This is how the pattern room keeps a revision under control, and why a revised pattern is cheaper than a revised bulk run.

A Checklist You Can Run in Twenty Minutes

Before sending, run the pack through ten yes-or-no questions. Three or more no answers means the first reply will be a list of questions rather than a quotation, and the calendar cost is two to three working days per unanswered item.

1. Does every page carry the style code and version letter?
2. Do body width, gusset and handle drop each have a number, a tolerance and a measurement condition?
3. Does the material list state thickness, lining specification and yield or consumption?
4. Are stitch density, seam allowance and strap reinforcement stated with numbers?
5. Is every hardware component listed with size, base metal, plating microns and a test reference?
6. Is every colour a Pantone TCX code, including thread, lining and edge paint?
7. Is the branding position measured from a datum edge on both axes, and is die ownership written down?
8. Are packing, barcode, carton and marketplace prep rules stated?
9. Are the destination compliance documents named, and is AQL 2.5 written in?
10. Is there a revision table with dates, and one named person who signs?

What to Send When You Do Not Have a Pack

Most first enquiries do not have one, and that is normal. The minimum usable substitute is three reference photographs plus one page containing overall dimensions, handle drop, pocket layout, material direction, branding method and position, quantity per colourway, destination and target retail price. That is enough to hold the 6-10 working days of sampling window; a folder of photographs is not.

Where the silhouette is new rather than proven, expect a discussion about how many sample rounds a custom handbag really needs, because novel geometry is where revisions live. Where it is proven, a reference sample and a change list is faster than any drawing. Either way, a pack built to these ten sections is the artefact that makes the second order cheaper: the specification is stored, the tooling is retained, and the dye-lot card exists.

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