SUBSTRATE/MATERIAL - What will your bag be made of?

Low Density Film (LDPE) - a type of plastic that is ideal for applications requiring superior durability and strength. LDPE is soft, low barrier, good clarity film.

High Density Film (HDPE) - Better grease barrier and moisture barrier than low density film (LDPE). Often seen in natural (frosty color) and white. Stiffer and harder than LDPE film. Tensile and bursting strengths are much better than LDPE ones, but impact and tear strengths are lower.

Frosted High Density Film (Frosted HDPE)  - Not fully clear, nor white, but of a frosty quality. 

DURABILITY MATTERS

Durability requirements are dependent on the bag’s intended use. Take a moment to reflect on the type of items that will be going into the bag to help you form an idea of how durable it must be. The common unit of measure for our plastic is:

Mil (thousands of an inch; 1 Mil = 1/1000 inch) - a metric unit of density used to measure the thickness of plastic films.

Here are some common everyday bags and their associated Mil thicknesses:

    A grocery store bag is 0.65 mil
    A dry cleaning bag is 0.75 mil
    A bread bag is 1.5 mils thick
    A freezer bags is generally 1.75 mils
    A retail shopping bag is usually 2.5 mils

Note that the clarity of a bag is affected by the thickness. A 4 mil bag would not be as clear as a 1 mil bag. 

COLOR IMPACTS    “Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” - Wassily Kandinsky

Plastic films can be color tinted prior to the imprinting process. However, in most cases, the bag color is achieved as part of the imprinting process rather than prior. The best course of action is typically determined upon review of your artwork.

Color Options - Most custom plastic bags will use a White, Black or Clear film. However, there are times when other colors are required and we can certainly make that happen for you! Simply tell us what you need and our team will work with our factories to determine if your request matches available stock colors, if color tinting is needed, or if the color/s would be best achieved during the imprinting process. Please do indicate either a PMS match number or specific CMYK match values to ensure correct color matching. Please note that jobs requiring custom color/s may result in a larger MOQ and longer leadtimes.