How to Write a Bag Spec Sheet for a Fast, Accurate Quote

Why the spec sheet is the fastest lever on quotation speed

A quotation is a calculation, and a calculation needs inputs. Every field left blank in a spec sheet becomes a question, and every question travels from the production team to you and back before the next step can start. Three rounds of clarification is two to three weeks on a programme that is already running 12-16 weeks from specification lock to backer doorstep. The creator who sends eight complete sections receives a unit cost, a sampling estimate and a production window in a single exchange; the creator who sends a sketch and a quantity receives a guess.

There is a second benefit that matters more than speed. A written specification is the reference against which the sample is built, the pre-production sample is approved and the finished run is inspected at AQL 2.5 to ISO 2859-1. In other words, the same document that accelerates the quotation also protects you at the two moments when money changes hands: the 30% deposit and the 70% balance. For the wider programme context, the bag manufacturing page shows where the spec sheet sits.

Minimum order quantity

500 pcs per style / colourway

Sampling

6-10 working days (12-15 for complex builds)

Bulk production

35-50 days after deposit + approved pre-production sample

Inspection

AQL 2.5 to ISO 2859-1

Trade term

FOB Xiamen

Payment

T/T 30/70

Production floor

4,950 m² SGS-verified, 137 staff, 7 lines, 149 machines

Monthly capacity

200,000 pcs per month

Programme contact

service@junyuanbags.com

What a quotation needs and what it cannot price

It helps to understand what happens on the other side of your email. A programme coordinator reads a spec sheet and converts it into four things: a material purchase list, a component purchase list, an operations estimate for cutting and sewing, and a packing and freight estimate. Each of those four has a price and a lead time attached. What cannot be priced is intent: the sense that a bag should feel premium, or that it should be durable, because neither premium nor durable is a purchasable item.

The practical rule is that any sentence in your spec sheet containing a comparative or qualitative word — sturdy, premium, high quality, heavy duty — should be replaced with a number, a reference or a named standard. This is not bureaucracy. It is the difference between a quotation that holds and a quotation that is revised once someone has to buy real materials against it.

Section 1: product identity and intended use

Start with the basics, because they set the defaults for everything downstream. Category tells the production team which construction patterns to reference; intended use tells them what load the bag has to survive; and the target user tells them what tolerances matter. A laptop backpack destined for daily commuting is specified differently from a cosmetic bag that will sit in a bathroom, even if both are made from the same fabric, and stating the difference at the top saves corrections later.

• Category: backpack, tote, duffle, travel bag, gym bag, laptop bag, cosmetic bag or a hybrid, named plainly.
• Intended use: daily commute, travel, gym, field work, retail presentation or event gifting.
• Target user and load: what the bag carries, at what weight, for how many cycles a day.
• Hero feature: the single thing the campaign page will lead with, so it is protected in the build.
• Reference product: a link or photograph of something close to your intent, used for direction only.
• Style count and colourway count, since the 500 pcs minimum applies per style and per colourway.

Section 2: dimensions, tolerances and capacity claims

Dimensions are the most frequently incomplete section, and incompleteness here is expensive because every other measurement hangs off it. Give external dimensions in centimetres, internal dimensions where they matter, and a tolerance for each. The tolerance is the part creators omit: without it, a bag that measures 2 cm short is arguably conforming, and you will have no basis for a rejection at inspection. Where a capacity claim is made, state the volume and the method used to measure it.

Two further notes. First, if the bag must fit a specific device, name the device family and measure the sleeve to fit it with clearance, because a sleeve cut to exactly the device dimensions will not accept a case. Second, if the bag has to fit an airline personal-item sizer or a standard carry-on gauge, state that gauge in the spec; it is a hard constraint that changes panel dimensions and is much cheaper to design in than to correct.

Section 3: materials by layer

Write materials as a layer list rather than as a single line. A bag is a shell fabric, often a lining, sometimes an interlining or foam, plus webbing, binding and thread. Each layer is a separate purchase with its own price and its own availability, and naming them separately is what makes a quotation accurate. Where you have a swatch or a supplier code, include it; where you do not, describe the fabric by denier, weave and coating and ask for a recommended equivalent.

Availability is the hidden cost driver in this section. Stock fabrics in stock colourways keep sampling inside 6-10 working days; a custom-dyed fabric adds 15-25 working days before cutting begins. If your brand colour is non-negotiable, decide that at RFQ stage and accept the days, rather than discovering the requirement after the sampling slot has been booked. The material customisation page sets out stock versus custom options and what each costs in calendar.

Section 4: hardware and trim table

Hardware should be a numbered table, one row per component, because it is a purchasing document. The columns that matter are reference, type, size, finish, quantity per bag, and whether the item is stock or custom. The last column is the one that carries calendar: stock items are issued from inventory, custom items need tooling at 15-20 working days before the first unit can be sewn.

• Use one reference code per component and reuse it in the tech pack, the artwork notes and the QC defect list.
• Mark custom items explicitly and ask for the tooling cost and lead time to be quoted as separate lines.
• State the finish, not only the colour: black nickel, gunmetal, antique brass and matte black are different purchases.
• Add a spare allowance, typically 2%, so a damaged component does not stop the line on day 30.
• Ask for the re-order price of any custom tooling to be held open for a defined period after the first run.

Section 5: construction and reinforcement

This is the section that converts a bag that looks right into a bag that survives. It is also the section most often left to the production team's discretion, which is a mistake: defaults exist, and they are the defaults of the cheapest viable construction rather than the defaults your backers expect. State the stitch density on load-bearing seams, name the reinforcement at every strap and handle attachment, and say how raw edges are finished inside.

1. Panel count and layout: state how many shell panels the design uses, since panel count drives cutting and sewing time.
2. Seam type and density: for example 8-10 stitches per inch on all load-bearing seams, with the seam type named.
3. Reinforcement: bar-tack or box stitch at every strap, handle and buckle attachment, with the stitch length stated.
4. Edge finishing: bound, overlocked or turned, stated per location rather than globally.
5. Structure: name any interlining, foam or frame sheet and where it sits.
6. Load testing: state any cycle or pull test you expect, so the construction can be built to meet it.
7. Weight-bearing points: list them explicitly, because these are what fail first in the field.

Section 6: decoration coordinates and artwork

Decoration is specified twice: once as artwork files and once as placement coordinates in the spec. The files say what to print; the coordinates say where. Coordinates must be measured from a named seam or edge in millimetres, with a tolerance, because centred or on the front panel cannot be measured and therefore cannot be inspected. State the method per placement too — a logo can be embroidered on one panel and screen printed on another.

Attach the artwork files with a version number and state which version is current. Artwork and placement are the two areas where a mismatch between documents produces a run decorated to the wrong revision, which is discovered at inspection and costs 10-20 days to rework. Our print and embroidery page gives the file formats and minimum sizes for each method.

Section 7: labelling, compliance and packing

Labelling and packing look like afterthoughts and are anything but. Compliance text has to be set into label artwork before bulk starts, because adding it afterwards means a second decoration pass on finished goods. Packing specification determines carton dimensions, which determine volumetric weight, which determines freight cost — so a packaging decision made late can change the landed cost in your budget after the campaign has closed.

• Compliance text: fibre content, country of origin, care symbols, and market-specific items such as CPSIA tracking labels or EU GPSR identification.
• Label types and placement: woven, printed satin or heat transfer, each with artwork attached and a position named.
• Retail packaging: state whether single polybag, hang tag, insert card, tissue or a barcode sticker is required.
• Carton specification: pieces per carton, carton dimensions, board grade and marking requirements.
• Packing method: folded flat, stuffed, or packed with inserts, since this changes volume and creasing risk.
• Destination market: name the country or region so compliance and freight can be quoted correctly.

Section 8: commercial terms, quantity and delivery

Finish with the commercial frame, because it determines which price you are comparing when you receive several quotations. State the quantity per style and per colourway, the trade term, the payment structure you expect, the inspection standard, and the delivery month you intend to publish. Without these, two quotations can differ by more than the difference between the products, simply because one includes freight and the other does not.

Spec sheet mistakes that produce wrong quotations

The errors below are the ones that generate the largest gap between an initial quotation and the final invoice. Notice that none of them involve the design being wrong; they all involve the specification being incomplete, which produces an assumption on the pricing side that later proves false.

There is one further mistake worth naming separately: sending a spec sheet and then verbally amending it in a call. Verbal amendments are the origin of most it was agreed conversations. Put every change into the document, issue a new revision number, and make sure the sample and the pre-production sample are built to the latest revision. Our QA and QC page explains how revision control is verified before cargo is released.

A worked example spec sheet

Below is a condensed worked example for a commuter backpack at 500 pcs in one colourway. It is deliberately ordinary, because ordinary specifications are what most campaign programmes need: the point is completeness rather than cleverness. Every line is either a number, a reference or a named standard, which is what allows it to be priced, sampled and inspected.

The RFQ email that gets an answer inside a week

Put all eight sections in one document and send it with the artwork files, the quantity and the delivery month. Ask for three specific things back: a unit cost at your quantity, a sampling estimate with the number of days and any custom tooling flagged, and a production window with start and completion dates. Asking for those three explicitly is what turns an email into a plan.

• Attach the tech pack as a PDF with a revision number and a date in the file name.
• Attach artwork as vector masters plus a PDF proof, with the version number stated in the email body.
• List the quantity per style and colourway separately, and flag any stretch-goal variant you may add.
• State the destination market and the compliance standards you need, named one by one.
• Confirm the trade term and payment terms you expect, or ask for alternatives to be quoted side by side.
• Ask for the volumetric calculation so landed cost can be modelled before the campaign closes.
• Request that any assumption made on your behalf is listed explicitly in the quotation.
• Ask for the re-order price on the same tooling and artwork to be held open for a stated period.

If you would like a second pair of eyes on the document before you send it, request a quotation and attach the draft; our production team will flag any line that is still ambiguous. Campaigns we support typically close the quotation loop in under a week when the spec sheet is complete, and take three to four weeks when it is not. The low minimum production page explains how the 500 pcs minimum shapes that first order.

• Bag manufacturing for campaign creators
• Material customisation for Kickstarter bags
• Print and embroidery for custom bags
• Crowdfunding bag sample prototyping
• Kickstarter campaign bag QA and QC
• Low minimum bag production for creators
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