Within this article are slangs or industrial terminologies found that are understood, used and discussed by non-woven bag suppliers and manufacturers alike. Find out more to understand the attributes of what makes a goody bag.

Much to the oblige of how corporates are in the demand of getting recycle bags, and this holds true to the most stereotypical intent found: entering a period of greener conscience and have a carry ready for souvenirs to be bagged during an event, there is actually more than it meets the eye. And by that thought in notion, the very things that makes up for a non-woven bag's property is often forgotten, ultimately resulting in an altogether lack of acknowledging quality development found for better choosing.

With UDesignConcept, we're delighted to empower our clients and public consumers in understanding more of thermoplastic polymer polypropylene for purpose-driven use, and how to maximise your reusability.

Non-woven bags have many names. That's right, most commonly referred to as recycle bag or even promotional bag in Malaysia, there actually exists unconventional thermoplastic synonyms that are also often used like 'eco-friendly bag', 'bio-degradable bag', 'goody bag' (or even spelled as 'goodie bag'), 'polypropylene bag', as well as 'tote bags'!

This leads us to another referential point - in the form of a general polymer question of how such naming was derived. And through further research on green bag findings, we were positioned to believe that somehow, one way or the other, such plastic classifications are regionally-specific but also intended for advertising use. In other words, variants of non-woven bag naming have been localised through marketing efforts according to country and continental focus!

Take two non-woven bag naming examples that are referenced and paraphrased from Wikipedia:

In Malaysia, naming thermoplastic polymers is dependent upon the commercial setting at use - whether by promoting for a greener future, which leads to recycle bag, as well as event organisations that leads to coining terms like goody bags, or even promotional bags. Yet despite all of the slangs found in non-woven bags, so long it is understood the differences in the naming shouldn't make much of a difference when buying and using bio-degradable bags.

A direct relationship can be seen, with that said. Being a major rubber exporter, it's no surprise to see our passionate drive, as Malaysians, to reduce, reuse and recycle polymer wastes found throughout our national development. Rising plastic taxes and strict banning entailed upon the by-products of petroleum indirectly contributes to more growth in non-woven bag usage. And these are widely supported by enterprises alike, which drew many call-to-actions to sprout the aforementioned non-woven bag names.

On the flip side of things, within the scientific realm - and of those non-woven bag manufacturers and suppliers do they know of 'polypropylene' or what is abbreviated as 'PP'. This is a niche variant of a technical terminology seen to describe non-woven bag itself, but most often it is not widely spoken, and neither is it well-known in the public sector. Still, it's worth the effort in getting to know what polypropylene textile is.

Polypropylene fabric are thermoplastic polymers that was invented by John Paul Hogan and Robert Banks nearly seven decades ago. This became a direct substitute towards common plastic shopping bags because of its recyclability, while mainly replacing cotton bags due to its durable attribute that any non-woven polypropylene (NWPP) has. On the surface of our era, PP fabric is the second most commonly used textile in the world with an estimated marketcap of $192.33 billion by 2023.

Polypropylene textile itself is widely used across various applications; that in light of covid-19, masks now are made with additional filtration layering by using the said thermoplastic polymer. But consider its range of use, the fabric density of non-woven polypropylene differs.

Understanding Fabric Density In Non-Woven Bags

Fabric density is used to described how heavy or dense the textile of bio-degradable bag is. In East Malaysia, this is usually convoyed under the measurement of ‘GSM’, an abbreviation of 'Grams Per Square Meter'. In other case, countries outside Southeast Asia may come to define calculations in the form of g cm3, or what is known as ‘grams per centimetre cube’.

Depending on the thermoplastic usage - like hygiene masks amid coronavirus, the range of density at use may go from light, to even denser GSM fabric density for certain utility. Non-woven bags generally use a 'slightly above' thin textile (which is still categorised as lightweight, or paper thin) that yields for robust strength in light of repetitive everyday use.

The rule of thumb is, the lower GSM it has, the thinner PP bags are. And the higher grams per square meter it’s made of, the thicker (and more durable) tote bags become. Thicker reusable grocery bags is actually harder to be bend - which is a downside to users of everyday carry (EDC) that would like it to be folded before use! But fret not, Malaysian manufacturers of recycle bags tend to follow an industrial standard between the balance of GSM thickness scale and for general use. This is commonly inclined, as mentioned, towards the category of thinness.

Fabric density is defined and are categorised into three different formats, which is lightweight, middleweight, and also heavyweight as summarised below:

Under some cases, fabric density and GSM terminology DOES NOT have a massive impact of how printing should be done. Printing process is principally controlled by machinery use, and this is necessary to prevent unstable hands from contaminating print. This is the way mainly applied in today's manufacturing unless the desire of hiring a professional designer and artist was taken. Still, upon meeting any non-woven bag supplier, you are taken much more professionally and seriously with the usage of specific GSM terminology, than the conduct of asking how thin or thick your goody bag should be.

We mentioned only in some cases, because in what otherwise would have been a bulky and massive product that can't fit the usual stamping steps of custom bag printing, these are instances where it requires specialised automation and out of the usual methods to imprint designs. 

It is also important to note that the usage of GSM itself does not work as a universal terminology to define how durable a textile is! The sturdiness of a product is ALWAYS directly dependent on the material use. And while we cannot speak of countries beyond the Asian continent, local non-woven bag manufacturers and suppliers generally use the benchmark of 90GSM textile density.

Promotional Bag Sizing Guide With B4, A4 & A3

One of the biggest confusion and most misunderstood definition often comes in promotional bags and their sizing guide. An administrator looking for bulk buys to pave the way of eco-friendly bag advertising most often skim through the understanding of B4, A4 & even A3, and instead looks for the dimensions found for a clearer representation. This takes a little bit of hassle of searching and clicking through NWPP bags to wonder if it's the desired dimensions required, and altogether diminishes the meaning of the guided reference. What exactly is the representations of B4, A4 and A3 in promotional bags?

Again, like our profound objective that brought this article to limelight, UDesignConcept is here to enlighten the understanding of bagging terminologies found. In this case, we have summarised the sizes in the form of a tabulated format below:

It's also important to note that the average sizing reference as organised here is locally induced and can vary depending on countries, continents and also different goodie bag manufacturers. We can't say the same for Oceania, European, as well as our American counterparts - just like how clothing and its sizes are entirely dependent on the scale at use, but the key is to know the sizing differences of B5, A4 as well as A3, which is directly related to small, medium and also large.



Types Of Non-Woven Bags

Promotional bags come in many forms, and this is usually engineered by manufacturers for different preferences and designsin order to benefit all. Once the type of a non-woven tote bag becomes chosen, the option of custom printing ensues. Choosing the available types is always specific according to a client's need; whether in the rendezvous point of corporate events, or casual bagging needs that are offered after the point of sale, corporate branding entails through custom bag printing that can take mobile advertising far.