What a factory needs before it can quote
Most quoting delay is not the factory being slow. It is a specification arriving with the load-bearing numbers missing, then two rounds of email to recover them. Here is the whole list, and what each line actually changes about the price.
The four that unlock a useful first answer
You do not need the full list to start. These four are enough for a real number rather than a polite range:
- What goes in the bag, and what it weighs filled. Fill weight and product density drive fabric weight and bag dimensions together.
- How many, and whether it repeats. A repeating programme justifies tooling a single run cannot absorb.
- Where it ships. Destination sets the Incoterm, the freight and sometimes the regulatory requirements.
- Whether it prints, and in how many colours. Colour count drives print tooling far more than quantity does, and decides which press the job can run on.
The full checklist
| Line | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Flat width × length, and gusset if any | Fabric area per bag — the base of the price. |
| Fabric weight (g/m²) and tolerance | Grams of PP per bag. See the gsm guide. |
| Filler content, tensile and tear | Whether the weight you specified is actually strength. |
| Woven, laminated or coated surface | Two different machines. See which you need. |
| Print: process, colours, artwork status | Tooling cost and which press runs it. |
| Top and bottom closure | Open mouth, valve, heat-sealed or sewn — different lines. |
| Liner, if the contents need one | An added operation and an added material. |
| UV exposure and outdoor storage time | Stabiliser package, and whether the fabric survives its shelf life. |
| Bale or pallet packing, and container type | How much fits in a container, which moves the landed cost. |
| Any standard or certification the bag must meet | Food contact, UN marking and similar change what may be quoted at all. |
If you do not have all of it
Send what you have. Turning a partial requirement into a manufacturable specification is the work, and it is the part worth asking a supplier to do. If you have a bag you already buy, send it — or photograph it and give the filled weight and dimensions. Weighing a sample and working the fabric weight back out of it is more reliable than judging fabric by eye, and it is the same check a factory runs on its own pre-production samples.
What we cannot make, and the processes that block it, are published on what we do not do rather than discovered during quoting.