Roundup

Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

August 24, 2016

Everyone loves free stuff, and a cotton bag is the kind of free stuff that has a personal, lasting effect on your customers. Bonus points: it doubles as packaging. As a dust bag, jewelry pouch, or product container, custom cotton bags make your product feel a bit more special and tactile. 

The soft canvas material lets these bags skip the recycle bit and make your customer want to hold onto them, like a functional token of your brand. We've seen them used a lot of ways, and it seems these versatile, drawstring pouches can take any product to the next level.

This roundup includes inspiration from some of our favorite companies and designers around the web. Unless specified, these designs are not made by Lumi.


Hard goods

A cotton bag provides super functional inner packaging that keeps your various product pieces together, both during and after transit. These branded bags from Areaware and Maker Monthly get a second life, doubling as product organization and storage even after the unboxing

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Maker Monthly Right: Areaware


Paper Goods

Books, journals, magazines, and stationery feel more personal with a tactile cotton bag acting as a liner inside a mailer or box. It's a great compliment to paper textures.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Troop Outdoor supply Company Right: Fellow Fellow


Swag items

Take a queue from wedding photographer Lauren Scotti and treat your cotton bags as pieces of goodwill from your brand. Lauren uses her branded bags to hold USB drives of her clients' photos when she ships them a package.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Lauren Scotti Right: Eastfield Village by Hovard Design


Jewelry

Cotton bags are handy traveling companions for jewelry. After you've shipped your pieces to your customer, they'll use your cotton bag again to travel with your collection.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Native Collective Right: Conflicted Pixie


Apparel

Bag sizes go up to 12" × 16," so why not ship out your soft goods in soft pouches? The canvas texture makes for signature inner packaging to ship your t-shirts, denim, and any other soft goods.


 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Native Wilds Right: Stranger and Stranger


Odds and ends

Drawstring bags are great at holding little bits and pieces that would otherwise get lost in the hustle and bustle of tissue paper or bubble wrap — think pins and earrings with backings, key chains, and small gift items.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Anthropologie Right: Justine Cristie Gilbuena


Glassware

On their own, cotton bags won't keep your jars and bottles from breaking in transit, but they will keep them from getting scuffed by cardboard and filler. Use the bags to hold glass items before adding bubble wrap and crinkle paper.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Rewined Right: Brooklyn Candle


Bath and Beauty

Soaps, salves and essential oils fit right in with the canvas texture and aesthetic of cotton bags. With the rise of handmade bath and body goods, the sustainability factor of the bags is a major plus.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Boyd's of Texas Right: Marfa Brand Soap


Accessories

Accessories like wallets, scarves and ties can feel a little lackluster in a box or mailer all by themselves. With cotton bags, you can ship them with a bit more brand character.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Left: Ada Blackjack Goods Right: BLVDier


Kits and sets

Whether its game sets or or DIY kits, keep it altogether in a permanent storage solution that's also a selling point for your products. People love getting more bang for their buck.

 Packaging That Lasts: 10 Uses for Cotton Bags

Right: This is Ground via CB2 Left: Semaphor Oblique Dominoes


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