The Cloth Bag Co. uses the silkscreen method for printing on cloth bags. This modern version of an ancient printing process starts with a black image on transparent film and a polyester screen which is stretched over a frame. The screen is coated with a photo sensitive gel on which the image is laid. After being exposed to a high intensity light, the screen is washed out with water leaving the image "burned" into the screen. This screen is now placed on a printing press and filled with ink. A blank bag is placed under the screen and then a special squeegee forces ink thru the screen and onto the bag. The bag is now placed on a conveyer belt which carries it thru a dryer where the bag is heated to 320 F degrees for a minimum of 60 seconds. After cooling down, the bags are inspected, counted, packed and shipped.

How large of an area can be printed on a bag?
The print area is the same as a standard sheet of paper, 8.5" x 11".

How long does custom printing take?
Usually less than 10 days. We take your art, do touch-ups if necessary, have a screen made and get your bags printed within 10 days. UPS takes 3-5 days to most parts of the country, so you should have your complete order within two weeks from the date we receive your order. In stock bags are shipped within 3 days.

What the Cloth Bag Co. needs
We need a clean sheet of white paper printed with black ink. We call this camera ready, even though we will still transfer the image to clear film. Whatever is on that paper will transfer, flaws, spots and all. That's why it is important to send a clean, crisp copy, usually a good photocopy will work. For best results, do not fold you artwork, but mail it in a large manila envelope. You may also email us the art. Please save as a PDF file and attach it to an email. Use the email link at the bottom of this page.

What if I don't have camera ready art?
We can usually take a small image, preferably larger than a business card, enlarge it and then add appropriate lettering. We do not charge extra for this.

Can artwork and lettering be combined?
Sure, it makes no difference what your art looks like. It can be all text or one large drawing. Often a customer will need lettering to surround their art, we call this Typesetting. We can add lettering over, under or around your logo at no extra charge. Just roughly sketch on a sheet of paper where you want your logo, the appx size, and how you want lettering added. Be sure to use Caps where desired. We can add recycling symbols like the ones found on our preprinted bags.

We'll repeat
Your logo may look great on paper, but cloth bags are not as smooth, so those fine lines and dots used for shading won't print well. For best results, your artwork should be designed using bold lettering and heavy lines. Avoid tiny text, it will only splotch when printed. A good photocopy is usually sufficient, appx 8.5" x 11", we suggest you mail it in a large manila envelope without folding it. You may also email us the art. Please save as a PDF file and attach it to an email. We will do minor touch-ups, typesetting and enlargements at no extra charge.

Heat Transfers

A heat transfer is an economical way to get multiple color art or photographs on a bag.  We print your art onto special paper using a high end color ink jet printer.  Then we place the paper on a blank bag and use a heavy clamshell press to push the image onto the bag fabric for 20 seconds at 375 degrees.  The result is a beautiful reproduction of your image in full color.

We can put a heat transfer on cotton or EcoSpun bags.  If the heat transfer will be applied onto a cotton bag, the colors may shift slightly because the bag is not white (like your computer paper) and the transfer paper is transparent.  To avoid this, try printing your art onto beige paper. This is how it will look on beige cotton bags.  If you're not happy with the look, adjust the colors until it looks good on beige paper. Try boosting the brightness and adjusting the hues.  

Once it looks right, send us your art as a PDF file.

There is no screen charge when doing heat transfers.

A heat transfer add $2.25 for each to the cost of a 1 color bag.

There is a minimum of 10 bags, but again, no additional screen charges.

Click here to email us your artwork.