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Fully lined or bound seams: what the construction does to a quote
25 Oct 2026
Answer first: whether a bag is fully lined or has bound seams is not a cosmetic choice — it decides which materials are possible, where the board goes, and how much labour sits in the price. It should be on the drawing before the quote, not discovered in the sample.
Fully lined and turned
The bag is sewn inside out and turned through a gap. The result is a clean interior with no visible raw edge, and it is the construction most retail brands mean when they say “fully lined”.
What it needs: a turning gap, a lining that can survive being turned, and a material that does not crease permanently when it is folded through itself. On 1.2 mm structured PU this is where the construction starts to fight the material — the folds leave marks that stay.
Bound seams
The raw edges are wrapped in binding tape inside. The bag is lighter, cheaper in labour, and it can be built from a stiff material without turning it inside out. The trade-off is visible: the interior shows the binding, and on a premium pouch that is the first thing a buyer looking inside will notice.
It is the right answer on structured PU and on any bag that has to hold a square shape, where turning would soften exactly what the material was chosen for.
Where the board lives
If the bag needs a base or a lid that stays flat, the stiffener goes into a sleeve between the outer and the lining — which means the lining has to be open somewhere: a drop-in lining, or a lining sewn in by hand at the last step.
That single decision, board in a sleeve or board glued to the shell, changes the labour on every unit. Glued boards are faster and they wrinkle when the adhesive cures on a curved panel. Sewn sleeves are slower and they stay flat.
How it shows up in the quote
Two bags with the same drawing, same material, same size, quoted differently, are usually separated by the lining construction and the board, not by the exterior. If a quote looks low, ask which of the three it assumed:
- Fully lined and turned, or bound seams?
- Board in a sewn sleeve, glued, or none?
- Lining screen-printed or plain?
Orders start at 3,000 pcs, or 1,000 pcs per colour or size on stocked materials. Send the drawing with the interior marked — including a picture of the inside of a bag you like — and the quote will match the bag you have in mind.
The bags this note is about
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Where to go from this note
Written from the enquiry desk: the questions that come back most often, answered once.