MOQ planning

How to spec a cosmetic bag for a five-piece skincare set

25 Oct 2026

Answer first: size the bag from the five bottles, not from a bag you have seen before. Take the tallest bottle with its cap closed and the widest bottle at its widest point, and those two numbers set the inner height and the inner width. Everything else — structure, logo, lining — follows from them.

Specify inner dimensions and put them in writing. Quotes are often made on an outer size, and an outer bag 20 mm taller than the inner spec is normal once the wall build-up is counted.

Where the 5 to 8 mm goes

Wall build-up and the zip opening eat 5–8 mm of the space you calculated. A single PU wall over a light lining sits at the thin end; a padded, double-wall or board-backed panel with a taped zip sits at the thick end. On height the zip matters more than the wall: the bottles have to pass through the clear opening, so a bag can measure correctly on the outside and still not load standing up.

The fix is arithmetic, not opinion. Add the wall build-up to the bottle numbers, then check the clear opening against the tallest bottle’s cap diameter before the pattern is cut.

Flat pack or built up

A flat bag is two panels and a gusset, sewn and shipped flat. It is light, it packs tightly, and it only stands when the base gusset is deep enough and the front panel is stiffened. A built-up bag — PU laminated over EVA or board — holds its shape out of the carton, photographs better on a shelf and resists a fold mark, but it uses more material and puts air in the carton.

For a set that will stand on a retail shelf, build it up. For a set that travels inside a gift box or a kit mailer, flat is enough and the carton saving is real.

How the divisions are built

There are four common ways to divide the inside, and each one changes the sample:

• Stitched fabric gussets between the panels: lowest unit cost, pockets flex as the bag moves, tolerances run to a few millimetres.
• A die-cut or moulded insert tray dropped in: bottle positions are exact, but it is a second tooling item and it hides the PU inside.
• Elastic loops on a backing panel: the quickest division for small bottles, and it only works when bottle diameters are consistent.
• A removable zip pouch: one more component and one more zip, and the buyer can lift the actives out and keep using the bag.

Send bottle drawings with diameters rather than a flat-lay photograph. Dividers are cut to the widest point of the bottle at the shoulder, and a photograph hides exactly that.

Lead time and minimums

MOQ is 3,000 pcs per order; with material in stock that can be split to 1,000 pcs per colour. Sampling takes about 7 working days and bulk runs about 25 days from sign-off. Payment is 30% deposit with the 70% balance before shipment. Terms are EXW by default, and FOB, CIF or DDP can be quoted per project. A quote on an existing style comes back in about an hour; a complex custom build in about 6 hours.

Send the bottle height, the logo size and the date you need the bags in hand, and we will tell you which structure and which logo method survive all three. Send the brief.