Custom Tote Bags with Your Logo: Recycled, Organic and USA-Made

Recycled, organic, made in the USA: which of those words can your group honestly print on a sign next to its custom tote bags?

Just the ones the bag's own product page backs up. Not the name, not the color, the fabric line. So we read the fabric line on every tote on this page, more than 90 bags, and sorted them by what it actually says. Choose the claim, then the bag. Your logo gets printed last, on any of them, starting from a single tote.

Custom Tote Bags Sorted by What the Fabric Line Says

• Recycled content: 17 totes. Six are 100% recycled cotton, among them the econscious EC8207 (9 oz canvas that shuts with a snap) and the Liberty Bags 9861. Eight more are a 75/25 mix of recycled cotton with recycled polyester: the five Liberty styles whose number ends in R, like the 8505R, plus three from OAD. Then two Q-Tees totes, the S900 and the S800, whose page says its cloth comes from old jeans. And the Nomadix Daytripper, in recycled nylon.
• Half recycled: five. The Liberty Bags 8811, 8802, 8801, 7006 and 7002 are 600D polyester (600 denier, a thick, tight weave) made with 50% recycled material.
• Organic cotton: nine, all econscious. Seven are 100% organic cotton, such as the EC8040 in 9 oz canvas with woven web handles. The EC8060 and EC8015 are 55/45 hemp and organic cotton.
• Made in the USA: three. Both Bayside totes, including the BA750, and the vineyard vines D000240.
• The rest: mostly plain cotton canvas, two cotton denim totes, and the remainder in polyester, nylon or polypropylene.

The catch sits in that second group. Made with recycled material is not the same as recycled. Half, not all. If your event sign says "recycled bags," we'd point people to the first group and leave the 600D ones for groups that don't need to say it.

Two more words get mixed up. The Liberty Bags A134 is polypropylene that its page calls recyclable, which means it can be recycled later, not that it was made from recycled stuff. And the Artisan Collection RP998 names five certifications, but for the facility that made it; the bag's own fabric line just reads 8 oz 70/30 cotton/polyester twill. Three of those names, GOTS, OCS and GRS, are explained on our econscious brand page.

Most of the range comes from Liberty Bags and Q-Tees, then OAD, econscious and BAGedge. Where a bag lists a weight, it runs from 4.7 oz to 16 oz. The oz figure tells you how heavy each square yard of fabric is. Higher means heavier. The light end is three econscious bags; the heavy end is the Liberty Bags 8871, 8872 and 8873. More than 30 totes name a gusset, an extra panel that gives the bag depth at the bottom or sides.

Size and handles come next. Bodies run from the 8" x 8" OAD OAD115 to 22 1/2 inches wide on the Liberty Bags 7006, and the vineyard vines D000240 lists 24.5 inches long. Handles go from 13 inches (the OAD115 and the Q-Tees S900) to 32 inches on the Liberty Bags 8866 and 8866R, and the econscious EC8050 has 43-inch straps instead. Where a page gives the drop, meaning the space between the top of the handle and the bag opening, it runs from 6 inches on the S900 to 16 on the 8866. One page, the Comfort Colors CCET0, calls its 10-inch drop a shoulder drop, so that's the figure to hold the other drops up against.

People ask if Natural is the "eco" color. Sort of. On 14 Q-Tees totes, like the Q800, the product page says the Natural cloth isn't dyed, and the small flecks in it are bits of cotton fiber and seed. Natural also tends to be the cheaper color. On 42 totes here the color changes the price, and a Natural shade (Natural, Recycled Natural or Natural/Natural) is the lower-priced pick on 39 of them. The econscious EC8050, the Augusta Sportswear Jumbo Tote and the BAGedge Canvas Book Tote go the other way.

Can You Get a Monogrammed Tote Bag?

Yes, printed. All the order forms here match. We checked all 90-plus:

• Front Center: a logo or text in three sizes, up to 5 inches, 6 to 8, or 9 to 10.
• Back Center: up to 5 inches or 6 to 8. No 9 to 10 band on the back.
• Upload files, for the art.
• Instructions, for anything the boxes don't cover.

Initials count as text, so a monogrammed tote bag goes through the same Front Center box as a logo. The print is done by screen printing, DTF or a heat transfer (vinyl letters or shapes, heat pressed onto the bag), picked to suit your art, the canvas and the count. Screen printing lays down each ink color through its own fine screen. DTF puts the design on a film first, and heat presses it onto the bag; it copes well with full color.

One thing to read before you send white art. The Liberty Bags 8870 and 8507 are pigment-dyed (tinted with pigment, not regular dye), and their pages say the shade can vary from bag to bag, and the 8507's page asks for extra care with white ink on that canvas. Mention it in Instructions, or call us about it.

Personalized tote bags

A name prints as text, so it uses the same Front Center or Back Center box as a logo. When the name changes from bag to bag, type the list into Instructions alongside the uploaded art, and ask us how it gets quoted. Heat transfer vinyl is a common pick for names. For more background on bags in general, see our main custom bags page.

And embroidered tote bags?

Not one of these order forms has a thread option. If it has to be stitched, ask us first and name the tote. We'll say whether thread or a sewn-on embroidered patch suits that bag.

Branded Tote Bags for a Shop Shelf

Retail tip: when the tote will be sold with your price tag on it, read the label line on its product page before you read anything else. Thirteen econscious totes and the Nomadix have a tear-away label, one you pull out after the bag arrives, and 33 totes list a non-branded label or tag. But five of those econscious bags (EC8060, EC8052, EC8040, EC8015 and EC8003) also have a woven label on the outside. The two Comfort Colors totes and the vineyard vines list a signature or logo label at the front webbing, the side seam or the front pocket. Fine for a gift. On a museum-shop or merch shelf, where your name should stand alone, it's worth knowing first.

Your total is the tote plus the print: which bag, its color on the 42 where color counts, how many boxes you fill, the size band in each (on every form here, the larger band is the pricier one) and how many totes. For a figure, use our quote form. Before your art goes up, skim the Artwork Acceptance Policy and, on the production side, the Spoilage Policy.

Handing out something lighter than a tote? Look at drawstring bags. Shirts for the people at the table are in custom apparel.

Send the logo through the quote form with the one claim your group needs to make, written in your message. If a tote's product page doesn't say recycled, your sign shouldn't either.