Banners into bags: how many are made from 100 square metres of banner fabric?
Emily Wuschko · Product Development und Supply Chain Management · 7 min ·
The most common question before a project is: how many bags will our banners produce, and is the material enough? Because turning banners into bags depends heavily on the target product, here is a worked overview. The basis is 100 square metres of banner fabric. That corresponds to roughly seventeen hoarding banners in standard size, or one larger exhibition back wall with accessories.
All figures apply to medium-weight PVC frontlit. With thinner material the yield is higher, with very heavy material somewhat lower. Which banner material suits which product is set out in Mesh, blockout or PVC.
Banners into bags: how many are made from one square metre
A backpack, messenger bag and duffle bag each require roughly one square metre of continuous area, a tote bag about half. The full graduation is set out in the following sections.
One product per square metre: around 100 units
A backpack, messenger bag and duffle bag each require roughly one square metre of continuous area.
This immediately reveals an important point: 100 square metres is not enough for a series of backpacks, because our minimum order starts at 250 units per product. That requires around 250 square metres.
Two to three products per square metre: 200 to 300 units
| Product | Units |
|---|---|
| Tote bag | around 200 |
| Drawstring bag | around 200 |
| Laptop sleeve | 200 to 300 |
| Seat cushion | 200 to 300 |
| Moonbag | around 300 |
Four to six products per square metre: 400 to 800 units
| Product | Units |
|---|---|
| Toiletry bag | 400 to 800 |
| Clutch | 400 to 800 |
| Belt bag | around 500 |
| Chest pouch | around 600 |
Ten to twenty products per square metre: 1,000 to 2,000 units
| Product | Units |
|---|---|
| Packing bag | 1,000 to 1,500 |
| Glasses case | 1,000 to 1,500 |
| Pencil case | 1,500 to 2,000 |
From 25 products per square metre: 2,500 to 5,000 units
| Product | Units |
|---|---|
| Cardholder | around 2,500 |
| Coaster | around 2,500 |
| Key pouch | around 2,500 |
| Reflective strip | around 2,500 |
| Keyring | 3,000 to 5,000 |
Why the ranges are so wide
For products with a range, the cutting decides. How much can be got out of an area depends on the shape of the material and on how well the cutting patterns can be arranged on it. A continuous banner yields more than the same area in many small remnants.
Then there is material thickness. Thinner fabrics can be laid more tightly, thicker ones need more allowance at the seams. Which materials qualify at all is covered in Which textiles are suitable for upcycling.
How much area your banners have
Most companies do not know their quantity of material in square metres but in rolls, pallets or crates. These reference figures help with the conversion:
| Format | Dimensions | m² |
|---|---|---|
| Hoarding banner in standard size | 3.40 × 1.73 metres | just under 6 per piece |
| Pitchside board | 6 × 0.9 metres | a good 5 |
| Roll-up | 1 × 2 metres | 2 |
| Flagpole flag | 1.5 × 4 metres | 6 |
| Exhibition back wall | 3 × 2.5 metres | 7.5 |
| Euro pallet of folded PVC banners | around 400 kilograms | roughly 800 |
The last figure is the most practical, because banner material usually sits on pallets. With medium-weight frontlit of 450 to 500 grams per square metre, 100 kilograms corresponds to roughly 200 square metres.
The minimum quantity and what it means
Our minimum order starts at 250 units per product. That yields a minimum area for each product:
| Product | Minimum area m² |
|---|---|
| Backpack, messenger bag, duffle bag | around 250 |
| Tote bag, drawstring bag, laptop sleeve, seat cushion | 85 to 125 |
| Moonbag | around 85 |
| Belt bag | around 50 |
| Toiletry bag, clutch, chest pouch | 30 to 60 |
| Pencil case, packing bag, glasses case | 15 to 25 |
| Cardholder, coaster, key pouch | around 10 |
| Keyring | 5 to 8 |
So two hoarding banners are enough for a series of keyrings. A series of backpacks requires a good forty.
What the offcuts account for
The figures above are net values, with offcuts already factored in. How high they are depends on three things.
The shape of the material. A continuous banner of six square metres yields more than six remnants of one square metre each, because the cutting patterns sit together better.
The orientation of the print. If the same part of the artwork is to sit on every product, every piece has to be aligned the same way. Depending on the size of the artwork, that costs up to a third of the yield. Anyone allowing different sections loses nothing.
Eyelets, hems and keder edges. The edges of banners are usually reinforced or punched and are lost. On a hoarding banner that is roughly five per cent of the area.
The offcuts themselves are not lost. Remnants go into keyrings, cardholders and coasters, which is why a graduated range pays off twice over. An overview of possible products is in Reusing old advertising banners: 20 product ideas.
A worked example
Suppose a warehouse contains twelve hoarding banners, four roll-ups and three flagpole flags. That is roughly 72, 8 and 18 square metres, just under 100 in total.
From the twelve hoarding banners, the heavy frontlit, roughly 140 tote bags could be produced. Not enough for 250, but enough for 250 belt bags.
The four roll-ups are too thin for bags but produce roughly 150 pencil cases or 200 cardholders.
The three flagpole flags in lightweight polyester yield about 40 drawstring bags or 600 keyrings.
A sensible approach would therefore be: belt bags from the heavy material as the main product, cardholders from the roll-ups, keyrings from the flags and from the offcuts. Three products, one stock of material, nothing left over.
What this means for planning
Little material, many people: small products. A single hoarding banner produces several hundred keyrings.
A lot of material, a high-quality product: backpacks and messenger bags. That requires considerably more area than most people expect.
If neither works out, it can be combined. Anyone ordering a larger quantity of one product can include a smaller quantity of an additional product and thereby also use the remnants.
Materials and products