Many people would argue the case, in bags the argument is interesting. For an exhibition you would need to consider that most people pick up objects around the exhibition and so look for the biggest bag to put all else into. If yours is the biggest then your name will be seen more. Clearly it is better to fit a bag to its purpose, but this might be determined by quantities and availability in times etc. There are quite often standard sizes that most manufacturers work to, and if you can fit into this size then your bag can be made much quicker and cheaper due to standing dies and regular production. In essence the bag would be a one or two piece bag, depending on the machine printing or makeup. If the bag is two piece, then watch out for different images on each side of bag as this will double costs. Also look at the rear crease that folds the bag flat, if the bag is printed as two pieces, usually this will appear on both faces. Whereas a one piece bag will have a clear front face. Look out for the join position, most manufacturers will go for a join on the shoulder, that is the crease at face and gusset, this join can cause a gape in the bag at fold up position if the join is here, when the bag is two piece. A more favourable position would be in the middle of gusset, but this would prevent any copy running across the gussets, as the join would split the copy and be impossible to join. But the join would be hardly visible with no gapes.
You could say it is an impossibility to have a gusset dimension equal to face, because when the bag is in a fold flat state, the gussets would touch and overlap in the middle, so try to go for a face dimension 10mm bigger than gusset. On these square type bags, the rope arrangement needs to be thought through, as most cases will be drilled after construction, this would put extra drill holes in gusset making the rope arrangement similar to a wine bottle, or go for knots out of gussets. This really does get complex, so if your face – gusset are getting similar, discuss with your supplier as to your options.
In the UK hand made bags can be produced in any quantity but the set up costs to all the machines and processes involved makes this an expensive option, 250 is a good starting point. Smaller bags can go on smaller machines, and larger bags will be on bigger machines, there will be a trade off in terms of costs and ease of manufacture, again your supplier will be well informed.
