The Channel
- The tunnel the cord runs through at the mouth.
- A turned channel 12 mm to 18 mm deep, bar-tacked at both ends.
- Too wide, the cord tangles; too narrow, the mouth locks part-open.
OEM & ODM · Replaceable Cord
Custom Drawstring Bags The Cinch Slackens — Held Through 5,000 Closes.
The closure carries no fitting at all — a drawstring shuts on a running cord pulled by hand, and that cord is the part that fails first. Send the fabric, the print and the size, and the quote returns in 48 hours: the channel cut 12 mm to 18 mm deep, the eyelet set to its cord, the ends specified — the sample inside seven days.
- 3–5 mmcord, braided or flat
- 4–8 mmeyelet bore, set through the channel
- 100pieces minimum, any format
Drawstring formats
The Shapes One Cord Runs Through
One cord closes all of these drawstring bags. What a shape is cut for is on the tile.
Sports Drawstring Bags
- A flat sack on twin cords that double as the shoulder straps.
- Team kit, gym giveaways and race-day packs, printed in one or two colours.
- A flat sack on twin cords that double as the shoulder straps.
- Team kit, gym giveaways and race-day packs, printed in one or two colours.
Flap Drawstring Backpacks
- A fold-over flap covering the gathered mouth, so the closure is hidden.
- A retail or campus brief where the bag has to look finished, not promotional.
- A fold-over flap covering the gathered mouth, so the closure is hidden.
- A retail or campus brief where the bag has to look finished, not promotional.
Canvas Totes with Drawstrings
- A soft canvas body on cords that run long enough to carry over the shoulder.
- Gifting and retail runs where the pouch itself is kept and reused.
- A soft canvas body on cords that run long enough to carry over the shoulder.
- Gifting and retail runs where the pouch itself is kept and reused.
Convention Drawstring Bags
- A two-tone sack on the cords-as-straps build, with the face left flat for a print.
- Conference and trade-show giveaways, where a logo reads across that flat panel.
- A two-tone sack on the cords-as-straps build, with the face left flat for a print.
- Conference and trade-show giveaways, where a logo reads across that flat panel.
Burlap Drawstring Bags
- A loosely woven jute body with a cotton lining, gathered at the top.
- Rustic and eco-positioned gifting, where the texture is the design.
- A loosely woven jute body with a cotton lining, gathered at the top.
- Rustic and eco-positioned gifting, where the texture is the design.
Mesh Drawstring Bags
- An open-weave body that lets the contents be seen and the bag drain.
- Swim, laundry and ball-sports briefs, where the bag is aired and rinsed.
- An open-weave body that lets the contents be seen and the bag drain.
- Swim, laundry and ball-sports briefs, where the bag is aired and rinsed.
Styles of Custom Drawstring Bags
The Styles Buyers Return To
A single cord closes the range; what changes is the job the drawstring bag is bought to do.
The closure
The Cord Is the Only Closure.
No fitting closes this drawstring bag. The mouth shuts on a cord pulled by hand, and the cloth does the closing — which is why the four parts below carry their own limit. The point that holds a filled bag is not the point that survives it being opened and shut a thousand times.
The Eyelet
- The metal setting where the cord leaves the bag.
- A bore of 4 mm to 8 mm, set with the cord in place.
- Too small, it abrades the cord; too large, it pulls through the cloth.
The Cord
- The cord that runs the channel and takes the pull.
- Braided round cord or flat tape, 3 mm to 5 mm, pre-shrunk.
- Fails by stretching or losing its knot, then the mouth will not stay shut.
The Cord Ends
- The knot, aglet or toggle that catches the cord.
- What the 5,000 open-close cycle test is counted against.
- Where a drawstring gives out first: a knot slips, a heat-seal frays, a toggle loses its spring.
Material options
The Mouth Decides the Fabric
The stocks a drawstring range is built on, with jute, velvet or satin for a premium run. Because the bag closes on cloth and not on a fitting, what decides the fabric is how it behaves at the mouth — whether it gathers evenly on the cord, and whether it frays inside the channel.
Polyester
The cheapest of the wovens: a 210D or 420D Oxford, water-resistant, with a tight weave that resists fraying in the channel.
Nylon
Stronger than polyester at the same weight, with a weave that holds its edge when the cord is pulled hard.
Cotton / Canvas
A natural fibre that breathes and takes a print, gathering into a deep, even fold on the cord.
Non-Woven
Bonded polypropylene at the lowest unit cost; it holds a crease instead of draping and can shed fibre at a cut edge.
Size range
Cut to Three Sizes and a Fourth on Request
A drawstring is bought on what it has to carry, so the range spans a small hand pouch and a full kit sack, and anything between them is cut to a brief. The dimension below is the body; the cords take up the rest of the drop.
Small
10" × 14" · 25 × 36 cmA hand-sized pouch, light enough to be carried on its own cords across the shoulder.
Toiletries, small accessories, a tablet, and single-item gifting.
Standard
14" × 18" · 36 × 46 cmThe everyday sack: enough room for a change of clothes and a pair of shoes, and small enough to hang at the back.
Commuting, gym kit, school supplies and merchandise runs.
Large
18" × 22" · 46 × 56 cmA kit sack for bulky loads, with the cords taking the heavier pull at the shoulder.
Sports equipment, team gear and outdoor kit.
Custom
Your dimensionsAny dimension outside the three above is cut to a brief, from a sketch, a sample or a set of measurements.
Corporate merchandise, campaign runs and a shape built around a specific product.
Spec to quote
Send the Fabric and the Print. The Cord Spec Comes Back Costed.
For a drawstring run the reply sets the cord, the eyelet and the channel depth against the fabric and the load — a matched spec, not a price alone.
Buyer accounts
The Second Order Is the Test
A promotional distributor and an outdoor brand, on what a drawstring closure had to survive before the first run went out.
Naomi LeeBuyer, promotional distributorSix thousand convention sacks, two colourways, one-colour print on the front, three venues on one fixed show date. A plain bag — the closure is the whole risk.
A prior run came back with the mouth not staying shut: a stretched cord and an eyelet cutting into it. The fix was an eyelet matched to its cord, the cord pre-shrunk before the cut.
Two seasons on, the only sacks replaced were lost, not failed. The reorder came on the same cord and eyelet setting, so three events read as one campaign.
Grant HayesFounder, outdoor brandPrinting onto a gathered face is what most factories miss — the mark has to be placed for the closed bag, not the open one. This one sits on a 210D nylon sack held on a 3–5 mm cord.
The first sample ran the mark too high, so it broke up in the fold. A re-sample put the mark lower and took the cord ends to a heat-sealed aglet in place of a plain knot.
Shipped, then worn through a full season: almost nothing came back for a closure fault, which for a bag opened and shut all day is the only number that matters.
Drawstring questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Custom Drawstring Bags
The questions that come up on most drawstring enquiries, answered where the figure already sits above.
How is the mouth opening set for a bag that closes the same way time after time?
From the load and the fabric, before the pattern is cut. A drawstring has no fitting to set the opening — the size of the mouth is the length of cord left free to run, and it is decided against how the filled bag gathers. Too little and the bag will not seat; too much and the mouth hangs slack and takes a second pull to shut. That is why the channel and the eyelet positions are cut from the opening and not adjusted afterwards, which is the order the closure section sets out.
Which part of a drawstring closure gives out first?
The cord ends, and they loosen long before the bag does. They take the wear of the open-close cycle while the fabric is usually still sound — the closure section sets out why the ends carry the cycle test and the body does not.
Why does a printed face break up once the cord is drawn?
Because the panel gathers. A mark positioned for the open bag falls into the fold once the cord is pulled, so placement is set for the closed bag as well — decided with the fabric and the print area, before the run is cut.
Why is a cord used instead of a zip or a snap?
A zip, a snap and a lock are fittings: bought, sized and stitched on, and a part that can seize or fail on its own. A cord is part of the bag itself, so the closure carries nothing extra to stock or replace, and the mouth opens as wide as the cord is long. The trade is that the cloth does the closing, which is why the strain sits on the eyelet and the cord ends, not on a fitting — the four parts the closure section sets out.
Can the cord be replaced on its own once the bags are in use?
Yes, and on a drawstring it is worth specifying because the cord is the part that wears first. A cord run as a single continuous loop can be pulled out and re-threaded through the channel by hand, which makes it a replaceable part and not a reason to retire the bag — the most checkable sustainability claim this page makes. A cord cut in two and knotted at the eyelets is not replaceable the same way, so which of the two is wanted is settled at the sample stage.
Several shapes are running. Can they share one cord specification?
Yes, and sharing it is usually the right call. One cord, one eyelet setting and one channel depth across a range means the bags in the line gather the same way and close with the same feel in the hand, and not as several closures separately matched. The shapes still keep their own pattern and opening size, because the mouth is cut to the body — what is shared is the cord standard, not the channel.
Which certifications cover the fabric and the cord?
The plant runs to ISO 9001, with BSCI, OEKO-TEX 100, GRS and REACH available on request, and whether a given brief can be met against one of them is settled against the brief, never claimed in advance. Where a claim matters to a market — a recycled content figure, or a restricted-substance limit — the requirement is named at the quote and not after the run is cut, because it decides the fabric the bag is made from.