Beyond 5 Nylon Drawstring Tote Bag Printing

Last week, we were asked to help the amazingly talented teenager-group BEYOND 5 with their merch. Since we have printed most of their merch in the past, most of it was just simple reorder stuff (mixtures of multi colored Tshirts and tank tops, jersey zip up hoodies, tote bags). But, this time they added another addition: The drawstring backpack tote bag. These bags are made of 100% nylon, which is super soft, durable, washable and keeps its form for a very long time.

Now, nylon bags are kind of a nightmare for screen printers, considering that they are made primarily of plastic and their tolerance to heat is VERY low (meaning they burn, or should I say melt, very easily). Our belt dryer, on normal operation, usually heats at around 400˚ for over a minute. These particular bags, at 400˚, would melt in a matter of seconds. So, our belt dryer was NOT an option here.

We decided to print them with waterbased ink, to print the first color and then in order to make them look perfect, we hand dryed it with a forced air hand dryer. This was VERY time consuming (seeing that we did over 300 pieces of these), but they dried in the air and end result was amazing! They looked great. You can get one of these bags at a Beyond 5 show, where they are currently shooting them into the crowd out of a Tshirt cannon. Maybe you can be the lucky one to get one! :)

Foundation For A Better Life Tote Bag Finishing

After we did all the printing for the FBL Tote Bag Printing, we were asked to custom tag, fold and bag each individual bag. Seems easy when its just a few, but with 5000 pieces its a feat that is more difficult than meets the eye.

First, we had to print each of the cards with "Gratitude" on them, and then punch a smaller-than-normal 3/16th hole in each. From there, we decided to use silver metallic twist ties to attach the tags, to make them look like Christmas gifts.

And finally, after each was tagged, folding and bagging each one was something straight out of China. We had a great time, with all of us assembly line style folding each bag, sometimes competing to see which team could fold stacks of 100 faster. (we were doing them in 4 minutes per 100). This was definitely one of these very self fulfilling jobs that makes you feel good once its all completed! With this job, we filled the world with more Gratitude! :)

Foundation For A Better Life Tote Bags

Every year before the holidays, big corporations contact us to help them produce Christmas gifts for their clients. Sometimes its commercial production companies, Actors or this year, Foundation for a Better Life. These guys are an amazing non profit foundation that has thousands of billboards across America with motivational quotes on them, reminding us all what is really important.

Because of all the media and billboard space FBL receives during the year, they definitely have a LOT of people to thank...just around 5000 to be exact. That is how many tote bags we produced for them this year, and it was very tedious but exciting to be able to help them.
 

Because of the quantity that we ordered, the totes came to our shop on a pallet, and we printed each one of them with a 2 color print. We also were hired to tag and individually fold/ship each one as well (those photos to come...).

Amazing Tote Bag Printing

Tote bags are a luxury. Something that is easy to make, cheap to produce, and leaves a lasting impression on the person who receives it. Not to mention that it lasts ages longer and gives momentous amounts of exposure longer than a Tshirt (since it lasts longer, people take it everywhere with them, and it doesn't get washed and worn like a Tshirt). And these days, plastic bags are getting banned from cities left and right, making a tote bag an even higher commodity than before.

At Print Renegades, we have the ability to print LOTS of tote bags. Here is a small example of the things that we have produced over the time that we have been printing. (with MANY more to come...)