Can You Put Different Designs in One Tote Bag Order?

Yes, you can put different designs in one tote bag order, and it is one of the questions we get most often.

A team wants one bag per department, a bookshop wants a small series, a studio wants each illustration on its own bag. The short answer: every design is printed as its own run, and on our website each design is ordered with at least 25 bags.

With full colour DTF printing, there are no screens, so splitting an order across several designs costs less than with screen print, and smaller splits can sometimes be arranged on request.

In this article, you will find what changes the price, real numbers for 1, 2 and 4 designs, and how to send your files so nothing gets mixed up.

In this article:

• Can you order tote bags with different designs?
• Why do different designs change the price?
• What is the minimum per design?
• What 1, 2 or 4 designs really cost
• Same front, different back
• Screen print or full colour DTF?
• Mixing designs in a small order
• Different bag colours for different designs
• How to send several designs
• Proofs, samples and lead time
• Who orders several designs?
• FAQ

 

Can you order tote bags with different designs in one order?

Yes, and many of our customers do.

What you cannot do with a printing press is change the design on every single bag for free. Each design is set up once, printed as its own small run, and packed together with the rest of your order.

So the real question is not "can I", but "how many bags per design make sense for my budget".

For most businesses, the answer is simple: 25 bags or more per design keeps the price reasonable and the ordering easy.

Below that, full colour DTF printing is usually the only way to go, and I always want to look at it with you first.

That is the whole idea in one sentence: different designs are fine, you only pay for each design to be set up.

 

Why do different designs change the price of printed tote bags?

The price of a printed tote bag has two parts: the bag and the print.

With screen print, every colour of every design needs its own screen. A two-colour logo needs two screens, and if you have three different designs in two colours, that is six screens to prepare.

Those screens cost the same whether we print 25 bags or 500, and they are not stored after the job. That is why the price per bag drops so quickly when the quantity per design goes up.

With full colour DTF (direct to film), the design is printed digitally onto a film and then pressed onto the bag with heat. There are no screens, so a new design costs very little extra to set up.

The trade-off is that DTF does not get much cheaper with quantity, while screen print does.

For businesses, this matters: if you want many different designs in small numbers, DTF is your friend, and if you want a few designs in big numbers, screen print wins.

If you want to go deeper into the two methods, our guide on digital printing vs screen printing compares them side by side.

The good news is that you never need to calculate screens yourself, because every price on our product pages already includes the print setup.

 

What is the minimum order per design for custom tote bags?

On our website the minimum is 25 bags per design.

The easiest way to order different designs is to place each design as its own order line of at least 25 bags, with its own file. The price table on the product page then shows you exactly what each design costs at its quantity.

Every design gets its own price step, so 4 designs of 25 bags are priced as four orders of 25, not as one order of 100.

That sounds strict, but it is simply how printing works: the printer sets up the job four times.

If you have fewer than 25 bags per design, write to us before you order.

With full colour DTF we can sometimes split one order of 25 or more across several designs, but it depends on the bag, the print size and our print partner, so we confirm it case by case.

I would rather say "yes, this works" with real numbers in an email than let you discover a problem after you have paid.

 

What do 1, 2 or 4 different designs really cost?

Here is a real example with our most popular natural cotton tote bag, 100 bags in total.

All prices are per bag, excl. VAT, with a print on one side, taken from the product page today.

 

 

You can see the pattern right away.

With a one-colour screen print, going from 1 design to 4 designs almost triples the total. With full colour DTF, the same step adds a bit more than half.

That is why I often suggest DTF when someone wants four or more designs in small quantities, even if each design has only one or two colours.

At 25 bags per design, DTF costs €8.37 against €7.47 for one colour, so the gap is small. At 100 bags of one design, screen print is half the price of DTF.

So my honest rule of thumb is this: few designs and many bags means screen print, many designs and few bags means DTF.

If you are unsure, send me the designs and the quantities and I will tell you which way is cheaper for your order.

 

 

Same front, different back: the easiest way to vary your design

One of the smartest ways to use different designs is to keep the front the same and change only the back.

This October a company in Germany ordered 200 natural cotton bags in two orders of 100. Both had the same logo on the front, and each 100 carried a different slogan on the back, both printed in two colours.

We sent a digital proof for each design the next day, and they approved both the same afternoon.

It works so well because your brand stays the same on every bag, while the back gives people a reason to pick "their" version.

For a team event you could print a different line for each department on the back, and for a shop a different saying for each season.

The back print is added with our both-sides printing option, which you pick together with the bag. For 100 bags, a two-colour back print costs €2.52 per bag, excl. VAT.

Add that to a two-colour front on our 180 g/m² bag at €3.58 per bag, and you have a bag printed on both sides for €6.10, excl. VAT.

Remember that each version of the back is still its own order, so each one needs at least 25 bags.

 

 

Screen print or full colour DTF for different designs?

The design itself often decides the method for you.

Screen print is for artwork whose colours can be fully separated into solid areas, each with its own colour code. Logos, text and simple graphics are perfect for it, and exact Pantone shades are possible.

Full colour DTF is for photos, colour gradients, fine lines and designs with many colours. It is printed in CMYK, so an exact Pantone shade cannot be matched, but it looks lively and sharp.

If you want to understand why a Pantone colour is not the same as a CMYK colour, Pantone explains spot and process colour very clearly.

For several designs, think about the set as a whole.

If three of your four designs are simple one-colour logos and one is a photo, you may want to print the photo with DTF and the logos with screen print. That is possible, because each design is its own run anyway.

Our guide on how to choose print colours explains what counts as one colour, and the post on full colour designs on cotton tote bags shows what DTF can do.

Choose the method per design, not per order, and you will usually get the best price.

 

Can you mix different designs in a small tote bag order?

Sometimes, and this is where a short email saves a lot of time.

A small creative studio in Sweden asked us for five designs with five bags each, on our organic canvas Marina tote. Each design was an illustration with many colours, so screen print was never an option.

With full colour DTF that idea becomes realistic, because no screens are needed.

Later she sent six illustrations and wanted to choose five or six of them. We asked our print partner to price both options and to confirm the print size for each motif.

I am sharing this because it shows the way I like to work with small mixed orders: real files, real quantities, and a clear answer before anyone pays.

We have also been asked for much bigger mixes, such as 25 designs of 100 pieces each, so no request is too unusual to ask about.

What I cannot promise is that every bag and every split is possible, because some bags are harder to print than others.

So if your plan is fewer than 25 bags per design, please write to us first with your designs, the bag and the number per design.

 

 

Can different designs go on different bag colours?

Yes, you can put each design on a different bag colour.

Each bag colour is its own product in our shop, so it simply becomes its own order line with at least 25 bags.

A natural bag for one design and a black bag for another works very well, for example a light print on black and a dark print on natural.

Keep in mind that the print colour should be chosen for each bag colour separately. White ink on black looks crisp, while the same white on natural almost disappears.

If you want the same design on two bag colours, that is also two order lines, and sometimes the print colour has to change between them.

For weddings, where couples often ask about bag colours, our post on white, natural white or coloured wedding bags goes into this in more detail.

A mix of bag colours makes a set look planned and generous, not random.

 

How do you send several designs for printed tote bags?

The cleanest way is one file per design, named so that nobody can mix them up.

This is the checklist I give every customer with more than one design:

• One file per design, ideally a vector file (AI, EPS, PDF or SVG), named for example "Design A - 50 bags - natural".
• The quantity per design, written in the order note or in your email, so it matches the files exactly.
• Which side each design goes on, front, back or both.
• The print colours for each design, with Pantone numbers for screen print if you have them.
• The bag colour for each design, if you use more than one.
• One delivery address for the whole order, or a note if different designs need to go to different places.

If you only have a PNG or JPG, send it anyway and we will tell you whether it is good enough or needs a vector version.

You can read more in our guide to file types for printing cotton tote bags.

Clear names and quantities are the single best way to make sure the right design ends up on the right bag.

 

Proofs, printed samples and lead time for several designs

Before anything is printed, you get a digital proof of every design.

The proof shows each design on the bag, with its size and position, and nothing goes into production until you have approved all of them.

If you want to change something after ordering, our post on changing your design after ordering explains what is still possible and when.

A printed sample of your own design is not a standard option, because it means setting up the job just for one bag.

If a printed sample matters for your project, ask us and we will check with our print partner what is possible for your bag and design.

The lead time is 10 to 15 working days from the moment all designs are approved.

The slowest design sets the pace, so try to approve all proofs on the same day.

Delivery within the EU is free, and all designs arrive together unless you asked for something else.

If you have a fixed event date, write it in the date box in the cart, so we can plan the print around it.

 

Who orders tote bags with different designs?

Almost every kind of buyer we work with has done it at some point.

• Companies with one bag per department, team or office, sharing the same logo on the front.
• Bookshops and museums with a small series, for example one bag per author, artist or exhibition.
• Illustrators and creative studios who sell their own art on bags and want several motifs.
• Event organisers with one design for guests and another for staff or speakers.
• Shops and brands testing a few designs before deciding which one to reorder in bigger numbers.
• Wedding couples with one design for guests and another for the bridal party.

If you are building a small collection, our article on launching a limited-edition tote line with just 25 pieces is a good next read.

What they all have in common is a clear plan: which design, how many bags, and on which bag.

Different designs turn a plain merch order into a small collection people actually talk about.

 

Common mistakes when ordering different designs

A few small things go wrong again and again, and all of them are easy to avoid.

• Too many designs for too few bags. Four designs of 25 bags cost a lot more per bag than one design of 100, so check the table above first.
• Files without names. "Final_v3.png" and "Final_v3 (2).png" are a recipe for mix-ups.
• Quantities only in your head. Write the number per design in the order, not only in a phone call.
• Different print sizes by accident. If the designs should look like a set, ask us to print them at the same size.
• Approving the proofs on different days. The whole order waits for the last approval.

Avoid these and an order with several designs is just as smooth as an order with one.

 

FAQ about different designs in one tote bag order

 

Can I order tote bags with different designs in one order?

Yes. Each design is printed as its own run, and on our website each design is ordered with at least 25 bags.

 

What is the minimum quantity per design?

The minimum is 25 bags per design. For fewer bags per design, write to us first, because with full colour DTF a smaller split can sometimes be arranged.

 

Is it more expensive to order several designs?

Yes, a little or a lot, depending on the method. With screen print, every design needs its own screens, while with full colour DTF the extra cost of a new design is small.

 

Can I print a different design on the front and the back?

Yes. You choose a print on both sides when you order, and the back can be a completely different design from the front.

 

Can each design go on a different bag colour?

Yes. Each bag colour is its own product, so each colour becomes its own order line of at least 25 bags.

 

Can I put a different name on every bag?

Not as a standard option, because every name would be a separate design. If you need names on each bag, write to us first and we will check what is possible.

 

Do I get a proof for each design?

Yes. You get a digital proof of every design, and nothing is printed until you have approved all of them.

 

How long does an order with different designs take?

The lead time is 10 to 15 working days from the moment all designs are approved. Delivery within the EU is free.

 

Different designs in one order: my conclusion

Different designs are one of the nicest ways to make printed tote bags feel personal.

Keep at least 25 bags per design, choose screen print or full colour DTF for each design separately, and send clear files with the quantity per design.

If your plan is smaller or more unusual than that, just write to us before you order.

I would love to help you turn several ideas into one beautiful set of bags.

 

 

Learn More About Custom Printed Bags

Digital Printing vs Screen Printing on Tote Bags: Which Option Is Best?

How to Choose Print Colours for Your Tote Bags

How to Launch a Limited-Edition Tote Line with Just 25 Pieces

How Much Do Custom Printed Tote Bags Cost? 5 Factors That Set Your Price