12 Fashionable Retail Bag Design Ideas for Clothing and Accessories

Last Updated on October 23, 2023 by Packoi Team

Consider this fact as you search for clothing packaging ideas. Whether you’re using paper or custom tote bags for your retail stores doesn’t matter. The retail bag design that you choose can influence your customer’s perceptions of your brand.

In this article, you’ll discover why a retail bag is essential in the fashion industry and how you can create fashionable designs that will boost the value of the clothing and accessories that you sell.

The Truth about Retail Bags for Clothing and Accessories

Nowadays, it’s impossible to talk about retail bags without talking about sustainability. Reports reveal that 10% of the world’s pollution comes from the fashion industry, specifically textiles, clothing, and footwear.

So if you’re choosing the right design for your retail bag, make sure it follows sustainable strategies. That doesn’t just mean using paper bags. There are instances when plastic packaging is the most economical and effective option to use.

If you find yourself forced to use plastic, think about using compostable packaging. There are biodegradable materials that have the same qualities as plastic but won’t harm the environment.

The truth is that the main problem with retail packaging waste is the concept of single-use packaging. If you can make your retail bag reusable, you can practice sustainability. That means using tote bags or compostable garment bags.

Of course, you’ll have to consider the distribution channels, retail stores, and other sales operating procedures, as it’ll affect the packaging needs of your product. For instance, you’ll need a different set of packaging for retail and online stores.

Brick-and-mortar stores can use paper bags, tote bags, and even drawstring bags. But if you’re an e-commerce fashion brand, you’ll have to think about the shipping of your clothing items. This could mean adding recycled poly mailer bags and compostable shipping labels to your packaging needs.

After you’ve finalized the materials that you’ll use, the design will come easily.

Importance of Retail Clothing Packaging Design

The thing about clothing brand packaging is that no one design lasts forever. More retail bag designs change with the season—or, at least, with every collection that the brand releases.

What does this mean for your packaging?

You’ll have to create a new packaging design as you launch a new set of products in your store. It’s not wasteful because it’s part of the overall marketing strategy to promote the new collection

So if you’re going to create a design now, you have to keep in mind that this will change in time. Sure, there are retail bags that are generic. However, clothing brands usually have new packaging for their customers to keep them interested.

While the design will constantly change, there’s one thing you need to be sure of. It has to be aligned with your brand all the time. There are 2 reasons for this.

Walking Advertisement

Whether you decide to use tote bags or paper bags, your packaging will serve as a walking advertisement for your brand. When customers use it to carry products they bought from your store or reuse it to bring something else, they will read the brand printed on the retail bag.

This is a powerful tool that holds a lot of opportunities to bring your brand forward.

Brand Presence

Whatever form your retail bag will take, it can bring with it your brand’s presence. This is why you have to make it a part of your branding and marketing efforts. As long as your paper or tote bags are branded, people will recognize them wherever the bag goes.

Choose a design for the shopping bag that can represent your brand in the best possible way.

12 Clothing Packaging Ideas as Design Inspiration

At this point, you should have a better understanding of how effective retail bags can be in promoting your fashion brand. With that in mind, here are some clothing packaging ideas that you can use as inspiration when you start to create your fashion brand’s shopping bag.

1. Go Vintage

Nostalgia is a powerful emotion that can effectively capture the attention of your target market. Someone who lived in the 90s would take a second look if they saw printed tote bags with bold colors and abstract shapes that were all the rage during that time.

Pick one period that you can tie up with the clothing and accessories being sold in your store. Choose a time that your target market can recognize and appreciate. Use it as the inspiration behind the design of your retail bag.

2. Use Windows

This might be harder to implement if you’re using custom tote bags. But with paper bags, you can use a die-cut technique to create windows. This will give people a sneak peek at what products are inside the bag. It’ll make people feel intrigued by what your brand can offer.

This would be a perfect bag for clothing brands that use eye-catching colors and creative prints.

3. Choose Florals

Using floral patterns in clothing and accessories never gets old. It’s a design that people of all ages and genders can appreciate. You can combine it with different design techniques—vintage, abstract, linear, etc.

Paper or tote bags can be printed with the same floral patterns that you used on your clothing line. Or if you release flower-themed accessories, use a retail bag with the same design concept.

4. Have Fun with Shapes

Printing colorful shapes for your tote or paper bags is another idea you can use. It can be just one shape that represents your clothing brand perfectly, or it could be a collection of shapes that form a unique design.

Play with the colors so the shapes will stand out. It’ll help your retail bag catch the attention of your target market.

5. Be Colorful

Now that we’ve mentioned shapes and colors, you can also use just plain-colored paper bags for your brand. Brands like Tiffany & Co. use their trademark blue, and people already know that it’s theirs even before they see the name printed on the retail bag.

If you have a distinct color that you want your brand to be identified with, you can use that for your tote bags or paper bags. Or you can use bold colors or subdued ones to match the current clothing line that you launched.

The bottom line is if you choose the right colors, it can be enough to make your retail bag stand out.

6. Keep It Simple

If you want to stick to black and white colors for your paper bags, that’s also okay. Or if you want to use only a single linear image, make sure it’s positioned well so it gets maximum visibility.

Tote bags with a discreet logo design and brand name can be just as effective in getting the attention of your target market as full-print bags.

7. Pay Homage to Events

This idea will work if your business is celebrating a milestone or you release a collection in honor of a national event.

For instance, if your company is celebrating its 10th anniversary, you can create limited-edition retail paper bags to commemorate the event. Or if you launched a collection for Mother’s Day, use that as inspiration for your retail bag design.

8. Personalize Designs

This is a great marketing campaign to have in your store that’ll get your target market excited. Set up a printing place in the store where customers can have their names printed on custom tote bags. Of course, they’ll have to meet a purchase requirement to avail of the personalized packaging for free.

The reusable tote bags would give your brand free advertising for a long time, as long as the customer continues to use them.

9. Pick Patterns

Many patterns can inspire several clothing packaging ideas. It could be a simple monogram of your brand logo. Or an alternate pattern of your brand name and logo.

If your current collection uses a pattern, you can use that as the design of your retail bag as well. This may seem simple but the alignment with the clothing designs gives it a strong potential to advertise your new products.

10. Cite Quotes

If you’re not convinced that graphic designs can give your paper bags the right look, consider using words instead. Cite quotes or statements that will resonate with your target market.

Even one-word statements like Love, Peace, Trust, and Evolve are enough to catch the attention of people – especially if you use the right font to print them.

11. Add Texture

Adding texture to your retail bags is another way of making your paper bag stand out. For tote bags, you can use a rubber print so the texture of the design stands out against the material of the bag.

For paper bags, you can use embossed, UV spot printing, or debossed techniques to give texture to your retail bags.

12. Embrace Pop Culture

Like the other design inspirations, this would work if it ties in with the clothing and accessories collection that you’re trying to sell in your store.

For instance, if you tied up with Disney to produce a Mickey Mouse collection, make your retail tote bags use the same design.

8 Tips When Designing Retail Bags for Clothing and Accessories

Looking for the right design for your retail paper bag or tote bag is easy, as long as you understand the needs of your product. Not only that, but you should also consider how you want your brands to be represented.

Remember, these retail bags will advertise your brand wherever the customer decides to carry them. Make sure it’s giving the right impression of your brand image.

1. Stick to the Collection’s Theme

It was mentioned several times that your clothing packaging design can be aligned with the collection that you launched in your retail store. If it’s an outdoor clothing line, use nature as your inspiration. Or if it’s a sports-related campaign, use that collection as your theme.

2. Highlight Your Brand

No matter what theme you’ve chosen for your retail bag, your clothing packaging designs should always have your brand name or logo on them. You can’t use a retail paper bag as marketing material if people can’t trace it back to your brand.

Through branded tote bags, people who are interested in the design of your retail bag will know who is responsible for the creative packaging.

3. Make It Functional

Don’t get too carried away with your creative paper or tote bag design ideas. You have to remember that retail bags are also shopping bags. Customers will carry your products around using this bag. That means it has to be functional and durable enough so it can be reused.

Use materials that can give the bag protective exterior packaging. You can also add pouches or compartments so the bag can carry different items at the same time. Be innovative and ingenious when you’re designing your shopping bags.

4. Consider Different Sizes

To make paper bags even more functional, design them in different sizes. That way, customers will take home a similar design no matter how many products they buy from your store. This is not just about practicality.

Using the same design for different retail paper bag sizes will also help with brand recognition. People can associate one plan with your brand, no matter what size it is.

5. Choose a Reusable Design

Using a tote bag for your packaging is a great way to promote reusability. The durability of fabric tote bags will allow customers to use them several times. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make paper bags reusable.

If you use durable materials, the paper bags can be kept and reused by customers. With the right design, it may even be used as a gift bag.

6. Pick the Right Material

Speaking of reusability, you can choose eco-friendly materials to create your tote bag or paper bag. From recycled materials to compostable garment bags, there are many options to create sustainable packaging for your brand.

Not only will this be good for the environment, but eco-conscious customers will also appreciate your efforts to remain sustainable with your packaging solutions.

7. Use a Sturdy Handle

No matter what paper or tote bag design you use, pay close attention to the handle. Usually, this is the first thing that breaks or gets damaged in any garment bag or retail packaging.

Apart from choosing the right material, make sure it’s attached to the rest of the bag properly. Customers won’t be able to reuse it if the handle breaks easily.

8. Don’t Forget the Tags and Labels

Finally, think about the clothing tag or shipping label that’ll come with your retail bag. These are useful in providing customers with relevant information, like how to take care of the clothing and accessories they bought from you.

While these are mostly for functional purposes, you can also choose to make it more sustainable. Use recycled hang tags or compostable shipping labels to make your packaging more eco-friendly.

Make Your Retail Bag as Fashionable as Your Clothing and Accessories. Packoi Printing Have Ideas We Can Share.

Whatever your preferred clothing packaging is, make sure you understand the needs of the product, your brand, and your customers. There are many ideas and inspirations to help you create a retail paper bag that can advertise your brand outside of your store.

It’s easier to do this task if you partner with the right packaging supplier. Packoi Printing has years of experience in creating custom boxes and bags for retail brands. We can even produce custom recycled boxes for you.

Let us know what your packaging requirements are, and we’ll help design them for you. Call us and we’ll get back to you with a fair quotation in no time.