OEM & ODM manufacturing
Eighteen Craft manufactures custom travel bags — duffels, weekenders, wheeled duffels and garment carriers — with an MOQ from about 500 pieces and production in 25–40 days.
Eighteen Craft is a China-based OEM and ODM travel bag manufacturer producing duffels, weekenders, wheeled duffels, garment carriers and packable travel bags for brands, sports labels and retail chains. Travel products carry more material per unit than any other category we make, which means material choice drives cost more sharply here than anywhere else in our range.
The engineering priority in travel bags is the base and the handle system. A bag that gets thrown into a car boot, dragged across an airport floor and loaded to 15 kilos fails at the base corners and the handle anchors first. We reinforce those points as standard and inspect them specifically at final inspection rather than treating them as ordinary seams.
What we build
Every style below can be produced to your design (OEM) or developed with you from a concept (ODM), and each is customisable in size, material, colourway, hardware and branding.
Soft-sided travel bags, the most common style for lifestyle and retail brands.
High-volume fabric builds with ventilated shoe compartments.
Duffels with an integrated wheel and telescopic handle assembly.
Folding carriers with internal hanger bars and suit protection.
Lightweight ripstop builds that compress into their own pocket.
Frequently produced as a matched accessory to a travel range.
Two development routes
Send a tech pack, drawings or a physical sample. We review feasibility, quote against the specification, source the materials and manufacture to your standard. Fastest route when the product is already defined.
You provide: design files or sample, material and hardware preferences, branding artwork, quantity.
Start from a sketch, a market reference or just a product concept. We handle pattern making, material plan, hardware selection and prototyping, then produce under your brand. Suited to brands without an in-house design team.
You provide: concept or reference, target price and market, branding direction.
Both routes run through the same one-stop OEM & ODM process — concept, style development, material selection, colour and hardware customisation, sampling, mass production and quality control.
Materials
Material choice sets price, weight and durability before construction begins. Full denier guidance and a side-by-side comparison live on the material capabilities page.
The cost-efficient standard for duffels, with good color fastness.
Lighter and tougher at equal denier, used for premium and packable styles.
Heritage weekender positioning, often with leather trim and base.
Full-body premium weekenders or trim and base reinforcement.
High-end travel lines where weight is acceptable and margin supports it.
Minimum order quantity
MOQ from about 500 pieces per design. Wheeled styles sometimes carry a higher minimum because the wheel and handle assembly is sourced to order.
The minimum is set deliberately low so a new travel bag design can be validated in the market before you commit capital to volume. It is the difference between testing three styles and betting everything on one.
MOQ varies with material availability, colour count and construction complexity — custom-developed materials or custom hardware tooling raise it. Capacity of about 500,000 pieces per month means the same line handles your scale-up when the test succeeds.
Lead times
Bulk production time starts at written sample approval, not at inquiry — the single most common source of timeline misunderstanding in bag sourcing. Plan backwards from your in-market date accordingly.
| Stage | Typical duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Specification review & quotation | 1–2 business days | Indicative price, MOQ and material plan against your brief. |
| Sampling | 7–12 days | Pattern making, prototype assembly and a physical sample shipped for review. |
| Sample revision (if needed) | 4–7 days per round | Most programmes settle within one or two rounds. |
| Bulk production | 25–40 days | Begins after written pre-production sample approval. |
| Final inspection & export packing | 2–4 days | AQL 2.5 style random inspection, then cartoning and palletising. |
Quality control
Every order passes incoming material inspection, written pre-production sample sign-off, in-line checks during sewing, an end-of-line functional check and a final random inspection on an AQL 2.5 style sampling plan.
Eighteen Craft holds no third-party certifications and will not imply any. Buyers are welcome to book an independent inspector — see the full quality control system.
Cost drivers
There is no single per-unit price for travel bags — cost is built from materials, hardware, construction labour, quantity tier and packaging. These are the levers you can actually pull.
Material volume — travel bags consume far more fabric per unit than smaller categories
Fabric denier and coating
Wheel and handle assemblies on wheeled styles (a significant cost step)
Base and corner reinforcement specification
Zipper gauge and lockable hardware
Order quantity per colorway
Want a number before you write an email? Our bag cost calculator returns an indicative unit-cost band and total order value from your category, material, quantity and customisation level.
Estimate my costHonest positioning
Our process
Send the travel bags reference, target quantity and target price. We respond with an indicative quotation and an honest read on feasibility.
OEM: we review your drawings or physical sample. ODM: we develop the pattern, material plan and hardware selection from your concept.
Swatches and hardware options are confirmed against the price point and use scenario before any sample is cut.
A physical sample is produced in 7–12 days and shipped for your inspection.
A sample made from bulk materials is approved in writing. This is the gate that prevents bulk-scale errors.
Production runs 25–40 days with stitch, alignment and dimensional checks taken on the line, not only at the end.
Final random inspection on an AQL 2.5 style plan, then export packing, documentation and dispatch.
Why Eighteen Craft
Eighteen Craft manufactures travel bags in Huaibei, Anhui, China with roughly 500 employees and a planned capacity of about 500,000 pieces per month, taking orders from approximately 500 pieces per style. Development, cutting, sewing, assembly, inspection and export packing all sit on one site.
Travel Bags questions
Question not answered here? Email info@eighteencraft.com or call +86 15398220952 — we reply within 24 hours on business days.
MOQ starts at approximately 500 pieces per design. Wheeled duffels can carry a higher minimum because wheel and telescopic handle assemblies are ordered in from component suppliers rather than held in stock.
Sampling typically runs 7–12 days and bulk production 25–40 days after the pre-production sample is approved. Travel bags with wheel assemblies or custom hardware sit at the longer end of the sampling window.
Polyester Oxford in 600D to 1200D, nylon and poly fabrics, canvas, PU and synthetic leather, and genuine leather for premium lines. We produce soft-sided travel goods; we do not make hard-shell polycarbonate suitcases.
Yes. Under OEM we build from your tech pack, drawings or a physical sample. Under ODM we develop the pattern and prototype from your concept, target price and reference images.
Yes — embroidery, PU or rubber patches, heat transfer, metal plates and woven labels, plus custom linings, zipper pullers, hangtags and retail packaging.
Yes, that is the core of our business. Our MOQ from about 500 pieces and 7–12 day sampling are set up for brands validating a range rather than for buyers placing single high-volume commodity orders.
Eighteen Craft manufactures custom women's handbags — totes, crossbody bags, shoulder bags, satchels and clutches — in PU, synthetic leather, genuine leather and fabric, with an MOQ from about 500 pieces per design.
Eighteen Craft manufactures custom backpacks — laptop and business packs, commuter styles, travel backpacks and casual daypacks — mainly in polyester and nylon Oxford, with an MOQ from about 500 pieces.
Eighteen Craft manufactures custom urban commuter bags — messenger bags, crossbody and sling styles, and convertible daily-carry designs — with an MOQ from about 500 pieces per design.
Start your project
Send your design, reference sample or product concept with a target quantity and price. We reply within 24 hours on business days with an indicative price, MOQ and lead time.
Send your specification, sketch or reference sample. We reply within 24 hours on business days with an indicative price, MOQ and lead time.
