20+ Best Bag Manufacturers in China & How to Find Them [2019]

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the earth is surrounded by several bags

If you search for “Chinese bag manufacturers” in Google, the first page will be filled with results like this:

  • “Best Bag Manufacturer in China”;

  • “Chinese Professional Bag Manufacturer”;

  • “Your Reliable Bag Manufacturer”

Yep, I did the same. :P

 
On the homepage of the official website of twin oaks bags, it reads: “leading bag manufacturer in China.”
 

Obviously, everyone who is running a bag factory would like to have such titles on his company’s website.

But personally, I see such an issue:

Most of this content does nothing to help you make decisions - because you don’t see any valuable information.

So, instead of writing an article full of self-proclaimed words, I’ll be showing you:

  • Where are the China’s bag manufacturing hubs;

  • The biggest players I know (and their websites).

I bet you will love it.

 

6 Well-known Bag Manufacturing Cities

In China, all major bag manufacturing hubs have 4 things in common, which are:

  1. Low cost;

  2. Convenient transportation;

  3. A large number of skilled workers;

  4. Complete industry chain.

But that doesn’t mean you can choose whichever you want.

For example, there are some of the finest handbag factories near Guangzhou, but if you want to buy some simple cosmetic bags from there, you will likely find their quotes ridiculously high.

On the other hand, when you go to Yiwu to purchase premium leather handbags, you will probably get a reasonable price. But if you ignore the inspection, you will get a surprise.

In fact, each bag manufacturing hub in China has its very distinctive features and products of expertise.

Here, I tried to assign a grade between 1-5 for each:

Bag manufacturing Hubs in China
Handbags Cosmetic Bags Backpacks Canvas Bags Luggage
GuangZhou 5 stars 1 star 3 stars 1 star 4 stars
YiWu 3 stars 5 stars 3 stars 5 stars 3 stars
BaiGou 3 stars 4 stars 5 stars 3 stars 1 star
QuanZhou 2 stars 2 stars 5 stars 2 stars 3 stars
PingHu 2 stars 2 stars 3 stars 2 stars 5 stars
CangNan 1 star 3 stars 2 stars 5 stars 1 star

Let's take a look at more details about each city.

 

1. GuangZhou City

 

As one of the most important port cities in China, Guangzhou has become a center of global trade as early as the 17th century.

Every year, the British East India Company sent a fleet to Guangzhou to purchase porcelain and tea, and Muslim merchants would sail here to trade spices.

Now, Guangzhou is known as a main manufacturing hub and the Capital of China’s Leather Goods. 

When it comes to high-end handbags, it is the undisputed leader of the entire industry.

In 2017, the factories around Guangzhou produced over 1,000,000,000 leather bags (including artificial leather bags).

China’s leather bag market share

Since Guangzhou has the most skilled workers and the most advanced factories in China, many global luxury brands purchase their handbags from here.

But like many coastal cities in China, Guangzhou has been plagued by rising labor prices in recent years.

So, if you want to buy simple manufacturing bags, Guangzhou is not a wise choice now.

Here are the most famous manufacturers (in no particular order):

NOTE: The Canton Fair (China Import and Export Fair), which is held three times a year in Guangzhou, is the most representative trade fair in China. It brings great popularity and reputation to this city.

 

2. QuanZhou City

 

As a famous port, the history of Quanzhou is even longer than that of Guangzhou.

In the Middle Ages, it was once the largest port and the most international city in the Far East.

It’s hard to imagine, this city used to be full of Buddhist temples, Islamic mosques and Christian churches 800 years ago.

The great traveler Marco Polo was shocked by Quanzhou’s grand scale, and praised it as one of the most prosperous and glorious cities in the world.

However, as the port was gradually deposited by the sediment, Quanzhou lost the position in trade and turned into a manufacturing center for bags, clothing and (fake) sports shoes.

Global sports shoe production

Although it is also facing the problem of rising labor costs, the price competitiveness of Quanzhou’s manufacturing industry is stronger than that of Guangzhou.

If you want to make sports bags, laptop bags or travel bags in China, Quanzhou is a good choice.

Here are the most famous manufacturers:

 

3. YiWu City

 

Everyone loves Yiwu.

Due to the lack of arable land, this mountainous city was once the poorest region in China.

But now, people call it “Wall Street for Small Commodities”.

If you want to buy a small amount of cheap bags from wholesalers, it is the perfect place.

Yiwu International Trade City, the largest wholesale market for small commodities on the planet, is about 600 standard football fields large.

You can find anything there, but be careful not to get lost.

However, the biggest problem of Yiwu is that most of the small commodities sold there are made in nearby hand workshops, so the quality is often unstable.

You may purchase the exact same bags from the same wholesaler twice, and find that their quality are completely different.

In addition, the manufacturers there are not good at manufacturing complex products.

So don’t be confused by the low price, stay alert.

NOTE: In Yiwu, almost all businesses are small manufacturers or traders. I don't mean to say that they are not professional, but it is really difficult to give a list of recommendations.

Before doing business with a Yiwu company, I suggest you check their company information carefully. If you want to know what to do, check out this article: Verify Chinese Suppliers Online: A Step-by-Step Guide.

4. BaiGou Town

 

In the past 20 years, Baigou has been regarded by the Chinese as “Yiwu in the north”.

Similar to Yiwu, there is also a booming small commodity market. In terms of output, it is already the third largest hub of bag manufacturing industry in China. 

But unlike Yiwu, the traders here are mainly engaged in domestic trade rather than international trade.

Due to the rapid rise in labor costs in southern China, some top bag manufacturers are opening new factories around Baigou these years.

China’s bag production

However, Baigou also has the problems similar with Yiwu:

  • Although the wages are only two-thirds of that in southern China, most of the workers here are not good at making complex bags (the managers in my factory spend a lot of time training them);

  • The factories here are relatively small, so it is difficult for them to handle huge orders.

If the professional skills of the workers here can be continuously improved, Baigou may have stronger international competition in bag manufacturing.

Therefore, if someone hopes to produce premium leather bags, I will never recommend Baigou to him.

But if you want to get a better price, try finding a supplier here.

Here are the most famous manufacturers:

  • Twin Oaks Bags - One of the largest bag factories in Baigou, produces 3,000,000 bags per year, manufactures for Target and Lidl. I’m running it currently;

  • Three Birds Luggage - manufactures for many brands in the Middle East.

 

5. PingHu City

 

As one of the pillar industries of Pinghu, the bag manufacturing industry was once very prosperous there.

But because of rising costs, this industry is slowly being replaced by high-tech industries.

The wages of a Pinghu worker are about 60% higher than that of Baigou now, so I personally are not optimistic about the prospects of Pinghu bag manufacturing.

But it still has some significant advantages:

  • Because of the long history of international trading, Pinghu’s manufacturers are more trustworthy in general;

  • And if you want to buy some specific products such as suitcases, it is the best choice: most of the China's largest luggage manufacturers are here.

Here are the most famous manufacturers:

 

6. CangNan County

 

Cangnan is the most special one compared to several other manufacturing hubs.

It is not so much a center of the bag manufacturing industry, but a center of the printing and package industry.

There are thousands of printing houses there, some of which have state-of-the-art printing equipment, and about 30% of China's packages are printed there.

So if you want to buy bags that require high print quality, such as non-woven bags and canvas bags, I suggest you choose some factory in Cangnan.

Here are the most famous manufacturers:

 

Final thoughts

The bag manufacturing industry is an old but highly volatile industry.

In the past few years, many industry giants have declined or even disappeared overnight. So I will keep updating this article in the future. If you have any questions on bag manufacturing, just reach out to us.

Let’s learn from each other.