Home › Blog › 1.5 vs 2 vs 3 Mil Poly Bags: Which Thickness to Choose

1.5 vs 2 vs 3 Mil Poly Bags: Which Thickness to Choose

03/29/2026

Mil thickness is the single most common spec question we get, and it’s also the one most first-time buyers guess wrong on. A mil is one-thousandth of an inch, and the difference between 1.5 and 3 mil is bigger in practice than the numbers suggest.

Here’s a straightforward breakdown of what each thickness is actually good for.

1.5 mil: lightweight and economical

The thinnest option in our line, 1.5 mil is the standard choice for soft, lightweight goods — t-shirts, printed materials, small accessories. It keeps shipping weight and per-unit cost down, but it’s not the right call for anything with sharp corners or real weight behind it.

2 mil: the versatile middle ground

Most of our resealable and self-seal orders land at 2 mil. It resists puncture from folded fabric edges and light hardware, handles repeated zip-track use well, and still keeps cost reasonable at volume — the default we recommend when a customer isn’t sure.

3 mil: built for weight and edges

Reserved for heavier goods, components with sharp edges, or anything that needs to survive rough freight handling. Manufacturers shipping parts and hardware lean on 3 mil almost exclusively.

Not sure which mil fits your product? Get a custom quote — free mockups in 24–48 hours. Learn more about how we work, or browse more guides.

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Home › Blog › Custom Poly Bags for Apparel Brands: Sizing & Personalization

Custom Poly Bags for Apparel Brands: Sizing & Personalization

03/15/2026

Apparel is one of the highest-volume categories we bag, and the two questions we hear most from new apparel accounts are the same every time: what size should I actually order, and can these be personalized per style or per SKU.

Here is how we answer both.

Sizing for folded vs. hung goods

Folded garments — tees, basics, multi-piece sets — do best in a Resealable Poly Bag sized with about half an inch of clearance on each side so the zip closes fully without straining the seam. Hung goods like outerwear, dresses, and structured pieces do better in a Garment Poly Bag with Hang Hole, sized to the garment’s folded or draped dimensions rather than a flat measurement.

Personalizing by SKU or style

Once a brand has more than a few SKUs, printing the same generic bag for everything starts to look inefficient next to a competitor’s line. We commonly run variable printing across a single order — different size charts, different care instructions, or a different accent color per collection — as long as the base bag size and mil thickness stay consistent across the run.

Thickness by garment weight

Ready to size and personalize a poly bag program for your line? Get a custom quote — free mockups in 24–48 hours. Learn more about how we work, or browse more guides.

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