How Did Handles Make Their Way to Paper Bags?

Paper bags have been extremely reliable for a number of decades, especially to the food and retail industries. Paper bags have been highly utilized for their durability and toughness and have been mainly used for carrying multiple items at a time. The paper bag has been a staple for grocery stores, as there have been no other alternatives for quite a long time.

Then along came plastic bags. Plastic bags were introduced in the 1970s, known for their flexibility, light weight, and customizable colors. Plastic bags today are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and are the more common bag you would find at most retail and grocery stores.

Why did customers like plastic bags back then? Their handles

Because of the handles that come with plastic bags, it is very simple to carry multiple bags at a time. You can even slip these handles through your arms and carry several bags of groceries at a time. As with paper bags, they can only be carried by tucking them under your arm or rolling the top closed and carrying the bag by this fold. Most customers can only hold two paper bags for groceries at a time, making it very awkward for them to want to retrieve a key from their pocket in order to open their front door or car door.

In the 90s, it was believed that the paper bags would go the way of the dinosaur, and while they are made of all-natural materials and provide much reusability, the handles made plastic bags the more preferred choice among consumers. Plastic bags were also more affordable to make and sell to stores, which was all the more reason for paper bags to be replaced outright.

Paper bags have known to have a few advantages over plastic bags, so they did not go away entirely, but plastic was dominantly the easy choice for a while for both customers and stores.

The solution to the lack in paper bags was to easily make handles for them. Since the introduction of paper bags with handles, this gave the paper bag a new life in retail, and had prevented it from becoming obsolete entirely.

Paper bag handles are created in one of several different ways from the bag. These handles are either made of a thick paper, ribbon, or rope, in order for the handle to stay intact while you carry heavy objects. Bag handles made of paper are rolled up into a thick twist. The ends of these handles are glued or fused onto lining found inside these bags, sandwiched in between with another piece of paper to prevent the handle from moving or becoming loose. This process is fairly simple and has been known to have very minimal chance of failing.

Rope and ribbon handles are not used in the same way, however. For these thicker handles, there are two holes that are punched through each side of the bag. Both ends of each handle go through each hole and a knot is manually tied inside the lining of the bag. These knots have a very slim chance of coming undone, and can be just as easy holding up a bag with fewer resources than thinner paper handles.

Paper bags with handles are much easier for consumers to manage over paper bags without handles. Plastic bags have once dethroned paper bags in the retail industry because of their easy-to-carry nature, but since the introduction of handles on paper bags, paper bags have been making a resurgence. Consider buying paper bags in many sizes and colors to choose from.