Bag Design Consultancy & Soft‑Goods Product Development Experts

Bag design process showing initial sketch, detailed tech-pack development, and final soft-goods product
Bag design process showing initial sketch, detailed tech-pack development, and final soft-goods product

A step-by-step view of the bag design process, from sketch to tech pack to final product

Design‑IQ Ltd is a specialist bag design consultancy with over 30 years of experience of creating backpacks, luggage, handbags, urban work bags, technical equipment, and lifestyle accessories for startups, retailers, and established brands.

We help clients turn early ideas into fully engineered, production‑ready products that reflect the essence of the brand, function flawlessly, and can be manufactured at scale.

We work with clients across the United States, UK, and Europe, guiding them through every stage of bag and soft‑goods product development – from concept sketches to prototypes, tech packs, sourcing, and manufacturing.

Why Choose Our Consultancy

  • End‑to‑end bag design and soft‑goods product development
  • Bespoke concept creation for backpacks, handbags, travel bags, luggage, and accessories
  • Expert tech pack creation, prototype development, and sample refinement
  • Manufacturer sourcing, liaison, and commercial production guidance
  • Deep understanding of materials, eco-fabrics, construction, hardware, and manufacturing processes
  • Proven track record across outdoor, travel, sports products, lifestyle, fashion, urban, pet products, medical, security and technical sectors
  • Clear business communication, up-front information about process, so as to give confidence as we work with national and international sources

Our Core Services

Bag Design & Concept Development

We listen carefully to your goals and transform your ideas into clear, functional, and commercially viable designs. Our traditional design expertise is enhanced with modern digital tools and AI‑assisted visualisation to help you evaluate options quickly and creatively.

Bag Tech Packs & Prototype Development

We create accurate, factory‑ready tech packs that ensure the factory knows exactly what we want and speed up development. These detailed specifications support the creation of functional bag and luggage prototypes for testing, refinement, and manufacturing approval.

Factory Sourcing, Commercial Advice & Production Support

We carefully choose manufacturers with a proven and ethical track record, review samples carefully, and prepare diligently for mass production. Our years of commercial and practical hand on factory experience means we eliminate production problems through careful design, prototye specification, excellent factory communications and organise smooth manufacturing with carefully prepared quality control.

Who We Work With

  • Startups launching their first bag or accessories brand
  • Established companies expanding into soft‑goods
  • Outdoor, travel, lifestyle, and technical equipment brands
  • Product teams needing specialist bag design expertise
  • Entrepreneurs with a great commercial idea but no textile or luggage manufacturing experience

Why Clients Trust Design‑IQ

  • 30+ years of specialist bag design and engineering experience
  • In‑depth knowledge of materials, construction, and manufacturing
  • Creative design of custom brand hardware and finishing details
  • Strong commercial understanding and practical production insight
  • Dozens of successful products launched globally
  • A collaborative, transparent, and reliable working process
  • Reviews about Design IQ are at the bottom of this page

Our Development Process

  1. Discovery Call — Understanding your idea, goals, and requirements
  2. User Needs & Concept Development — Examination of the users needs, multiple creative sketch designs, trend direction, materials & colours
  3. Detailed Bag Design — Detailed design inside and out – so you can check everything
  4. Brand Hardware Design — Custom hardware and finishing details with technical specifications
  5. Technical Development — Tech packs, construction details, materials, and components
  6. Prototype Creation — Samples, testing, and refinement ready for manufacturing
  7. Production Support — Factory liaison, commercial advice, and diligent manufacturing preparation
  8. Quality Control & Shipping — Ensuring your final product meets expectations

Start Your Bag or Luggage Project

We love creating new products! – so we offer a free initial consultation, with no obligation to discuss your project, answer questions, and outline the best path forward – along with a guide about costs in advance. So if you’d like to discuss how we can help you – just get in touch!
Email: info@design-iq-ltd.com WhatsApp: +44(0)7785 350538 Landline Telephone: +44(0)1531 579188

What People Are Saying

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Chis K. New York USA. 2026.
21st July 2026

Tool Bag for Tradespeople and DIY’ers Project.

I want to "Thank You". Your involvement and the work you've put in with communication alone is worth a million Thank you.I'm also happy that you felt excited to work on this project. Motivates me as well, I feel as though we may have something here.  Truly grateful for the time you have already spent. Just wanted to Thank you for all the Hard work you've put into this already.

Paul C. PC& Co. UK. 2025.
30th June 2025

Security Workers backpack.

That's perfect, thank you!…. we especially like that it does not look anything like it's intended purpose and can be wrapped in any material easily.

Matthew and Caroline. E&E. USA. 2025
30th June 2025

Urban Backpack System. New York.

I hope you are well. As we approach year-end we just wanted to send you a note expressing our gratitude for all of your work thus far. We are so happy to be partnering with you and are very much looking forward to 2025!

Mr Luis T. Njord. USA. 2025.
30th June 2025

Kiteboarding travel luggage.

I deeply appreciate your hard work and patience throughout this process. I'm particularly grateful for the innovative ideas you've brought forward, many of which I could never have imagined myself.

Daniel Baross. USA. KOA Sports bag.
25th February 2025

Jui Jitsu sports bag Prototype Stage.

I know I say this a lot, but thank you for all your work on this, Guy. It's turning out very good and I've already had organic interactions in the gym with people coming to ask about the bag.

Veronica P. Virginia, USA.
1st October 2024

Smart fashionable work bags for female personel in a organisation in the USA.

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU for creating such beautiful stylish designs & turning my idea into a visual reality. Before we met, I had a vision of a functional (confidential information hidden) bag for women but I had no clue where to start or what it would look like. The designs you sent me inspired me and got my creative juices flowing. So, thank you for waking up my creative soul.

Caroline A and Matthew C. Eni&Evri. NYC USA.
1st September 2024

Urban Commuter bag for versatile workers

Thank you so much again for your time and effort spent on developing these concept designs! Matt and I are thrilled and will have some tough decisions to make as all of these concepts are wonderfully thought out. We are very appreciative of you and your work.

Paulina Tycner - SHELQA
18th January 2024

Womens day workbag that will adapt to carry more - hands free.

Dear Guy, I would like thank you for your support and professional advice with creating the SHELQA backpack brand. It was and still is a great pleasure to work together. I highly appreciate your careful listening to all our ideas and requirements, swift feedback, being so patient, open minded and most of all able to turn ideas into a design of an actual product. I hope we have a chance to further work together on SHELQA brand development and soon market launch. Our local manufacterer is already impressed with the design, we can only expect our future Customers will be too. Thank you again for everything 🙂

Daniel B., KOA Bags USA
23rd October 2023

Clean and Healthy Jui Jitsu bags

I confirm receipt of the concepts fantastic job….all the concepts are so creative and well-done. Thank you for all your work putting them together. Choosing between 4 great options is refreshing.

Dr Catherine Fernando, CEO of IYASU
2nd May 2023

IYASU Doctors bags.

Dear Guy, Thank you so much for guiding me along every step of my journey from the inception of my idea, through concept designs, designs in detail, fabric choices, branded metal details, production management, quality control and shipping. You’ve been a fountain of knowledge and a fantastic mentor. I absolutely couldn’t have done it without you. The collection of bags you have designed are not only beautiful but are perfectly suited to the function they were created to fulfil. Not only that, but they are made with eco-friendly, recycled materials that make my brand even more desirable. I’m so happy to have just launched my brand, IYASU Medical Bags. My first customers are delighted with look and quality of their bags, and I am receiving glowing reviews. I know this is going to be a huge success. THANK YOU for everything!

Daniel Weston. UK.
10th March 2023

Stylish adaptable Parenting bag for Men.

Dear Guy, Firstly may I thank you for all your efforts on getting to this stage. I feel that we have developed a really strong product.
Everyone questioned said the quality of the bag was of a very high standard and warranted a premium value - “high end” “amazing” “good quality”.

Jake Ironfield, USA
10th March 2023

Ski Travel Bag Project that makes travel with Ski Equipment easier

I have recently completed the concept stage with Guy whom went above and beyond what was in the initial offer letter. Guy not only provided me with three unique concepts to choose from, but also came up with multiple novel ideas for complementing products that were not asked for in the brief. Guy and his team are detail oriented, and it shows in their work product. I look forward to navigating the remaining design stages of my product with Guy and his team.

Dr Catherine Fernando, CEO of IYASU
19th August 2022

IYASU Doctors bags.

Guy [Design IQ] has been a rock of sound advice and guidance. I have worked with Guy Mathiot of Design IQ Ltd. since May 2019. He is an extremely talented, creative Designer who has an enviable knowledge and in-depth experience of the fashion industry, especially in the field of bags. Guy has been an invaluable asset to IYASU, a designer brand of doctors’ bags since its inception. From beautifully constructed concept designs to exceptionally detailed, clear technical drawings, navigating the daunting task of factory selection, scrutinising samples, and now managing production, Guy has been a rock of sound advice and guidance. My background is in Medicine. Until the idea of my business occurred to me, I had worked for my whole career as a doctor and therefore had no experience of starting a fashion brand. Although I felt inspired, passionate, and understood the need to transform the world of medical bags to reflect the fashionable, female demographic who now practice as doctors, without Design IQ Ltd I never would have managed to achieve anything near success. Initially Guy asked me to complete a comprehensive questionnaire to enable him to fully understand my vision and the potential place in the market for my products. He is refreshingly straight-talking and honest, which are powerful tools in a fiercely competitive industry. In addition to evaluating my plan, and contributing his own educated ideas at this stage, he enquired whether I could afford to embark on this venture. Although this may seem personal, anyone who has ever started a fashion line will appreciate that it requires a huge investment of time, financial funding, energy, and emotional resilience prior to any return. Through a carefully constructed process with meticulous attention to every step of design detail, Guy has created a stunningly beautiful, fashionable, and functional range of doctors’ bags for women. In addition, the extra design details of the metal work, including branded zips, bag tags and fastenings are a credit to his talents, and give the pieces their special high- end look and status. The products exceed my expectations, and I am proud that they bear my brand logo. The journey has undoubtedly taken longer than I expected, but then my expectations were extremely naïve. I have learnt much along the way and changed my initial plans for fabrics. Guy was sympathetic to my brand ethos towards eco-friendly materials and not only provided his own considered opinions but took time out to research recycled fabrics and plant-based leathers at a textile exhibition abroad. He has also been a great source of knowledge on colour, sourcing of a high-end factory with pre-existing designer clients, quality control, and future ideas for expanding the product range. It has been expensive but working with Guy has made this venture far less terrifying than it could have been and enabled me to avoid innumerable pitfalls. It is much less costly to do things properly with expert guidance, than to end up with poor quality, ill-thought-out products. I can’t wait to launch IYASU, and I’m fully confident it will be a great success.
https://iyasubags.com/

Matt Scott
3rd February 2022

Grab Bag Concept creation

Guy took his time to understand not only the practical elements and real life uses for the bag I wanted to create, but also always kept one eye firmly on the commercial aspects. Very clearly has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to design and functionality, Guy wasn't afraid to offer solutions that pushed but ultimately improved the original brief. Great communication throughout. Looking forward to the next stage!

Catherine F. Iyasu
1st March 2021

 (Talking about new zip pullers we have designed)

“Wow! They are a work of art! Couldn’t be more delighted with them.”

Charles Ross
4th February 2021

Specialist in Performance Design and Sustainability

I have known Guy for something like 20 years & it has been interesting to see his positive progress within a specialised & changing industry. We have never had a direct business relationship, but I have followed his work (as I teach design), I have worked with brands that have used his services, & he has employed my graduates. Guy has the knack of knowing what works, what is original, & what is commercial, whilst keeping the underlying signature of a brand. Is that not what you want from a designer?

Miles Cox
4th February 2019

The Yogipac

Guy ( of Design IQ) has been extremely helpful and knowledgeable about our interesting/different backpack product and we would highly recommended him to get a great finished article! We will look to continue to work with Guy and grow the product

Various customer feedback
21st November 2018

Workplay bags

“I am really pleased with my Goddess bag and I know it’s just what my daughter was looking for”
“I think the fleetfoot is fab!! I wear it every time I go running”
“I love the gymwise bag – ideal for me cycling to the gym”
“A truly ingenious product, a really good idea”
“a creative design from a very creative company. They consistently seek to develop the ideal product and the Urban expandable bag is a superb concept”
“I received my bag as a christmas gift and LOVE IT! I live in New York City and its a great bag for me as I go to the gym every morning and this bag is stylish and carries everything that I need and more!! Just wanted to let you know how much I love it! These need to be sold in the US!”

Mike B. Stylox.
21st November 2018

Easy access work tools bag.

When I first approached Guy (Creative Director of Design IQ) with my bag idea, I was instantly impressed by his professional and methodical approach to the project. With carefully defined and thought out design stages he is helping make decisions along the way by raising questions that I hadn’t even thought about. Using his wealth of manufacturing knowledge I soon hope to have that all important first sample. With his eye for detailed design and innovative thinking it is quite probable that a patentable part is created along the way. We might start with a great idea and hope to finish with it selling well in the stores, but overlook that huge void in the middle. This is where Guy excels!

Tog 24
21st November 2018

Ranges of Co-ordinated Outdoor backpacks & travel bags.

… I had quite a few comments at our sales meeting that the bags looked great and were at the right prices.

Russell Smith
21st November 2018

Military / Historical equipment bag Concepts.

I also spoke with Guy and was immediately impressed with his personable approach, expertise and professionalism. Sharing your ideas with a professional company can be a daunting experience but Guy put my concerns to rest and my advice to anyone starting out is to be open when sharing your ideas with Design IQ. Anyone can copy ideas and even the final product but you need to be the first one producing it to become a leader in the market and Design IQ certainly have the capability to help you do this. They offer design, prototype and manufacturing services at a reasonable cost.

I decided to take some more time to refine my initial concept and do some more market analysis following discussion with Guy but will definitely use DesignIQ services in the near future.

Oswald Bailey, Stephen Bailey.
21st November 2018

Outdoor hiking and travel bags collections & Retail brand Logo.

It has got to be said you have been excellent value for money!

Berghaus
21st November 2018

Design of Urban Active backpacks with dedicated EVA panels.

All the designs were superb and it was very difficult to choose the best one”…….”I would like to thank you personally for the excellent work you and your team have done for us…. some particular designs have really stood out and provoked a considerable, unsolicited positive response.

Lara Milanova
21st November 2018

Hamster Bags

I am more than happy with the whole experience of working with you.

Alice Duston
21st November 2018

Womens Gym bag that will also carry a yoga mat.

After speaking with Guy I was offered a lot of invaluable advice and recommendations going above and beyond what I expected from an introductory call. I felt there was no pressure to use their services and given valuable help to take ideas forward.

Migros. Switzerland
21st November 2018

Ski Clothing Design.

We were very satisfied with the designs, especially as the sell through was very good!

Tarek el Moukachar
21st November 2018

Fashionable men’s security travel backpack.

Mate, my wife and I are blown away! I really love how my idea, with your creative and expert input, has come to life!

Ewa Morgan
21st November 2018

Professional Make up Travel bag.

Guy that looks great!!! You’ve just made my day ?

S. Poulter
21st November 2018

T.M.G.

You have been an excellent Marketing tool.

Felicia J. Gentry (USA)
21st November 2018

“UNBELIEVABLE” were my first thoughts after my first encounter with Guy Mathiot of Design IQ.
A few years ago I had the rare opportunity to witness the tactical genius of Guy Mathiot as he consulted on my start up luggage company FanTrav, LLC. Previously, we worked with two other luggage design consultants who didn’t quite get what we needed. In just a few hours Guy masterfully took our basic luggage line and expanded it to a viable market place product offering –far beyond even what we could ever see or think. “Unbelievable”!
Guy’s scientific-like approach to design, Keen attention to detail, uncanny ability to see gaps in the market, an understanding of the consumer, all while being mindful of our financial objectives is what clearly sets him far apart from others in the industry.
Beyond this design skill mastery and business experience is the man himself who I found easy to communicate with, likeable, and most important a man of integrity.
If starting a luggage company from scratch, there is no other “Guy” for the job. (I couldn’t resist!!)

Doug Axon
21st November 2018

Entrepreneur

Thanks for the meeting yesterday, it was very informative, and I was impressed by your knowledge, links to industry, and your conscientious approach to my product. I would like you to start on the concept work you proposed. I am looking forward to getting things started, and working with you.

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Victoria Noonan
23rd July 2018

Guy gave me a very realistic idea of what I was able to achieve, and was honest and upfront about the work that would be involved. He gave me a good overall picture of the process, and explained many parts that I hadn't thought of. I'd highly recommend him for a consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you work with startups or first‑time founders?
Yes – we regularly help entrepreneurs turn early ideas into fully manufacturable bag and luggage products.
Can you help source a bag manufacturer?
We provide guidance to our design customers on selecting the right factory, reviewing samples, and preparing for mass production.
What types of bags do you design?

We design all kinds of bags including backpacks, luggage, handbags, protective cases, sports bags, technical equipment bags, outdoor bags and lifestyle accessories.

Do you create tech packs for factories?
Yes – Tech packs are a skilled task that cant be done competently by AI – we produce detailed, factory‑ready tech packs that reduce sampling errors and speed up development.
Do you help protect designs?
Yes – we give customers copyright to our design service customers, and we arrange confidentiality contracts with factories.