How Hardware is Made for a Handbag

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When designing a handbag collection, you may want to create your own custom branded hardware to make your product unique and recognizable. Ever wonder how custom hardware for handbags is made? While there are many ways of creating a mold, below is the process that most of our hardware makers use:

Here’s the process of making metal hardware and fittings for a handbag:

1. A CNC machine is used to carve the mold out of metal.

CNC machining is a subtractive manufacturing process where raw material is removed by machine with a variety of precision cutting tools to make a part or product. Computer software is used to control the equipment depending on the specifications of your 3D design.

Below is a quick example of a CNC machine making a mold for a handbag logo plaque.

CNC is ideal because it can create highly accurate hardware, parts, and prototypes. The process can be slow, however (average of 8 hours for 1 piece), so it is not ideal for volume production runs. Most of our suppliers use CNC technology for creating the initial mold, and then they cast this mold for mass production of the hardware.

2. Casting the Mold

After the mold is created, liquified molten metal (700°F) is either poured or pressure-injected into the mold. The mold and the metal contents are then cooled and the mold is removed to reveal the replicated hardware piece. This is called casting.

3. Finishing

There are many ways of finishing metal. For handbags, the most common finishes used are electroplating, powder coating, and anodizing:

Electroplating

Electroplating is the most commonly used finishing for handbag hardware. The process uses positive and negative charges to cause the metal to adhere to the surface, and involves dipping the hardware into these specially charged vats of the metal, several times to achieve the desired effect.

Powder coating

As the name implies, powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry “Powder (substance)”. Powder coatings differ from conventional liquid paints in that powder coatings are cured under heat to enable the binder and filler parts to flow and form a skin. Powders may be thermoplastic or thermoset polymers. This finish is tougher and more durable than conventional paint. Powder coating is mainly used for achieving a colored, candy-like coating on hardware.

Anodizing

Anodizing converts metals into a decorative, corrosion-resistant, anodic oxide finish through an electrochemical process. Aluminum is ideally suited for anodizing, although other nonferrous metals can also be anodized.

Depending on the desired outcome, additional finishing techniques may be applied (brushing, tumbling, etc) after the initial coating or finish is applied.

If you would like more information on developing custom hardware for your collection, contact us for a free consultation.

Thread and Butter Design Agency is a full service fashion design agency with global manufacturing partners for handbags, footwear, and apparel.