Labels and Shrink Sleeves: Giving Packages More Than Just a Pretty Face
Shrink-sleeve labels like these from Ameri-Seal wrap a package with graphics and conform well to packages with unusual shapes. Today's label technologies do more than affect a label's look.
By Christina Elston
If a package is a product's skin, keeping the contents inside, then the label is its face, giving the package its identity and look. And few markets trade more on looks than cosmetics and personal care.
Labels do more than give a distinct look to a package. They can change the texture of a container, offer a new way to decorate packages with unusual shapes, and make an inexpensive component look luxurious.
How Does It Feel?
Say "label" and the first thing that comes to mind is probably look rather than feel. But by using varnishes; matte laminations; or grainy, pebbled, or linen stock, labels can add texture to a package, according to Elisha Tropper, president of Prestige Label Company, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY).
Sometimes the feel of the label needs to match that of the bottle, according to Paul Mitcham, national marketing manager for Yupo Corp. (Chesapeake, VA). The company now offers in-mold labeling. In-mold labels are applied as plastic bottles are blow molded so that the label essentially becomes part of the bottle and its texture. In-mold labels offer such benefits as elimination of a step in the decorating process, durability, and being 100% waterproof. Also, unlike paper labels, they allow a plastic bottle and its label to be recycled together.
Yupo's two new in-mold label grades of synthetic paper, YUPO ISE105 and YUPO IUE105, feature a smoother texture for enhanced bottle-to-label matching. "We have found that the feel of the label is very important to the consumer," says Mitcham. "A smooth feel conveys the idea of quality and luxury."
"Texture can also help suggest the idea of wood, fabric, metal, or other materials," says Sharon Lobel, president and CEO of Seal-It Inc. (Farmingdale, NY). One Seal-It customer wanted a container to look like linen. A printed linen pattern on the label, topped off with a matte finish for a silky feel, did the trick.
Heavy on the Metal
Packages that gleam or glitter are also popular. "Things in metal seem to be hot right now," says David Feldman, division manager of prestige packaging enhancements at Stoffel Seals Corp. (Nyack, NY). Stoffel Seals helps brands achieve metal looks by adding cast charms, metal stamping, or ribbon or cord with a medallion to packages. "It's kind of the black tie [detail] that sets the package apart," he says.
Prestige Label's Tropper has also noticed increased demand for specialty materials such as colored or mirror foils, and prismatic patterns on metallic papers and films. "Good label designers design 'into' the label substrate, especially when the material is particularly graphical," Tropper says.
Hair-care brand Sexy Hair Concepts asked Ameri-Seal (Chatsworth, CA) to print ink on glass and match the look of an aerosol can. According to Ameri-Seal's president, Howard Millstein, Sexy Hair Concepts had purchased small rubber-coated glass bottles at a close-out, but was limited in what it could do because of the coated glass. With Ameri-Seal's Insta-Mist clear sleeve, the supplier was able to match the look of the can and print the adhesive side of the shrink sleeve with two layers of graphics, back to back, facing away from each other.
Using gold film, Seal-It can make containers look like a piece of jewelry—a popular option in the cosmetics market. "We're also able to take the film and give it a frosted look," says Seal-It's Lobel. This allows customers to give a plain container an etched-glass look. "We take that inexpensive jar and make it look expensive," Lobel adds.
Dare to Be Different
Another way to give an impression of luxury is by adding unique enhancements, according to Stoffel Seals' Feldman. "What's really hot is doing something custom," he says. Stoffel Seals' plastic seals and medallions, malleable pewter medallions with cord or ribbon, or wax-look plastic seals often fit the bill. "When someone is looking for something that's unique and different, and they want to figure out how to get it done, they come to us," Feldman says.
Medallions, like this one from Stoffel Seals, can be more attention-getting than standard labels.
Medallions, like this one from Stoffel Seals, can be more attention-getting than standard labels.Seal-It is also constantly striving for innovation. According to Lobel, the company is working on creating scented bands that will allow consumers to test the scent of a product without opening the container. These will likely be on the market sometime this year. "We're constantly doing new and better things to make it appetizing for our customers," she says.
Honey, I Shrunk the Label
Labels can often be difficult to apply to an odd-shaped container. Heat-shrinkable sleeves offer a solution. Ameri-Seal's newest heat-shrinkable PETG sleeves offer a shrink factor of almost 80%, allowing much better flexibility than with PVC film, which typically has a shrink margin of just 45-50%. "For more unusual container shapes, sometimes the only way to decorate it is with a sleeve," says Ameri-Seal's Millstein.
To assist companies that don't want to apply shrink sleeves themselves, Ameri-Seal launched a contract sleeving division in August. The company will print and apply the labels, then ship the containers out for filling.
Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, TN) announced that it developed a new resin for shrink-sleeve labels. Called Embrace High-Yield resin, the copolyester complements Eastman's current product for shrink sleeves called Embrace High-Shrink, which launched in 1999. According to Eastman, the new Embrace resin yields up to 40% more labels per pound compared with the Embrace High-Shrink version. In addition, Embrace High-Yield can be produced with cool, soft-touch textures. Also, since High-Yield can be produced to have a specific gravity below 1.0, the labels can also be separated from more-dense materials such as PET containers for easier recycling.
Hidden Value
Ampersand Label's extended-text labels for Bumble and bumble offer lots of information for the consumer.Labels aren't merely aesthetic—they're practical too. Extended-text labels continue to be in demand by companies that need more label space for the fine print required by agencies like FDA and the European Union.
Ampersand Label's extended-text labels for Bumble and bumble offer lots of information for the consumer.
Bumble and bumble (New York City) recently chose extended-text labels for its new treatment line. The labels were Easy Tab labels from Ampersand Label's (Garden Grove, CA) MultiVision extended-text label line. The label features a resealable top panel and is curved to fit containers including those with small diameters.
PJ Silverstein, package development manager for Bumble and bumble, says that the extended-text format was a cost-saving necessity. "It came down to legal reasons," says Silverstein. "We could not fit all the required text on the box itself unless we went to a more expensive folding carton. Easy Tab provided customers with easy access to ingredient information and copy."
"The Easy Tab label provides up to nine sheets above the base label for additional copy space," says Michelle Izzi, product representative for Ampersand Label.
Multipage labels like Ampersand's can also be environmentally friendly. "Our labels can be manufactured with 30% postconsumer waste on all sheets above the base label," says Izzi.
Pretty in Print
To achieve the high-end looks cosmetic and personal care manufacturers demand, print quality must be superb. And print technology is better than ever, according to Prestige Label's Tropper. During the past 18 to 24 months, Prestige Label's capabilities for digital runs, as well as the breadth of digitally compatible materials, have expanded tremendously. "The impact of digital label printing is being felt now more and more," Tropper says. "Product managers and label purchasers have been weaned away from the confusion that digital printing is tantamount to desktop printing."
It was digital printing that allowed Epicurean Shea Butter Co. (Capitol Heights, MD) to quickly change from a simple, and somewhat limited, label design to one that truly reflects the company's products. "Initially, we had a very craft-fair kind of look for our product," says Charles E. Herbert Jr., COO for Epicurean. The products were selling well, but the labels were not wraparound style, and so they offered limited real estate for printing information. "You really didn't have a sense of what was inside the container," Herbert says.
Digital printing makes it possible for the Epicurean Shea Butter brand to easily change the look of its labels.
Digital printing makes it possible for the Epicurean Shea Butter brand to easily change the look of its labels.Epicurean worked with Prestige Label to create a wraparound label design with sophisticated graphics and more room for information about the products and the company. Especially important was the chance to educate consumers about shea butter, the products' main ingredient, and "to make a better connection between the label and the product," according to Herbert.
Because Prestige offers digital printing capabilities, the company could easily import graphics files and translate them quickly into finished proofs. Any necessary changes could be made on the fly, and provide the look the company wanted.
Along with the quality of digital printing, the quality of high-definition flexography has also become extraordinary, Tropper says. "The net effect of the emergence and mainstreaming of digital label printing, along with the dramatic increases in the quality of high-definition flexographic printing, is improved print quality and lower pricing at every quantity level," he explains.
The highly demanding printing presses that offer such improved quality often require the substrate to go through eight or 10 color processes, hot stamping, etc. This requires a sturdy substrate, according to Rick Harris, market product manager of the product branding business team at Flexcon (Spencer, MA). Today's films and liner constructions "have kept up-to-date with the improvements in printing equipment," Harris says.
To enhance the durability of the film going through the presses, Flexcon offers the TRACrite Clear PET film liner, a release liner that provides superior on-press performance for tight-registration graphics. With today's sophisticated photo-quality graphics, "they need a product that will not wander through the press," Harris says.
Labels That Last
Even the most sophisticated label won't entice customers to continue purchasing a product if it isn't durable. In the cosmetics and personal care industry, harsh substances such as nail polish remover often come into contact with the label. Products might also need to withstand exposure to water or steam, or stand up to squeezing of the container.
"Personal care products tend to be exposed to prolonged usage in harsh environments, such as the bathroom or kitchen," says Yupo's Mitcham. "Nontear features and chemical and water resistance of labels is important."
However wonderful a label may feel, however unique, shiny, or sparkly it is, or however beautifully it is printed, the label has to last. Consumers expect package labeling to endure throughout the life of the product, and a durable label adds a perception of quality, says Harris. With today's durable labels, "the container looks good from the day you buy it until the day you throw it in the basket."