Primary packaging suppliers offer an extensive selection of

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packagingbottles, jars & tubes
Packaging has long been considered
an effective promotional tool for C&T
brands. But it now plays a more important
role than ever when it comes to creating a
strong, cohesive brand image.
As ceo of DieterBakicDesign and
DieterBakicEnterprises, Dominic Bakic,
explains: “Brands are still struggling with
fragmentation in the market and their
limitation to create a complete line-up
when it comes to non-cylindrical shapes.
Moreover, the ongoing diminishing
influence of advertising means packaging
has evolved from the silent salesperson
to the loud brand ambassador and the
most important means of communication
for brands.”
Fortunately, packaging suppliers today
offer a greater range of collections, which
allow C&T companies use complementary
packaging for a range of product types
across a line or even an entire brand.
New from Germany’s bomo trendline,
for example, is Severa, which comprises
200ml and 150ml PET/PE bottles with
screw or disc top cap options and
PMMA/PP jars in 50ml and 15ml sizes.
Here the focus is on clean lines without
ornamentation.
Also new is Collezione Luxea from
Lumson, featuring plastic and glass bottles,
Lumson’s TAG airless glass bottle, pumps,
flip-top caps and overcaps with a “minimal,
sophisticated, slender and feminine design,”
according to Lumson’s chief marketing
officer Stefano Focolari.
Meanwhile, DieterBakic offers 22
packaging lines, each comprising between
five and 18 products, with numerous caps,
materials and surface treatment options.
“Customers can extend their line-up over
time without being forced to select non
brand fitting packaging,” says Bakic.
BOTTLED UP
Aesthetically, packaging suppliers are
creating more interesting design options
when it comes to standard bottles and jars.
“We’re seeing a strong demand for
premium packaging lines with selective
shape languages, fine proportions and
classical, timeless features,” Bakic tells SPC.
“Our customers are moving away from
pure cylinders to more distinctive and
differentiated designs.”
Meeting this trend for distinctive shapes
is M&H Plastics, which launched a range of
PET bottles in shapes inspired by the
school science lab: a 300ml Florentine flask,
300ml Erlenmeyer flask and 250ml test
tube bottle/tottle. For brands seeking
something simpler, however, the company
more recently introduced Fusion, a new
standard, slimline HDPE bottle in three
54 SPC January 2013
sizes with a contemporary feel.
Lumson, meanwhile, introduced Wave, an
HDPE standard bottle in 200ml and 250ml
options. The elliptical bottles feature a light
wave pattern in relief, designed to be both
attractive and ergonomic.
In addition, the range of sizes in which
traditional plastic bottle designs are available
is growing. Measom Freer, for example,
added two new sizes – 60ml and 1 litre – to
its Metric range of Boston round bottles,
manufactured in clear PVC with other
materials and colours available to order.
Spectra Packaging also added two extra
Boston rounds in 100ml and 250ml
capacities to its line-up of HDPE standard
bottles, alongside nine other new bottles
including 30ml and 250ml tubular bottles
and a 400ml variant of its Lazio Oval shape.
There has likewise been plenty of
innovation when it comes to glass bottles.
New stock glass options for fragrance
include Flacon Quadri, an elegant, cubic
fragrance bottle with a heavy base from
Saverglass and Dream, a modern twist on
the apothecary stopper bottle from US
company New High Glass.
Additionally, New High Glass introduced
an interesting solution for popular LED
light-sensitive gel nail polishes: amber
bottles with an opaque coating in shiny
white and black and matte black finishes.
And for extra reassurance, Gerresheimer
is now offering glass containers to the
beauty industry manufactured according to
the ISO 22716 GMP (good manufacturing
practice) standard, a certification
predominantly associated with
pharmaceutical packaging production but
increasingly requested by skin care product
manufacturers.
Brands looking to create a point of
difference have also been adapting standard
containers in surprising ways. For example,
for its Emotional Brilliance colour
cosmetics line Lush took a 5ml dropper
bottle from Stölzle Flaconnage and adapted
the neck to take different applicators for its
eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick
products.
When it comes to jars, contemporary
designs and materials mean brands from
mass to luxury via niche have plenty of
choice. Recently launched options include
The total
package
Primary packaging suppliers offer an extensive
selection of standard bottles, jars and tubes to suit
every formulation and brand positioning. Julia Wray
discovers some of the most recent additions
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bottles, jars & tubespackaging
Induplast’s Bubbly range of wide mouth,
single wall jars, in product compatible PP
and HCP’s Azure Jar, a smooth, curved
50ml pack combining a thick walled outer
jar in glass-like PMMA with an internal
PP liner.
Meanwhile, Eco Vision Packaging offers
Eco Jar. While not strictly new on the
market (it launched in 2011) the product,
available in 2oz, 4oz and 13oz sizes, is
notable for being recyclable, home
compostable and vegan.
Ceo Ellery West states: “While most
conventional plastic is theoretically
recyclable, significant recycling rates may be
unachievable due to a wide array of
economic challenges. Also, while paper has
environmental costs, they are deeply
understood… It will take many more
decades before plastic toxicity is well
understood.”
The company is currently in the process
of developing rigid packaging technologies,
although its plan to create a toothpaste tube
has been put on hold.
TOP TUBES & TOTTLES
Tubes, which are more sophisticated than
ever in terms function and appearance, are
now being used to package an even wider
range of cosmetics.
“In the last years we’ve experienced a
higher demand on specialities for face care,”
says Mark Aegler, ceo of Neopac the Tube.
“Generally smaller diameter tubes (up to
ø25mm) are demanded. We also get more
requests for tubes for hair care and makeup.”
Neopac, for one, offers high barrier
Polyfoil tubes, which the Swiss company
says deliver a number of benefits.
“Polyfoil tubes provide reliable protection
against numerous external influences such
as light and oxygen,” Aegler explains. “In
addition, they may be embossed, hotstamped or finished with high quality
printing all around, and completed with a
variety of possible caps. And with Polyfoil
you can give the tube a metallic look,
which is only possible with this material.”
For Luxe Pack Monaco 2012 Neopac
teamed up with HCT to launch Polaris,
which combines Neopac’s Polyfoil tubes
with HCT’s cool tip applicators.
Pumpart System meanwhile offers airless
tubes, which solve common tube related
issues like incomplete product evacuation
and suck back, and offers a cost effective
alternative to standard airless systems.
A bonus feature of Pumpart’s tubes is the
dedicated air pouch (essentially a piston),
which can be used to showcase the
formulation’s key ingredient, as in the case
of lavender or coffee beans, for example.
And for companies seeking an
environmentally friendly option, EcosPack
manufactures a line of biodegradable plastic
packaging that includes flexible squeeze
tubes alongside containers made using
HDPE, PET and PP. The plastic resins
contain an organic based additive that (in
landfill) expands the molecular structure of
the plastic, rendering end products
biodegradable.
In some cases tottles can provide an
alternative to either bottles or tubes. “We
believe that tottles may be the perfect
choice for all daily ‘beauty routine’
cosmetic products,” says Lumson’s Focolari.
“They’re easy to handle and to keep in a
purse or in a make-up bag. It is a perfect
solution for products like liquid
foundations, BB creams, protection creams,
moisturisers and skin care in general.”
Lumson’s newly launched Amanda tottle
comes in PE and in PE with a soft touch
effect and is available in 30ml and 50ml
sizes. It has a slight concavity at the top,
which has been specifically designed to
follow the shape of a woman’s
thumb.
“We wanted to create a beautiful
object but also an easy to
use, ergonomic and nice
to handle pack,” adds
Focolari. “The Amanda
tottles are not part of
the collection but the
design concept is
common. We tried to
create a slender, delicate
and feminine design
that characterises both
the Amanda tottles and
Collezione Luxea.”
Also new on the
market is a ‘soft squeeze’
tottle addition to
DieterBakic’s Cosima line.
“Our softsqueese material
is as bendable as a tube
Packaging suppliers
like Measom Freer
(right) and M&H
Plastics (below left)
now provide stock
bottles in more
distinctive shapes and
in a wider range of
size options.
Below, Lumson’s
Amanda tottle and
DieterBakic’s
softsqueese variant
provide a viable
alternative to tubes
but can be manufactured in any kind of
shape,” says Bakic. “Therefore our
customers don’t need to move away from
their line shape when looking for a soft
packaging with good residual product
removal.”
He adds that the new tottle is ideal for
products like BB creams and foundations,
as well as facial creams, sun and hand
creams where brands wish to “differentiate
in terms of positioning and convey a more
selective appearance”.
BEST OF BOTH
Bakic adds that there is also stronger
demand for semi-customisation: the
combination of standard and customised
packaging. “This means that
DieterBakicDesign, as a design agency, takes
on the external brief from customers and
then builds upon our standard portfolio
and develops, for example, customised and
exclusive bottles to existing standard caps,”
he explains. “Here we provide more
integrated services, ranging from complete
customised structural or packaging
design to a mix of standard and
customer specific solutions.”
Quadpack also offers a bespoke
twist on its stock products via the
Quadpack Bespoke service,
claimed to approach all aspects of
the product, from ergonomics to
technical development in
production. The company says the
service is helpful for those clients
developing line extensions,
particularly when using standard
packs.
So even if a customised pack is
not an option, with suppliers
providing a wide range of
interesting standards and diverse
decorative and quasi-customisable
solutions there’s no reason why your
product can’t stand out from the
crowd.
January 2013 SPC 55