Galatea Chooses High-Quality Material for Innovative Packaging for New Organic Spirit

Good Ol’ Sailor beer is a well-known brand in homes from Europe to the USA, Canada and even Jamaica. This tasty premium beer, from Swedish beer and liquor exporter Galatea, is also known for its innovative packaging and style.

The company is also one of the largest suppliers to Systembolaget, the Swedish state monopoly alcohol retailer. The company, which represents breweries from countries around the world, is constantly looking for new and exciting brands.

As the company sought to launch its first ever vodka, it focused on differentiation in and outside the bottle -- with an organic product (made from Swedish barley) contained in innovative yet sustainable packaging.

To realize these objectives, Galatea opted for a recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle and called upon CCL Label Decorative Sleeves to design an optimal consumer experience featuring an eye-catching “tattoo” effect. CCL manufactures shrink sleeves for product marketing sectors from food and beverage to cosmetic and household products.

To make the full-body shrink sleeves a reality, CCL selected Eastman Embrace™ LV, a copolyester resin for shrink films from Eastman Chemical Company. With a low shrink force and versatile shrink curve, shrink films made from Embrace™ LV can be produced with minimal shrink force while still maintaining a high level of shrinkage on the product. In addition, the film enables 360-degree graphics, processability and high printability for a stand-out package.

Dare to be different
Good Ol’ Sailor Vodka is the first Swedish vodka made of organic Swedish barley in PET bottles. The vodka is distilled four times and has a clean, fruity scent with a spicy aftertaste. At this point, the big challenge that the company faced was offering consumers a completely organic product in the most sustainable and innovative package while still keeping costs reasonable.

To realize the original design, Galatea collaborated with Aniela, a famous Swedish tattooist who designed a real art tattoo featuring a sailor theme with mermaids, roses and skulls. A large ship in the front of the bottle evokes stories and legends of pirates, providing Good Ol’ Sailor Vodka with seemingly effortless shelf differentiation.

After testing several shrink films for printability and processing benefits, shrink film made from Eastman Embrace™ LV was selected as the perfect match for Galatea’s vision for the Good Ol’ Sailor Vodka package. A key parameter in the choice was its high level of print definition, enabling the tattoo images on the shrink film to have the same effect as real tattoos.

“The colors are vivid, the design is 360 degrees and the material’s transparency and clarity give the sensation of paint on the bottle and not on an additional film”, said Peter Edin, brand manager, Galatea. The shrink sleeve and the sailor tattoo cover the bottle from the neck to the base. Additionally, the Eastman Embrace™ LV copolyester shrink film completely adheres to the surface of the bottle without any lifting. Due to the material’s properties, the sleeve wraps around the bottle from the base without creasing.

The Way to Find the Eco-Solution
Another parameter that made Galatea’s project more complex was the application of the shrink film to a PET bottle. Usually applied to glass bottles, shrink films are heated during the application process. The PET bottles needed a film that could be heated at low temperatures so as not to damage the bottle during the application process

“After different tests, we opted to use the Eastman Embrace™ LV copolyester because it completely met our requirements”, said Jon Cowan, Sales Director, CCL Label Decorative Sleeves. “The selection of the correct shrink film that could fit the bottle was critical and the tests we did on the other shrink films did not guarantee the same results.”

The PET bottles, in fact, are sensitive to high temperatures and different shrink films were tested to find the right solution. Only Embrace LV was able to be applied on the bottle by heating at a low temperature, ensuring a completely undamaged bottle.

A Sustainable Material for a Sustainable Product
Compared to glass bottles, PET boasts greatly reduced environmental impacts, with 58 percent less energy used in manufacturing and up to a 77 percent reduction greenhouse gases . In addition PET is 100 percent recyclable and it permitted Galatea to meet its goals in term of a sustainable product.

“We are proud of our product”, said continues Galatea’s Edin. “The design is so innovative with a high quality product to consume.” The result is exactly what Galatea was looking for: a high-quality, differentiated and sustainable package.

Source: Galatea