Innovative #50 Wine Brand Embraces Eastman Packaging Resin

The high but controllable shrink rate of film made from Embrace HY was essential in ensuring no distortion of the 94Wines brand image.

16 Aug 2012 --- Eastman Embrace HY copolyester shrink sleeve facilitates enhanced 360-degree distortion-free graphics on a white film for complex bottle shapes

To continue Baarsma Wine Group’s new take on contemporary wine branding for the 94Wines range, Rivièra Product Decorations selected Eastman Embrace HY copolyester for shrink film for its white wine #50. Its packaging now reflects 94Wines’ eye-catching design values.

“The 94Wines concept creates a new and contemporary niche for its products”, comments Frans Rienks, packaging designer and converter of Rivièra Product Decorations based in The Netherlands. “We were commissioned to create a bottle labeling sleeve for its latest white wine for launch in autumn 2011.”

“The bottle sleeve and its printed design had to remain absolutely distortion-free in 3600 despite the complex wine bottle shape. The high but controllable shrink rate of film made from Embrace HY was essential in ensuring no distortion of the 94Wines brand image. The natural matte white finish of the film is ideal for overprinting, and matches the wine colour to create an exclusive appearance for Baarsma.”

#50 is a dry white wine and is identified on the sleeve by the color, the name, a one word description and a QR code, like all 14 wines in the range. The code is read by a smart phone, using the free App from www.94wines.com, and tells the buyer about the wine and its taste; there is also a WineID test that helps identify which wine suits the buyer. The App can store the buyer’s choice on the website so friends and family can be sure of buying the most suitable wine, for example as a gift.

Frans Rienks continues: “Rivièra were involved at a very early stage in sourcing and developing the ground breaking designs for 94Wines. The new design for #50 required a combination of the matte white sleeve colour and the controlled shrink properties, which sleeves made from Embrace HY met perfectly. All bottles are pre-sleeved by us before going to the bottling plant, enabling us to retain a high degree of quality control over the final result.”

As well as the excellent 3600 printability, the matte white finish of Embrace HY film eliminates the need for white background printing and achieves excellent graphics reproduction while blocking light and UV radiation, often essential to protect container contents. The material’s soft touch ensures the container is pleasant to pick up.

The controlled high shrink of Embrace HY with up to 70% shrinkage, enables the film to form successfully around highly complex or contoured containers, yet the low shrink force and machine direction growth prevent gaps (smiley faces) at container bases. In addition to attractive labeling, shrink film packaging such as Embrace HY, also provides an easy method for tamper resistant packaging as an alternative to other techniques such as different types of bottle closure.

Shrink film made from Embrace HY offers a high yield per unit weight, requiring less material for the same size sleeve compared to other sleeve materials, as it has a 30% lower density than other copolyesters. Halogens and BPA (Bisphenol A) are not used in the manufacturing process, so Embrace HY is free of both substances. Embrace HY also supports sustainable packaging efforts by eliminating the need for secondary packaging due to the 360o billboard effect of a full body sleeve label.