The benefits of shrink sleeves – in terms of cost-effectiveness, brand impact and the amount of product information that can be included – have been recognised by pbi Home and Garden, who has selected Decorative Sleeves to supply a solution as part of the repackaging of its Baby Bio plant feed.

The sleeve complements a new 175ml plastic bottle produced for pbi by Alpla. The decision to repackage was motivated by the need for increased on-shelf impact and improved handling.

At the same time pbi took the opportunity to review the decoration of the product. The previous bottle design had used four adhesive labels, which limited the amount of on-pack branding that could be achieved. A significant issue was that the labels could not accommodate the different statutory fertiliser declarations required in the UK and Ireland, necessitating the production of separate labels.

The use of a shrink sleeve provided the ideal means both to update the pack appearance and streamline the decoration process. Crucially, the greater space available for text means that the same sleeve can be supplied for both UK and Irish markets.

The sleeve is manufactured in low temperature shrink PET and UV Flexo printed in eight colours. Decorative Sleeves worked closely with Alpla to adjust the existing bottle design in order to enable it to be sleeved effectively. This included modifications to the bottle itself and also extensive trials with sleeving materials.

Decorative Sleeves selected PET film for its high level of shrinkage. Sleeves are applied by steam to empty PET bottles by Canon Plastics and detailed technical work has ensured that this is achieved without distorting the bottle shape. A plain tamper-evident neck sleeve has also been supplied for post fill application.

The eye-catching design includes a printed ribbon around the neck of the bottle and the iconic Baby Bio rosette. Due to the high level of shrinkage, very accurate pre-distortion of the artwork is required, in particular to achieve the ribbon effect.

High opacity inks have been used to ensure a good standout for the rosette. The brown background colour of the sleeve matches the product content and a visi-strip has been incorporated to show the fill level.

“Decorative Sleeves has offered a cost-effective but visually striking method of decoration to complement the appearance of the new Baby Bio pack,” comments Natalie Bent, Product Manager at pbi Home and Garden. “The result maximises on-shelf impact and appeal, and ensures that the additional information can be included without detracting from the overall brand image.”