Pride of place at the stall was assigned to their prize-winning label for Piper Heidensieck Rose Sauvage Champagne by Viktor & Rolf – a very exclusive limited edition collectible. This exquisite label has just won the Diamond Award – Best of Show 2008 as the best package design at the Pentawards, the prestigious worldwide packaging design competition. The label is a shrink sleeve applied on to a glass bottle. This pack also won the Drinks International Travel Retail Award for the best international drinks launch at the TWFA Show.
Several other new innovative products were on display. The impressive ones were as follows:
BIOSLEEVE – an eco-friendly shrink sleeve label made from poly lactic acid (PLA). PLA is a bioresin manufactured from starch obtained from totally renewable plant sources like corn or potatoes. It is totally biodegradable and compostable and satisfies the norms laid down by ISO 14855 – 2:2007 on degradability. It can be decorated on one or both sides by high definition UV rotogravure or flexographic printing in up to 10 colours using solvent-free low energy inks. It runs well on all Sleever labelling machines and achieves speeds of up to 36,000 units per hour.
SKINSLEEVER – a matt-shiny label with an embossed effect that reproduces a tactile metallic feel. This was developed for well-known fragrance house Coty and first used by them for the world-wide launch of Playboy perfume. Coty were looking for a highly original and differentiated packaging that would make an immediate and bold statement and Sleever provided them this solution.
Braille encrypted shrink sleeve label for pharmaceuticals – this was developed by Sleever for manufacturers to comply with the new EU regulations that pharmaceutical and healthcare products must be labelled so as to include an inscription in Braille for the benefit of consumers who are visually challenged.
High definition shrink labels for limited edition products – Sleever have developed very high quality shrink sleeve labels printed in up to 10 colours by UV rotogravure or flexography for limited edition or collectors’ range of luxury products. An outstanding example was the Remy Martin VSOP Cognac range of limited edition bottles using a design created by David La Chapelle. The 750 ml collectible also came in a 1.75 litre limited edition numbered magnum which was put up for sale over the web for only 300 minutes; the 300 magnums were snapped up in a matter of seconds! For the 10-colour printed labels used on these packages, Sleever were awarded the Pro Helio 2008 prize for excellence in rotogravure printing. A panel showing an enlarged reproduction of this design also formed the facade for Sleever’s stall at the show.
Also on display was the new COMBISLEEVE ultra-compact high-speed labelling machine. It combines sleeve positioning and shrinkage into a simple compact (2,300 mm x 850 mm) monobloc structure and is capable of handling containers from 16 mm to 75 mm in diameter and 25 mm to 150 mm in height delivering up to 18,000 units per hour. It can run all available films like PET, OPS, TPE etc. in thicknesses from 30 microns to 75 microns. Dual camera systems automatically control marking and sleeve direction and ideal positioning of the label on the product both vertically and horizontally is guaranteed.
