At LUXE PACK Monaco last week, Quadpack revealed its acquisition of a German hot stamping company to bring a previously outsourced decoration technique in-house. The cosmetics packaging supplier also unveiled its new Canvas Airless range that allows for shape customization.
In line with its aim to create a German decoration hub, Quadpack has acquired full hot-stamping specialist Stefan Wicklein Kunststoffveredelung. The move adds hot-foil stamping to Quadpack’s existing decoration offer of lacquering and metallization, which came along with the purchase of Louvrette in 2019. Louvrette will work with Wicklein to become a “center of excellence in packaging decoration”, according to Quadpack; Wicklein will retain its name and continue to serve its customer base. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Changing the game of airless
Also unveiled at LUXE PACK Monaco was Canvas Airless, a new range from Quadpack that is part of its QLine portfolio. Thanks to novel technology, Quadpack is able to offer oval, square, convex or concave bottle shapes with its bag-in-bottle system.
The bi-injected, two-layer, pouch-based pack was developed with Inotech, leveraging the latter’s blow-molding technology acquired by Quadpack in 2019. With the two-phase process, preforms are bi-injection molded at Quadpack’s airless plant in Germany, then blown into the desired shape.
When the resulting bottle is assembled with the pump and the pump actuated, the inner layer delaminates, creating a pouch. Canvas Airless can be made with an LLDPE or Surlyn inner, and PET, PETG or RPET outer. Future generations could have an RPET inner and PCR PP outer layer. A metal-free pump and refill formats are also under study.
“It’s changing the game of airless,” says Quadpack Head of Market Development Pierre-Antoine Henry. “Today, piston airless packs are straight-walled and cylindrical, but tomorrow, all brands can have their own shape, with a product that has a 97% restitution rate, with materials that are considered the best in terms of sustainability, and with a 15% reduction in plastic weight as no piston is used.”
Canvas Airless is also said to offer lower development costs and minimal lead times; the idea is that the preforms will be stored in Quadpack’s regional hubs for local customization.
Based on initial tests, formulas of all viscosities – serums, creams, foundations – are suited to the pack, with the lower the viscosity, the better the restitution rate. In terms of decoration, hot stamping, metallization and screenprinting are all possible.
Canvas Airless is launching in January 2022.
