Unique Christmas packaging

Companies each year will change their packaging to the theme of Christmas, the reason for this is to get people to buy your products by making them stand out from the crowd.

In this blog I will be writing about the companies and products that have gone the extra mile in the name of Christmas and perhaps that you will be inspired to try something new and implement them into your company’s designs.

The first Christmas themed product is ...

Christmas Tea! - Designed by: Mint – Maja Matas, Kresimir Miloloza, Jozo Matas

This special Christmas Tea is a pun on Christmas Tree and the bags are even in the same shape as Christmas trees, all for the spirit of Christmas. On-Top of that there is a secret meaning to this tea as the trees can be split into two separate tea bags meaning that these tea bags are meant to be shared on Christmas.

The second Christmas themed product is ...

Coca Cola are very famous for bringing Christmas to our home, from having a Santa Clause on their packaging to the popular Christmas lorry featuring on TV adverts and in real life!

This year, Coca Cola has introduced a new label on their cola bottles that can turn into a bow, as you can see from the picture above, however you will have to make the bow yourself or pay a little extra and get it with a bow already in a gift box – essentially it’s the exact the same flavour of coke but with a bow ribbon, but people will go and purchase the pre made bow ribbons because of the festive season.  It also compliments their existing ‘share a coke with...’ campaign and emphasises that a bottle of Coca Cola is a gift within its own right.

At focus label we can care for all your packaging needs as we have over 30 years of previous experience in manufacturing and with our friendly staff we will help you to the best of our abilities.

 

Different ways to make your label stand out

In our last blog we wrote about how to make your product sand out from the crowd trying to identify what makes you unique...

Since we are a labelling company we thought it would be fitting to write about what different types of labels you can get.

The Standard Label

Yes, the standard label. You can’t go wrong with the original label. As long as you don’t forget about the essential things you need to put on your label

If you need “brushing” up on what you need on a label please see below:

·         Easy to read

·         Easy to understand

·         Not Misleading

And of course you will need to show any “warnings”
If you’re selling food you must provide the list of ingredients that has been used in your product.

If you like to have a closer look about what you must show on your label please click here

Textured Label

Make your label different from the competition with textured labels. This will essentially get the consumers to touch and to hold your product and hopefully they will take into consideration weather to buy the product or not.

Embossed Label

Make you product come to life with Embossed labels. You can slightly raise an image or text to make it stand out, it essentially helps you to make a point by drawing attention to your product.

There are many different types of embossed options you can go for. 

·         Foil embossing

·         Embossed stickers

·         And even seals

The possibilities are unlimited!

So why don’t you come and have a look through our site to see what different things we can offer you, our experienced staff are always here to answer your questions. So ring us on 01949 836 223 to make our product stand out from the rest.

 

How to make your product stand out

There are many unique ways to make your product stand out from the crowd. In this blog we will be giving you the basic first steps to make this happen for you.

What can you offer different to your competitors? What makes you unique? Here are a few examples below:

Trial periods

Some customers don’t know they need the product until they have actually tried it for themselves. Theoretically a trial period is a perfect opportunity for you to gain the customers trust and hopefully convert them into a sale.

Guarantees

In the same way that they worrying about needing the product, customers will also worry about not liking a product. The best way to get around this is to offer a money back guarantee giving your customers a full refund if things don’t go their way. Again this method will help to build trust and gain strong relationships.

Limited Offers

            There are a few different limited offers you can implement such as.

Limited editions – This means that a product only has a limited amount of copies. It’s important to make the product stand out from your other products; you can do this with different packaging or styles.

Limited Time – With this you can help generate interest and bring customers through the door. You can also use the time to see if that product sells well or not.                

Combination Offers

With this you can “sweeten the deal” by offering something extra with your product like discount codes or buy-one-get-of-half-price offers - even something small can swing customers your way. This can be a bag, coaster, shot glass and so forth.

Eye catching Label

It’s always best to make your product stand out from the crowd and this is one of the best ways to do it for example:

Make your label see through
Make it 3D
Add striking colours
Leave a hidden message

For more information please visit our website here http://www.focuslabel.com/ for all the latest news and products we have to offer.

Different Textile Printing Machines

Textile printing is a method by which colour is applied to fabric in distinct patterns and designs, as opposed to the method of dyeing the whole piece of fabric. The printing process needed is usually determined by the intended use of the fabric. There are many different ways of doing this and over the years methods and processes have changed a lot!

At Focus Label we manufacture textile printing machines for textile labels. These labels hold a lot of important information such as branding information, washing instructions, sizing and measurements etc. They are sewn into the products during their manufacturing.

There a number of different textile printing machines on the market, so here is a quick guide to some of the machines that we manufacture at Focus Label:

B4 Machine – this is an entry level machine for cost effective production of printed textiles for garment labelling, decorative ribbon and apparel trim. It provides quicker changeovers, easy set up, a choice of drying systems and is easy to maintain. It also requires very little training, produces less waste and is a compact design.

Platemaking Systems Machine – this machine allows you to manufacture your own printing plates, the all in one machine combines all of the platemaking processes. We offer both water and solvent systems and both are available in a range of sizes from A4 to A1.

Fabric Curing Oven Machine – when using heat curing inks for fabric printing, the finished rolls require final curing in an oven to enable full wash resistance. This oven has several levels with good spacing, allowing a large quantity of labels to be cured at once. It also comes in two system sizes, has thermostatic controls, fumes exhaust and is fully time and temperature programmable.

LX Machine – this is the most advanced machine for cost effective production of printed textiles for garment labelling, decorative ribbon, apparel trim, elastics and heat transfers. The LX machine allows full colour and job changes within seconds thanks to its patented ink cartridge systems, on run register and advanced settings. It also offers high speed production output, combination drying systems and fast and easy operation.

TTC 100 Machine – this is a low maintenance system for cutting labels which uses ultrasonic cutting technology. It includes a computer control feed and measuring system and high definition photo eye for register stability, as well as having a touch key panel which allows for fast set up and changeovers.

TagTrans Machine – this is a heat transfer machine, heat transfers are a popular method of printing information directly onto garments, eliminating the need for labels. Our range of TagTrans machines includes the LX Rotary presses and the silk screen printing systems. These machines are the most cost effective and practical method of production of heat transfers, they include multi colour transfers in one pass, no halo, reduced waste and high definition transfer

What is a heat transfer machine?

A heat press is a machine engineered to imprint a design or graphic on a material, such as a t-shirt, with the application of heat and pressure for a preset period of time.

Heat Transfer Machines are cost-effective, easy to use, fast, capable of high-quality production, versatile, and can be integrated with other techniques – so they’re quite good really!

There are numerous types of equipment that can be used to imprint all sorts of materials with creative designs. While heat presses are often used to apply designs to materials and fabrics, they can also be used to imprint designs on things like –

- mugs,

- plates,

- jigsaw puzzles

- card

When buying a heat press machine, you should be aware of all the different options available. There are different types of heat press machines, coming in different sizes, with different timers, and with different lower platens. There are also different accessories available for these machines.

One of the major positives of a heat press machine is its cost-effectiveness. As far as business costs are concerned, purchasing a heat press is moderately inexpensive. Another advantage of a heat press machine is that is easy to use- even someone with no prior experience using one of these machines can pick it up quickly.

Another benefit of a heat press machine when compared with other graphic printing devices is the speed - a heat press machine carries out work quickly, efficiently, and with little effort from the user.

Furthermore, a heat press machine also manages to print economically and quickly without sacrificing quality. In fact, the quality of heat press printing is superior in some ways to other technologies!

For printing equipment that you can rely on Focus Label Machinery Ltd has a wide range of paper and packing printers as well as textile printers. We are able to provide equipment for mainstream production as well as for more bespoke applications; we aim to provide our customers with top quality machinery and top quality service.

Flexographic, Gravure, Offset and Inkjet Printing: What’s the difference?

We were formed in 1981 and have 30 years of previous experience in manufacturing equipment for the narrow web label & Packaging print industry, this experience has enabled us to become market leaders. Printing techniques vary from job to job and company-to-company, which can often lead to confusion when deciding which is the best fit for your needs. This blog will break down and explain exactly what the differences are between 4 popular printing methods; Flexographic, Gravure, Offset and Inkjet Printing.

Gravure Printing

In gravure printing, the image is applied to a printing substrate by use of a metal plate mounted on a cylinder.  It uses a depressed or sunken surface for desired image.  The image to be reproduced is etched into the metal plate, sometimes using a laser.  The metal plate is bathed in ink then wiped clean before application.

Positives of Gravure printing -

• Produces high quality results rapidly but costs are significantly higher than using other printing methods.

Offset Printing

As suggested in the name, in offset printing, the inked image is offset from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to printing surface. There are few positives to offset printing, as it produces an inferior image quality and there is a large amount of time and high cost associated with producing plates and printing press setup.

InkJet Printing

Inkjet is a form of computer printing that creates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper. Again, there are few positives to using ink-jet printing on a large scale as it is often very expensive, clogs easily, has a slow production speed and long drying time.

Flexographic Printing

Flexographic printing, or ‘flexo’, is a printing technique which uses a flexible relief plate, similar to letterpress - a simple inking system and fast drying inks.  Flexographic printing allows the inked surface to conform to many kinds of substrates, such as, butcher paper newsprint, and chipboard. It's the most flexible and diverse type of printing process.

Positives of flexo printing -

• Inks have low viscosity and are quick drying allowing for high speed & volume of production
• Tighter control and repeatability
• Plates withstand millions of impressions
• Wide range of inks
• Ability to print on wide range of absorbent and non-absorbent substrates

At Focus Label, our Flexographic printing services include our PlateMate - the most effective system for mounting all types of flexible photopolymer printing plates. For more information on any flexographic printing processes, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.

What needs to be on Cosmetics Labelling

Sometimes the labels on cosmetics can be jam-packed with confusing information with unbearably long words, but what actually needs to be on cosmetic and beauty products labels? The following labelling essentials cover many of the fundamentals for labelling cosmetic products.

The cosmetics industry works hard to provide information because knowledge about cosmetics and their ingredients underpins consumer confidence in the products they use.
There are three items that need on the front panel of any product that is sold to consumers:

Name
The brand name or product name

Identity
What is the product? (Soap, face cream, bubble bath, etc)

Net Quantity of Contents
How much actual product is there?  In both US (oz, pounds, pints, etc) AND metric (ml, grams, liters, kilos)

In Europe, cosmetic container labels must list all ingredients in the product formulation using identical terms across the whole of the EU. These terms are based on the International Nomenclature for Cosmetics Ingredients (INCI) along with descriptions of certain substances specified in the Directive.

The Directive also requires other information to be included on product labels:

1)      Name and address of the manufacturer, importer or distributor

2)      Nominal content < by weight or volume

3)      Precautions to be observed in use

4)      Date of minimum durability, or Period After Opening (PAO) for products lasting more than 30 months

5)      Function of the product (unless it is clear from the presentation)

6)      Goods identification reference (e.g. a batch number / manufacturing code)

Special requirements apply to small or unusually shaped products that are difficult to label. The Directive states that precautions to be observed in use and the list of ingredients can be printed on ‘an enclosed leaflet, label, tape or card’. For example, the container and outer packaging of a small or unusually shaped product might display a symbol showing a hand pointing at a book to indicate that information is contained in a leaflet.

Ingredients should be listed in descending order of predominance (based on their percentage, by weight, in the product).  

Blended ingredients used in the product (such as pre-made bases or preservatives) must have their component ingredients listed in the ingredient declaration based on the percentage of use in the entire formula.

For printing equipment that you can rely on Focus Label Machinery Ltd has a wide range of paper and packing printers as well as textile printers. We are able to provide equipment for mainstream production as well as for more bespoke applications; we aim to provide our customers with top quality machinery and top quality service.