Stock bottles, closures and dispensers have the incredible capacity to adapt to fit their circumstances. Embodying the concept of speed-to-market, stock packaging can either come in the form of at-the-ready packaging inventory or stock molds that don’t require any time-consuming tooling. And thanks to improved decorating techniques, both types of stock packaging are replete with plenty of customizable options too, making stock packaging a fast, convenient and budget-friendly packaging choice for brands of all sizes.

“A simple change in color with uniquely designed decoration can give you a custom look,” says Lou Della Pesca, president of 3C Inc., Hawthorne, NJ, a supplier of a variety of convenient stock molds for color cosmetic and personal care products. “If you add soft touch, now available in color or metallization to the component it will change the image the customer wants to achieve. Add a metal overshell on a standard cap in a shiny, matte or anodized color finish and you have a different presentation that has a custom appearance.”

Salt Lake City, UT-based Compax Packaging loves producing custom work, but Brooke Dearth, the company’s creative director, says the company finds it hard to resist the opportunities it gets to push the boundaries of stock packaging. “As the market becomes more competitive, and new products get pushed to market faster, we’ve found that customized stock can be a true competitive advantage for brands willing to get creative,” she says. “We have seen an upswing in demand for HDPE, for instance—long considered the domain of hair-care and body wash, with the right treatments they will really stand out on the beauty and cosmetics shelves. And because we have our own plastics manufacturing here in the U.S., it’s the perfect solution for the collection that needs to get to market at high-speed.”

Compax recently provided a stock packaging solution for Urban Decay’s new skin care collection, Rehab Makeup Prep, which includes Pretty Gritty Skin Polish, Oxygenated Bubble Mask, Hot Springs Hydrating Gel and Pore Refining Peel. Pretty Gritty Skin Polish is housed in a 100ml cylinder round PET bottle with an orifice reducer and a PP cap. Oxygenated Bubble Mask is contained in a round 50ml airless jar and the Hydrating Gel is in a round 50ml thick-wall PET jar and PP cap. The Pore Refining Peel is packaged in a 30ml, round, PE, “needle nose” tube. All the packaging is made with recyclable materials.

Compax molded all the line’s closures in translucent white, then sprayed them with a matte finish for a velvety feel and glass-like impression. Heat transfer labels applied to each container tied the line together in an upscale, Urban Decay way. “When the market loves you, it’s best to keep them interested with a variety of products and packages,” Dearth comments. “By including customized stock in your product line, not only can you get to market faster, but you can do it at a much lower cost than custom design. Urban has a way of knowing just how to get the attention of a broad range of customers without diluting their brand essence—and it’s always fun to help bring their vision to life.”

APC Packaging, Fort Lauderdale, FL, enjoys a similar relationship with Dr. Brandt Skincare. Having already created a wide range of customized packaging solutions, Marianna Cilauro, vice president of new business development, says the dermatological treatment brand has taken advantage of APC’s stock offerings, too. “A great example of how Dr. Brandt has utilized our innovative packaging is time- reversing cream in their Do Not Age product line,” she explains. “The ingredient story for this line is centered around dual-encapsulated pearls, so to carry that into the packaging we used an acrylic jar from our JZ series that has a spherical inner jar encased in an acrylic outer shell. The outer is left clear and the inner sphere is sprayed pearlescent white, effectively creating the effect of an encapsulated pearl. The company’s signature silver band was then added to keep it visually in line with their other products.”

Customized Looks

From skin care to cosmetic packaging, World Wide Packaging LLC, Florham Park, NJ, offers an extensive stock lineup of more than 1,000 lipstick, gloss, airless pump systems and plastic tube packaging options. “Customers can select a stock packaging platform and can customize with multiple variations of decoration to be unique and different,” says Jim Farley, executive vice president of global business development. “Depending on the packaging type, customization begins with either unique base molded colors, metallization or anodization followed by varieties of spray finishes, glitter and stone effects. Other options include silk screening, pad printing, laser etching and direct flexo imaging, with countless combination possibilities.”

Mally Beauty recently turned to WWP, which transformed items from their stock packaging line to create a high-end, blended skin care line. “The packaging range includes both black and white base colors molded/sprayed in both matte and gloss finishes, with metal and chrome treatments to all the closure systems,” Farley says, adding that Mally chose to invest in the metallization as the primary accent feature. “The graphics in both matte and gloss hot stamping are accentuated by the metallization of the closures.”

Catering to the cosmetic compact trend, Germany-based Corpack GmbH has debuted a stock SAN refillable compact it calls Avalon Light. “The line consists of four compacts for a 30-, a 42- and a 59mm pan-size, including a refillable, cream-to-powder compact (59mm pan),” says the company’s Jean Paul Corbeil, CEO, who adds that the mirrored compacts can also be made without a magnet for nonrefillable applications. “The compacts are an environmentally friendly solution, extending the life of the product by re-using the primary package and reducing waste.”

The compact is currently in use by PuroBio Cosmetics, an industry newcomer. “It is a timeless design,” Corbeil says. “In this specific case, there was no customization other than the matte lacquered surface treatment and the silk-screened graphics, which can be maximized over the entire surface of this compact’s lid.”

Guerlain sought the controlled dosing expertise of Barcelona-based Virospack when it was designing the packaging for its Orchidée Impériale liquid lotion. Virospack specializes in supplying spatula packs, compression caps and tubular glass dispensing vials. “We have a wide range of highly customizable packs with capacity from 3- to 20ml [which are] ideal for creamy and thick solutions, gels, makeup, thick serums and creams,” comments the supplier’s Rosa Porras, marketing and communication manager. “All our standard spatula packs and compression caps have liners and could be in urea or PP, in black or white or in any custom color, [and] decorated with screen printing, hot stamping or spray.”

For Guerlain, Virospack delivered a complete package, including a 20ml tubular glass vial custom varnished in a bespoke blue-violet color, decorated with gold hot stamping. The cap is hot stamped with the Guerlain logo, again in blue-violet. Because the product formula is a lotion, special care needed to be taken with the dosage so it would not “fall” from the mouth of the bottle.

“For this we have developed the inner reducer that fits the neck of the bottle, controlling the dosage of product and ensuring the tightness and perfect fit of the cap with the vial,” Porras says.

When Sienna Naturals Hair Care sought to completely rebrand its haircare product line, initially in lower quantities, it decided stock packaging was the best way to initiate the process, and partnered with Cleveland OH-based Kaufman Container Co. to execute the project. “Kaufman was able to provide the customer with a total solution including the bottles, jars, caps and the decoration for its line consisting of shampoo, standard conditioner, leave in conditioner, curl elixir and a repair mask,” says Mark Stanek, marketing communications specialist. “The majority of this line is made up of 24-410 eight-ounce PET squat Boston rounds in both white and dark amber paired with a variety of closures. For the repair mask, the customer chose to go with an 89-400 eight-ounce white double wall polypropylene jar with a smooth side, smooth top closure.”

Kaufman decorated the Sienna Naturals line in-house, applying two-color screen printing on all five SKUs, both enhancing the brand’s appearance and adding a custom look to the brand’s stock packaging selections. 

New Developments

For stock packaging suppliers, there continues to be a push to broaden the variety of inventory and new product development available to cosmetic and personal care brands.

“Over the last year our primary focus has been to move quick on proprietary innovation development to fast-track stock packaging that is ready for commercializing,” comments Kristen O’Connell, director of marketing and product development, Roberts Beauty, Chatsworth, CA. “The industry is moving faster than ever and we have put measures in place to be nimble and agile in our design to manufacturing processes.

“We would like to give brands the highly-custom look and feel without the long lead times of concept, sample tools, production tools, etc.,” O’Connell continues. “We focus on great designs we believe in, move fast on the manufacturing, and most importantly we design with flexibility so that minor tooling modifications can be made quickly to provide a unique and customized appearance for each brand. It’s stock that doesn’t look ‘stock.’ ”

This mindset proved especially beneficial when Josie Maran needed a custom-look package for its Argan Lip Sting Plumping Butter. Roberts Beauty supplied the company with a stock lipstick package with a chic metallized overshell.

At Coverpla, the innovation is coming from European-produced stock creations. “Our newest stock creation is a 15mm zamac cap with a genuine leather band in either black or beige,” says the company’s Gilda Cutri, vice president of operations and business development. “Our caps are produced in Europe and we supply the customer with a high-end stock component so that they do not have to buy in large quantities or pay for a custom tool.”

Hong Kong-based Asquan Ltd. is taking on the multi-formulation trend with a new stock package suited to serve multiple uses. Launched in May, the Express Duo Stick can accommodate six total grams of strobing and contouring formulas, or concealer, blusher, eyeshadow or lipstick combo concepts.

“The stick has two separated compartments and the push mechanism on both sides, which makes it the perfect dispenser for on-the-go beauty products and delivers very convenient application,” explains Anna Boguszewska, product development and marketing director, Asquan. Comprised of an AS cap, ABS shell and base and a PP push button and inside cup, deco options for the Express Duo Stick include hot stamping, silk screen, UV spray or vacuum metallization.

At Takemoto, maintaining a fresh inventory is a top priority. Headquartered in Japan, the company annually develops and adds about 200 new iterations to its catalogue of 3,000 stock molds. “Varieties of Takemoto’s stock molds are endless because we usually make one shape in ten different sizes from a sample size to a salon-use size, which can be mixed and matched with more than a hundred different closures,” says Atsko Fukada, the company’s New York-based senior director. “We always develop our stock mold products to be made ‘only for the customer’ with various ways of customization instead of calling them ‘just standard.’”

Among the newest additions to the company’s stock lineup are the AL-20 and AL-50 Airless Bottle Replacement Refill Systems, which build on the success of the existing AL-30, piston-type airless bottle. The company also launched a new oval tube fitted with a twist on/off, roll-on dispenser. Fukada says the oval shape of the bale-type ball allows more product to be applied with a single rotation compared to spherical models.

Takemoto has also developed two new silkscreen printing techniques to aid in the customization of its stock packaging—Changing Printing and Miracle Vision Flash Printing. With Changing Printing, two different design patterns are printed simultaneously and the design that’s visible changes depending on the angle of view. With Miracle Vision Flash Printing, multiple pattern designs can be combined in one printing film, creating a flowing effect that sparkles and shifts as the angle of view changes.

“Both processes employ silkscreen printing technology, meaning that initial film costs are relatively low and suitable for low volume production,” Fukada comments. “Because the effects are created in one printing pass, the processes allow for a wide range of expression and effects without the costs of multiple printing passes. The techniques can also be used as a counterfeit prevention measure.”

Hair care brand, Amatora Quo, recently made use of Takemoto’s stock SUPI-400 (400ml, PET, recyclable) bottle and MSW-250 (250ml, PP, recyclable) jars and stock accessories to package its products, which are formulated with Tahitian black pearl extract. “The schedule for the launch was very tight,” recalls Fukada, “so after the packaging had been selected, our production and sales team asked the customer to come to our production site to work together to select and approve molded colors of the bottle and the jar simultaneously.”

With nearly endless configurations and customizable options, stock packaging can be a beautiful—and budget-friendly—solution for a multitude of packaging needs.