Caps and closures have the difficult job of needing to look good while performing under pressure. An effective cap not only complements the overall design aesthetic a brand is trying to achieve with its package, it also seals and protects the formulation during transit and while it sits on the retail shelf. And after the product goes home with the consumer, the same caps and closures must ruggedly and dependably maintain a secure seal through an unknown number of twists and flips for the life of the product.

According to a recent study from The Freedonia Group, the global demand for caps and closures spanning plastic screw caps and metal crowns is projected to increase 5.6% per year to $58 billion in 2019. In unit terms, demand is expected to rise 4.0% annually to 2.2 trillion. 

According to the report, “Although the majority of cap and closure demand in unit terms is for market value, growth will be driven by the growing use of more sophisticated closure products in packaging for pharmaceuticals and beauty products.” In addition, the report states, “While gains in the developing world will generally be faster than those in developed markets, growth opportunities will also exist in the large U.S. and West European markets.”

The report pointed to beverages accounting for nearly two-thirds of global cap and closure demand. 

In the beauty, fragrance and personal care sector, caps and closures must take many shapes and forms, depending upon their desired functions.

In order to meet customers’ diverse needs, Gilda Cutri, national sales manager for Coverpla USA says her company has diversified its stock cap library to include on-trend caps in a variety of different materials, shapes and weights, including Surlyn, metal, wood and zamac, to name a few. “We’ve extended our choice of stock wood caps by adding three new shapes for the customer looking to portray a brand with a focus on luxury, nature and sustainability,” Cutri says. They have also added three new Surlyn caps with interesting new shapes that stand out from more traditional styles.

Anthony Di Maio, chief operating officer, Cameo Metal Products Inc., Brooklyn, NY, believes having a variety of caps and closures in his stock inventory is a top way to accommodate client needs. “The availability of closures for a variety of neck finishes enables the package developer to source a variety of different bottle options while maintaining an inline product identity,” he says, noting that Cameo offers a complete line of closures and jar covers from sizes 8mm to 70mm in an array of GPI neck finishes, colors and finishes.

Pairing Down Sustainably

Joe Brodner, president of St. Charles, IL-based Olcott Plastics, says he’s observed an increased interest in colorless caps and closures that convey a “natural” aesthetic. “Everyone has seen the proliferation of ‘natural products’ being offered by old and new brands,” he says. “The packaging of these products attempts to convey the natural product concept by having the package look ‘natural’ as well.  As such, many companies are using closures without color added, opting for the virgin state of the material or ‘natural’ color.” 

Brodner says Olcott has received numerous requests for closures exhibiting a natural style but they usually came from companies “trying to drive all of the added costs out of the packaging for a budget brand.” Now, he says, natural, colorless closures convey an upscale appeal, providing they’re done right.

In addition to conveying a clean, upscale look, colorless caps and closures also deliver a sense of eco-friendliness—a predominant trend that’s impacting every industry. “Companies are looking to be ecologically friendly and in the past concentrated on the container primarily as that is where the bulk of the impact could be achieved,” he says. “Taking 10% of the weight out of a jar can have a much larger impact than the same 10% coming out of the closure. 

“Now that many containers have been engineered to the point of affecting performance with additional light-weighting, the packagers are looking to the closure for weight savings,” Brodner comments. “We are working closer with the plant personnel to give a closure that is lighter weight but does not slow down the packaging process.”

Sustainability is a guiding value for Yves Rocher. The legendary French cosmetics and beauty company recently sought dispensing caps for its wide-ranging portfolio of facial care, hand care, foot care and body care products with one caveat: the supplier had to respect Yves Rocher’s “eco-design packaging guidelines.”

As part of its commitment to the environment, Yves Rocher’s guidelines have been designed to reduce the consumption of nonrenewable resources and promote the production of recyclable packaging. By adhering to its guidelines, the company has managed to reduce the CO2 emissions of its sites by 10% per product since 2010 (gCO2/product). 

The company ultimately selected the lightweight, 35mm snap hinge, Touareg cap, designed by France-based Zeller Plastik, a company owned by Saint Cloud, France-based Global Closure Systems (GCS). According to GCS, the closure was “thoughtfully developed for personal care and cosmetic applications to boast style and quality while at the same time respecting the environment.”

Supplied in a rainbow of fresh colors to match the range of the tubed products in Yves Rocher’s product library, the Touareg’s matte lid was customized to feature Yves Rocher’s logo and provide an elegant, butterfly-hinged, one-handed dispensing solution. Touareg delivers an optimized weight of 4g and is 20% lighter than the previous version, which has reduced the carbon footprint to 13.8g eq CO2/cap.

Obrist, a company located in Spain and also owned by GCS, recently debuted a closure it calls Diamond. Billed as an ideal solution for shampoos, shower gels and skin care applications, Diamond is an oval, bi-injected, snap hinge closure, available in a multitude of color combinations, including translucent. The closure features a rounded shape, a matte base and a glossy lid designed to dovetail with the upscale packaging aesthetics of the beauty and cosmetic industries.

According to GCS, Diamond is structured for ease of access. Consumers simply slide a finger up to the soft prominent lid to open the closure. The component’s headstand pack option ensures that the package contents can be dispensed and accessed more easily and efficiently to the last drop. The Diamond closure is suitable for PET, PE and PP bottles, and features a push-on application. The company says that its PCO 28mm neck finish also offers a material savings in the bottle neck itself.

Luxurious Wood Toppers

Wood packaging componentry conveys a certain noble quality and is often associated with luxury.

“Every year, [wood] gains ground as a decorative and functional element in the fields of perfumery and cosmetics,” says Angel Pujolasos, CEO and project manager, Pujolasos Wood & Pack of Barcelona, Spain. “Wood stands out because of its versatility and malleability, as well as…the wide color, finish and texture ranges it offers.”

Pujolasos currently manufactures 25 million caps per year for mass, prestige and masstige brands, predominantly in the fragrance sector though the trend is catching on in makeup and skin care as well. The company is particularly interested in protecting the environment. “Wood is the only renewable packaging material,” Pujolasos says. “Pujolasos is certified in PEFC and FSC [and] all the wood we use is labeled as coming from sustainably managed forests.”

He also asserts that wood caps and closures are surprisingly cost-effective. “Shaping tools, whether they be a traditional lathe, a CNC one or a robot, require no expenses at all,” he says. “This is a significant advantage compared to other materials such as plastic or aluminum, which carry great costs.

“Regarding decoration (laser, embossment, hot stamping, silkscreen), their cost is virtually nothing,” he adds. “This enables using standard or simple shapes and customizing them without considering tooling expenses.”

To accommodate increased demand, Pujolasos recently invested over €450,000 (about $500,000 USD) in machinery to increase its production line output by 35%. It also doubled its varnish capacity with a new lacquering line, installed an automated gluing line, and opened a decoration plant.

While Quadpack Group, which is also headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, focuses on complete, integrated packs and doesn’t tend to offer caps separately, Technotraf Wood Packaging (part of Quadpack’s manufacturing division) has honed its sustainability focus to produce beautiful, environmentally friendly caps and closures crafted out of wood. Technotraf is certified by the PEFC and also sources its raw materials from sustainably managed forests.

The company, which manufactured the wooden cap for Burberry Touch for Women in 2001, eschews the perception that “green” equals “low-quality,” and says the craftsmanship in the company’s packaging componentry demonstrates that luxury aesthetics and eco-friendly packaging can indeed go hand in hand.

Earlier this year, the company supplied the wood cap for Guerlain’s Terracotta Le Parfum, which commemorated the 30th anniversary edition of the company’s Terracotta range of powder compacts. The fragrance is housed in an elegant 30ml bottle and topped with an equally elegant, rounded sloping cap that mirrors the shape of the compact. A harmonized fusion of wood, metal and glass, the cylindrical cap is anodized in gold and sheathed with a smooth, beech ring that is stained a rich, dark brown, in another nod to the compact design.

Last summer the company also provided a timelessly elegant cap for legendary designer Jean Patou’s Heritage fragrance collection, which is comprised of three fragrances: Chaldée, Patou Pour Homme and Eau de Patou. Paying homage to Patou’s hedonistic flapper era style, Technotraf began with one of its standard wooden caps and customized it by combining a gold anodized cap with an outer sheath of dark beech wood. According to Technotraf, an added ring on the neck of the bottle in the same metal treatment adds harmony to the historic trio of perfumes, which were relaunched for the modern consumer.

Though wood caps may seem like an expensive packaging option, Quadpack’s press liaison, Mariam Khan, said in terms of budget and decoration, wood has a lot to offer. “Though a natural material, no mold is required which brings investment down to affordable levels for mass and masstige brands,” she comments. “It is also a very versatile material that can be easily personalized and decorated in a number of ways for very attractive results. These include laser engraving, staining and, new from Technotraf, its ‘Groove’ decoration, where a fully customizable geometric design is engraved deep into the top surface.” The beauty, fragrance and personal care industries are always on the hunt for packaging accoutrements that deliver both a design edge and reliable functionality. Whether they’re wood, metal or eco-friendly plastics, advances in caps and closures configurations and specifications will always represent a leading edge of innovation. 

A ‘Seal’ of Integrity

Caps and closures may help contain a product at retail but for added security and brand protection, an added seal under the cap is the way to go, according to Juan Bruna, president of Doral, FL-based Bruna Seals.

“There should be more attention and product development around security and brand protection, specifically developing new ideas on how to provide solutions on anti-tampering and counterfeiting,” he says. “It should start with the closure and a protective seal barrier that provides a visual indicator to consumers prior to product consumption. It will also offer a unique solution to brand owners to protect their brand which is their most valuable asset.”

Bruna Seals’ latest innovation is its LuxeSeal product line, which features custom embossing on the seal. “Apart from its functionality as a safety barrier, Luxe-Seal also goes a long way in creating an enhanced consumer experience, through differentiation from a standard foam-based peel seal,” Bruna says. “The custom embossing on the seal offers a new platform for marketing to use for brand awareness, quality assurance, as well as other creative, promotional concepts.”

Bruna describes LuxeSeal as a final protective barrier, prior to product consumption, providing a clear, visual security indicator to consumers. Its hermetic seal increases product shelf life while its tamper-evident seal creates an anti-tampering and counterfeiting solution that reduces product damage and returns.

The product employs a single, “easy peel” foldable tab design for removal. It also allows brand owners to continue using existing packaging components, which can include metal and custom designed closures. And when combined with a transparent lid, the product also embodies a new way for product differentiation on shelf.