Be Bold

Why synthetics?

IML got its start in the early days using traditional paper labels. Although effective as a new, innovative product decorating technique, paper’s relative incompatibility with plastic contributed to a number of problems.

“Paper labels used in early IML applications would cause quality problems (such as paneling, panel bulge, and retention blisters) due to differences in shrinkage dynamics,” says Hoag. The waste generated by these quality issues would cause further cost and handling problems as the paper labels needed to be removed from the plastic containers to allow recycling.