Eastman Chemical Company Glass Polymer™

Eastman Chemical Company provides a choice for design and creative marketing professionals in the luxury packaging market.

Eastman has introduced The Glass Polymer™, a value-based alternative to glass. Glass Polymer looks and feels like glass and it offers differentiation on the shop shelf because of its extended design possibilities. The Glass Polymer allows elegant thick-walled containers to be designed with high clarity, beauty and strength. The material provides designers with a durable, yet clear alternative to traditional glass as a packaging material.

Compared to traditional glass used for cosmetic bottles and cream jars, Eastman Glass Polymer resins offer advantages of shatter resistance and flexibility, according to Vincent Gugumus, Marketing Manager Cosmetics for Eastman. “Cosmetics companies are looking for a cost-efficient bottle, capable of packaging high-quality products while at the same time delivering the premium look and feel of glass without the associated disadvantages.” He adds: “Our Glass Polymers are easy to decorate and shatter resistant, an attribute that is appreciated by the cosmetics industry and even more by their end customers. Before The Glass Polymer, the cosmetics industry only had the choice between thick-walled clear bottles made from glass, or shatter resistant but thin and squeezable clear bottles made from plastics. Now The Glass Polymer combines the benefits of both types of material.”

The Glass Polymer offers a much greater degree of dimension control that can also provide significant benefits. For instance the neck of the bottle and the closure have a much closer fit. Therefore, in some cases, it is no longer necessary to insert a soft layer into the cap in order to produce a leak-free container.

Unlike other plastic materials, The Glass Polymer makes it possible to produce thick-walled injection blow-moulded containers. Using Glass Polymer resins, bottles with extremely thick walls can be moulded without sacrificing the water-like clarity and aesthetics that the beauty industry expects. Additionally, consumers will appreciate the durability of glass polymer packaged personal items when traveling. Broken bottles will become a thing of the past. As a result of these benefits, several leading cosmetic brand owners have already incorporated Glass Polymer into their skin care and liquid foundation packaging.

Glass or Glass Polymer

In the past, glass has often been the packaging choice for the marketing of luxury goods in the personal care and cosmetics markets. Today, however, designers at leading brand owners like Matis, Victoria’s Secret and Merle Norman are using Eastman’ polymers to develop luxurious custom packaging with the look and feel of glass.

Glass Polymer resins were originally chosen by the Inoac Packaging Group for Victoria’s Secret Dream Angels body lotion bottle. Victoria’s Secret is now using the material to produce containers for several of its product lines.

“People are amazed when told that the packaging is not glass,” says Vincent Gugumus. “We see tremendous opportunities for new designs using these materials. As people travel more, favourite personal care products need to be available in small, light-weight containers. The Glass Polymer not only offers these advantages – it is virtually unbreakable – so there is no danger of damage to luggage or clothes, there is no loss of contents and there is less risk of personal injury. Containers made from The Glass Polymer are even safe in children’s hands.

”For more information, please visit www.TheGlassPolymer.com. The website presents current commercial applications, as well as a challenge for the visitor to try and tell the difference between packaging made with glass and Eastar® polymer. Visitors to the site can request a sample to compare the feel as well as the look for themselves.

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