Avery Dennison, a leading supplier of substrates and adhesives, has made recent enhancements to its Select Solutions Reclosure Portfolio. The line helps converters with pressure sensitive reclosure labels, which are often seen with various foods and medical uses.

“I think what’s really unique about our portfolio is the breadth of products and adhesives that can work in various reclosure applications,” says Anh Marella, senior product manager of Select Solutions at Avery Dennison. “As more and more packaging is going into flexible film, the marketplace is changing on a constant basis because new materials are being developed.”

This portfolio also offers customizability to meet a variety of needs. The materials are designed to adhere to a wide range of substrates, especially as consumers see their needs expand to functional labels. The end uses can range from anything to cosmetic wipes, homecare uses, and food ranging from cookies to deli meats.

Additionally, Avery Dennison provides customers with access to its Concept Lab. The company’s team of experts can develop custom solutions for those needs that are not off-the-shelf. Customers have the opportunity to visit the Lab in order to brainstorm ideas, with the end goal of providing them with a prototype. “We have dedicated technical experts aligned to our customers to help them understand our products and find out the extent to which we need to customize. We then work with folks further down the value chain to understand trends and develop products to meet those needs. We’re trying to connect our customers beyond just the traditional value chain.”

Avery Dennison offers adhesives for dry, moist, and wet reclosure applications. Wet applications include high moisture or high alcohol content. The company’s R1490 adhesive is suitable for high moisture conditions, such as indirect food contact, and provides a smooth, buttery feel. The R143 adhesive is a more aggressive product, which features a stickier feel. It is commonly used with towelettes and medical wipes, especially if the products contain a high isopropyl alcohol content.

“We have multiple adhesive solutions depending on the application,” explains Marella. “We have a variety of products, and we have the ability to customize different combinations of facestocks and liners. We also have the ability to add high barrier features within our film facestocks, through the adhesives.”

According to Marella, the food market has seen an increased need for reclosable technology, as 190 billion retail units will switch to flexible packaging by 2019. She estimates that the reclosure labels are 2-3 times larger than a standard conformative label. This style of packaging will compete for space with zippers and hard-case snap lids, in addition to more traditional closure systems.

“I think that the flexible packaging suppliers of the world are looking at this as an opportunity to show their brand managers a real new innovative solution,” says Marella. “Currently, the brand managers are more open to it than they have been in the past. In the past, you had to explain the benefit of the labels and then convince them to change their packaging. Now, that hurdle of changing packaging has gone away.”

The evolution of substrates and adhesives has spurred the change in packaging. With more options available, brand owners are increasingly opting for re-designs of existing product packages rather than changing the product itself.  By changing the packaging, brands have the opportunity to generate more attention on the shelf. “I’ve seen more and more inquiries into how they can use this reclosure label in different packages and different applications,” explains Marella. “Flexible packaging is becoming more of a dominant packaging format, and people are changing their packaging. There’s also the ability to take cost out of the product.”

According to Avery Dennison, it has all the resources available to meet the most challenging needs. “I think some of our competitors really just have one or two options, and they don’t have much more to work with,” adds Marella. “We have a broader range, and we are constantly trying to add more products to that so the customers can adjust. We’ve also added a new product that incorporates different barrier properties in the label construction so that the converter doesn’t have to do it on press. I think there are a lot of things that we’re trying to do to make it easier to get into the space.

“I think this technology has huge potential,” she concludes.