What the process looks like
Where it is the right choice
- Full-body patterns and photographic artwork
- Designs that must run continuously around the bottle
- Multi-colour artwork where screens would be impractical
- Retail products where the whole body is the packaging
Where it is the wrong choice
Saying this out loud saves a sample round. If your artwork falls into one of these, tell us at enquiry and we will point you at the process that suits it.
- Small single-colour logos — silk screen or laser is cheaper
- Bodies with handles or heavy contours that the film cannot follow
- Artwork with a hard vertical edge that lands badly on the seam
- Short runs — film setup starts around US$600 and does not shrink with the order
Cost and minimum order
Two parts to it. The film is made per design and starts at around US$600, which is a one-off cost whether you run 500 pieces or 50,000 — so on a small order it dominates the unit price and the method stops making sense. The per-piece figure on top of that moves with how many colours the artwork carries and how easily the body takes the film: a straight cylinder wraps cheaply, a tapered or contoured one does not. MOQ is 500 pieces per design in stock colours, 1,000 if the body is in your own Pantone. The exact figure depends on your artwork and run size, and we come back with it by the next working day.
What to send us
300 dpi or vector, supplied as a flat wrap at the body dimensions we send you. We return a proof showing exactly where the seam falls before anything is produced. We return the mockup free before anything is quoted as final.
Heat transfer or UV? Do the sum before you choose
These two overlap on exactly the jobs buyers find hardest to price: multi-colour or photographic artwork. The rule of thumb we give over the phone is simple — heat transfer wins on volume, UV wins on small runs, and a simple one- or two-colour mark should not be on either page (that is silk screen, from about $0.03 a piece).
The reason is the shape of the cost, not the quality. Heat transfer carries a US$600 film that never shrinks, then runs cheap per piece. UV has no setup at all, then costs more per piece. So there is a crossover, and it moves with your artwork:
| Heat transfer | UV digital | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | US$600 film, per design | none |
| Per piece | $0.10–0.20 | $0.20–1.00 |
| Coverage | full 360°, seam agreed on a proof | a panel, not a wrap |
| Best at | large runs of one design | short runs, and artwork that changes between runs |
A worked example. Say your artwork prices at $0.15 on heat transfer and $0.50 on UV. The film costs $600, and you save $0.35 on every piece — so heat transfer catches up at roughly 1,700 pieces and is cheaper after that. Below that number you are paying for a film you cannot amortise. Run the same sum with your own two quotes; if a supplier will not give you both figures, that is worth noticing.
Two things the arithmetic does not cover. If the design has to run continuously around the body, UV cannot do it at any quantity. And if you expect the artwork to change between runs — seasonal editions, one body across several SKUs — each change is another film, so the crossover moves against heat transfer every time.
Where a wrap is the right answer
Heat transfer earns its place when the design is the product — a pattern that runs around the body, a photographic scene, a retail piece where the artwork replaces the packaging. For a single logo on a plain body it is the expensive way to do a cheap job, and we will say so at enquiry rather than after the film is made.
What to settle before the film is cut: where the seam falls, whether the body has a handle or a taper the film must follow, and whether your artwork has a hard vertical edge that will land on the join. We send a proof marked with the seam position and you tell us where you would rather have it — changing it afterwards means a new film, which is the one cost in this process that cannot be split across a run.
Bodies that take a full wrap well: straight-sided vacuum flasks and tumblers without handles or heavy contours.
What we need to quote it
Tell us the run size first — film setup starts around US$600 regardless of quantity, so on a small order we will often steer you to a cheaper method. After that: how many colours the artwork carries, and the shape of the body it has to follow. Four things, and the quote comes back by the next working day: the model (or the body size and material you have in mind), the run size, the artwork file, and the destination country. The last one decides carton format, labelling and how the freight is calculated, and it is cheaper to answer at enquiry than after 5,000 boxes are printed.
If you are still choosing between methods, send the artwork and say what it is for. We will tell you which process we would run and why, including when the answer is a cheaper one than the page you are reading.
Frequently asked
Wherever you tell us. We send a proof marked with the seam position before the film is cut; a continuous pattern hides it, a hard vertical edge does not. Moving it afterwards means a new film.
Not well. The film has to follow the surface, so handles, heavy tapers and deep contours are where wraps go wrong. Send the model with the artwork and we will say whether the body suits it.
Film setup starts around US$600 and is the same whether you order 500 pieces or 50,000, so on a small run it swamps the unit price. For one mark on a plain body, silk screen or laser does the same job for far less — we would rather say so at enquiry than after the film is cut. Send the run size with the artwork and we will do that sum for you.
Silk screen at volume, in one colour. The comparison across every method, with per-piece figures, is on the logo cost page.
500 pieces per design in stock colours; 1,000 if you want the body in your own Pantone.
A digital mockup comes back the same day or the next working day, free. A printed sample takes 7–10 days, because it goes through the same line the bulk order will. That sample, not the screen file, is what the run is judged against.
Ask for the specific model and decoration combination rather than a general answer — how a mark holds up depends on the body finish underneath as much as on the process. We will tell you what we have seen come back from repeat buyers.