Stretch sleeves have long since been used around large containers, usually for fluids such as bleach or drinks. However, recently, stretch sleeves have been being designed to be used on small containers which opens up a whole new world of marketing.


Stretch sleeves are fairly inexpensive and are great for the environment. You have seen them before, the thin film adhered to a water bottle with printing on about the water you are consuming. The benefits to using a stretch sleeve include:

1. They are made with more room to be able to see the inside of the container.
2. They are also made with recyclable materials.
3. They are capable of stretching around anything from eight ounces all the way up to 55 gallons.

Shrink sleeves are slightly different. While they are of a higher quality they also cost a little bit more. A shrink sleeve covers the entire container, often time including the top of the bottle. They can also be called no heat shrink sleeve labels. The benefits to using a shrink sleeve include:

1. 
   They allow up to 11 colors.
2. High tech printing is used.
3. Inks like metallic and glow in the dark can be used.
4. The use of precision lasers ensure top resolution.

Shrink sleeves are often what it is used to cover flexible pouches like the squeezy packets that juice and baby food can come in. Flexible pouches are a great invention for all kinds of sauces, liquids, drinks, condiments, etc. The great part about shrink sleeves being used on flexible pouches is just that: it keeps them flexible. Shrink sleeves are made to adhere to all the contours of the container they are covering. In fact, shrink sleeves can be called flexible packaging. These labels being on the flexible packages allows for even more room for marketing or for information about the product.


Even customized packaging bags benefit from shrink sleeves as they can pretty much be any shape and size and still be able to be covered. Even our common cellophane or plastic zipper bags and wraps can help keep your food fresh and protected. Experts have shown that each pound of packaging equals about 1.7 pounds of food that does not have to go to waste.


With the global flexible packaging market growing at an annual rate of 3.4%, keeping up with this knowledge is a good idea. The national packaging market is predicted to grow from $74 million back in 2012 to almost $100 million by 2018.