Page 51 - Print21 March-April 2022

Where quality is king
Luxury
SPICERS WINE AND GOURMET COMPANION The Spicers Wine and Gourmet Companion provides samples and information on the company’s self-adhesive label portfolio, from its commodity grade papers through to the premium collection. Each label has been carefully designed with its own narrative, taking its owner on a journey through the array of print applications, techniques and embellishments that can be achieved.
Sample book: The Spicers Wine and Gourmet Companion
The luxury labels sector is set to grow as the demand for fine wines, spirits and gourmet foods increases. Colleen Bate finds out more from Napil Abdel, national sales manager, Labels and Packaging Materials at Spicers.
of waterproofing paper materials to ensure that label materials hold up when wet, which, he explains, demonstrates the “wet strength of the material”.
The versatility of label materials on offer is another big benefit, he says, particularly for companies that require the branding of their products to be consistent across their packaging.
“Since Fedrigoni manufactures fine paper, it is able to supply coated material without an adhesive so that the artwork and branding on the cardboard container matches the product,” he explains.
Added to this, he says, is the vast amount of label stock on offer from Europe. “The offerings are
enormous in Europe – there are approximately 400 types of self- adhesive label stocks available,
with different textures, made
from different materials, and with
varying width and breadth,” he says, noting that
around 15 of the more popular products are
brought into the local region, available on
request.
On a broader
scale, Spicers points to the fact that it has
access to mills around other regions of
the world, it is not locked into one.
“We can look for solutions anywhere from South
America to Europe and Asia and find the right solution for
the market,” he says.
However, Abdel admits that shipping presents a big thorn in the side for many
in the industry, including Spicers,
with products taking twice as long to ship as they used to, and
Spicers is the Australasian distributor of Fedrigoni and of Manter, which Napil Abdel says offers many benefits to its customers.
Fedrigoni, which services the European wine label market, is one
of the largest paper and luxury label suppliers in that region, while Spanish company Manter, which joined
the supplier in 1993, specialises in
the production of adhesive papers, predominantly used for gourmet foods, wine and spirits labels.
According to Abdel, key benefits of this partnership are that both names are strong worldwide, and provide a wide set of solutions.
And since quality is king for Spicers, which supplies labelling products for well-known high-priced wine brands like Moët & Chandon and Brown Brothers, the fact
that both principals produce products with the kind
of quality that is
“unsurpassed in the
market” is, he says, a
huge plus.
Another benefit,
he says, is the innovative technology developed by Manter which ensures that label materials are not easily affected when wet, on products in a fridge or ice bucket.
Abdel says that unlike other suppliers, which use polyester beneath the label
stock to make it waterproof, Manter has developed a method
Manter Ipanema White FSC Certified premium self adhesive paper: includes a one side emboss and wet strength treatment
shipping costs soaring much higher than they were two years ago.
This, he says, ultimately affects the converters, end users and customers.
“In some cases, we’ve got containers where the shipping costs are actually more expensive than the cost of the goods in those containers,” he says.
“The silver lining, I guess is that as soon as we have stock, we’re selling that stock. We're in a fortunate position because we are able to carry a large amount of stock.”
Abdel also puts a positive spin on how he views the future of the labels industry.
“As an essential service, the labels industry has grown by anywhere between 8 per cent to 10 per cent in the last two years,” he estimates. “And as we look towards a post-Covid world, I think it’s important for the industry to pitch in and work together to maintain the upward climb.” 21
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