The Pitfalls of New Glass Perfume Bottle Projects
Choosing the right glass bottle supplier can make or break a perfume launch. A good glass bottle supplier does more than simply source bottles. The right glass bottle manufacturer can advise on mould design, bottle weight, decoration and production feasibility before costly mistakes happen.
Many founders assume that once they have a design, a glass bottle manufacturer can simply produce it. In reality, perfume bottle manufacturing is full of hidden pitfalls involving mould design, glass weight, decoration, lead times, breakage and compatibility.
You have done the research, shortlisted manufacturers and started to speak to glass bottle manufacturers. Yet somehow, you are still not getting what you envisioned.
This is one of the most common problems that founders face. Working with glass bottle suppliers isn’t as simple as it sounds. Small misunderstandings can lead to delays, design compromises and products that don’t match your brand vision.
In this article we break down the issues no one tells you about when you start working with glass bottle suppliers and the exact questions you should ask to avoid costly and time consuming mistakes.
1. How a Glass Perfume Bottle Manufacturer Schedules Production
We manufacture glass in huge furnaces which run 24/7 and efficiency is highly important to ensure that prices can remain lower. For that reason, all glass bottle manufacturers will schedule glass in advance according to weight. For example, if your glass perfume bottle is 250g, then this is a common weight which may run with other items which have the same weight. If your glass perfume bottle has an unusual weight, then you may have to wait a long time for scheduling your production.
Strategies For Solving Longer Lead Times
If you face a long lead time because of your unusual bottle weight, then the best option is to adjust your weight. For example, the same mould can have more or less glass weight filled inside it, but this will result in a higher or lower volume of the bottle. It may also result in more breakage if your bottle weight drops far below your original target.
2. Why Glass Colour Varies Between Glass Manufacturers
Glass is made from silica, ash and limestone. However, there are different grades of glass clarity and colour due to differences in sand quality. Lower quality glass perfume manufacturers use sand which has more iron impurities. Suppliers who use low iron content sand have purer more transparent glass which has a more premium look. Lower quality suppliers use higher iron content sand and they achieve a greyish or greenish tinge to their glass production. If you are planning to colour coat all of your bottles, then this may not be a problem for you. However, if you do not plan to colour coat, then the colour of the glass will be highly important.
How can founders avoid this problem better? They can inspect the glass under natural light, not showroom lighting. Comparing different suppliers side by side also gives a better idea of glass colour and clarity. A good question to ask glass perfume bottle suppliers is “Is this standard flint glass or low iron glass?”
3. Glass Distribution And Why It Matters in Perfume Bottle Manufacturing
Glass distribution refers to the way that glass falls and remains in the bottle during manufacture. Although glass falls from above using gravity, this does not automatically mean that the base of the bottle will be perfectly level and the walls of the glass will be an even thickness. It takes a highly proficient glass bottle manufacturer to achieve even thicknesses in the walls and a very level glass base. Often issues occur in glass perfume bottle manufacture when the bottle weight is too light. If there is not enough total weight, then this will leave the neck area of the bottle without enough strength to withstand crimping or sometimes even shipping. The neck area is generally the weakest area with the least amount of glass settling there.
4. Not all Patterns can be Manufactured by Every Glass Bottle Supplier
Glass patterns add complexity to a perfume bottle mould and make it more difficult to release the bottle from the mould. The higher the emboss, the more difficult it will be. Also, it affects the bottle release greatly if you have a highly raised pattern around the parting line. The parting line is the area where the glass mould opens. Normally there is a parting line on opposite sides of a bottle running all the way down a bottle.
So Why Can Some Big Brands Solve These Issues?
In that case, why is it that some luxury brands have highly embossed patterns right around the bottle ? Probably they are using semi-automatic machines for the glass bottle manufacture. This means that a human being removes the bottle from the mould after the machine releases it. This adds a lot more cost and also restricts the partners you can cooperate with, as few glass factories offer semi-automatic production nowadays.
Founders should ask “Can you produce my design with a fully automatic machine or do we need to adjust the design slightly?”
5. I Have My Own Glass Bottle Factory......
Everyone in China says that they have their own glass bottle factory. Usually this means that they have a friend or partner who is a glass bottle manufacturer. If everyone who said ‘I am a glass bottle manufacturer’ was telling the truth, then there would be about 3000 glass bottle factories in China!
Then Is it Worse For Me To Buy From A Trading Company?
It doesn’t necessarily mean that it is bad to buy from a trading company. But high quality glass bottle factories usually only make and supply glass, they do not make plastic caps and supply pumps. But you should be aware of the ability of the trading company to achieve the lead-times that you need. However, t has been our experience to witness that a small trader with less buying power cannot fight against the scheduling whims of the glass bottle factory during the busy glass shipping season.
6. Decoration Capabilities and Partnerships
Not every glass bottle manufacturer has the same capabilities in decoration. Some will just manufacture and send everything outside to a partner factory for decoration. Others may do simple decoration in house such as lacquering, hot stamping and screen printing and decals. If you require complex decoration, then mostly a bottle will be sent to a specialist decoration unit. It is worth asking your bottle factory which decoration partner they work with. If the partner does not have strict quality control in place you may face issues of lacquer variance, improvper curing and wrong logo application.
To avoid such issues ask your partner bottle manufacturer who they work with for decoration and ensure that you inspect them as well as the main glass bottle factory.
7. Common Glass Bottle Design Mistakes which Cause Waste
In glass bottle production wastage is the driving factor for higher cost. A bottle which is difficult to manufacture or prone to breakage will have a higher manufacturing cost. The typical factors for higher cost are :
- Intricate patterns, making it harder to release the bottle from the mould.
- Very acute angles 90 degree sharp angles. This is difficult to achieve and will cause a lot of breakage.
- Very thick bases on glass bottles are difficult for glass bottle manufacturers to product. If the temperature of the glass is not maintained at an even level, small bubbles can form in the base.
- Tall, narrow bottles are difficult to manufacture, as it is hard to keep the wall thickness uniform. If the proportions are too extreme, the bottle shoulder may become too weak and thin.
If founders want to keep wastage down, then they should stick to curved bottles without sharp edges. Also a base which is heavy enough but not excessively heavy and enough draft angle on the top part to all the bottle to release easily from the mould.
8. What are Reasonable Lead-Times for Glass Bottle Suppliers?
A reasonable lead time for perfume glass manufacture is normally 8 weeks. It can be longer during the three months before Chinese New Year when all factories are overloaded with Xmas orders for USA and Europe. Also , if you have designed your bottle to be an unusual weight which is very specific and cannot be changed, then you may have to wait a lot longer. This is because factories run production according to bottle weight and schedule many bottles with the same weight at the same time. Unusual weight bottles might have to run alone and glass bottle manufacturers would not be willing to put your bottle in the schedule unless it was a high quantity.
9. Why Pre Production Samples Vary Slightly From Final Production
Founders may be surprised to find that the final production differs slightly from the pre production samples. There may be several different reasons for this :
- Bottle size variance in glass moulds. The pre production samples for a new custom mould are taken from the ‘pilot mould’. When the samples are approved, then new additional moulds will be manufactured ready for the first full production. There may be small variances between these moulds.
- Bottle technical drawings from the factory always state a small variance of a few ml and a minor size variance. This is because the glass weight going into the bottle may vary slightly, there may be variations of blowing pressure over time. Moulds can wear out, wall thickness can vary slightly.
Bottle suppliers alway state a small variance of plus minus 0.5 to 1ml and more complex shapes may have a slightly higher variance.
10. Hidden Costs When Working with a Glass Bottle Manufacturer
If you require special packing of the glass bottles, then the supplier will ask you to pay for this. Third party inspections prior to shipping the goods are advisable as a bare minimum. If you can afford inspections during the production, then it is worth the extra cost for luxury perfume projects. If you require special luxury decoration of your bottle, then you may have to factor in shipping the bottles to another region and then more shipping costs to reach the port. We sometimes have to ship components from North to South China or internally to a region far away. Specialist decoration factories are often located far from the site of the glass bottle factory.
11. Common Compatibility Issues Between Pumps, Caps and Collars
Glass perfume bottles do not work in isolation, they have to combine with perfume pumps, caps and collars. Everything has to work in unison to fit well together to avoid fitment issues. For example, most glass perfume bottles have a neck measurement of FEA 15mm. But glass can have variation, especially if you have several moulds for the same design. For very large production runs 15 different moulds could be made to allow the production to finish more quickly. If there are minor variations to each mould, then this can mean that each bottle will be slightly different even if all other factors stay the same. Compatibility between components is one of the most tricky aspects of perfume bottle supply.
12. Decoration Limitations of Glass Bottle Suppliers
The easiest bottles to decorate are those with wide flat surfaces. However, if you add a curve or dip or emboss to the bottle, you are immediately restricting the decorative options at your disposal. Whilst it may be still possible to achieve your vision, the cost of decorating a bottle with a lot of surface texture will be far higher. Lower quality factories have less access to machines which can print on a curved surface such as print pad technology. The vast majority of glass factories limit their technology to screen printing and hot foil decoration combined with normal lacquer or frosting. Having a very wide printed area on a bottle which has some irregularities can be impossible for lower cost factories to achieve.
How Can Founders Solve This?
Founders : Before finalising your design and decoration, it is always best to speak first to a professional glass supplier who will immediately see any pitfalls or difficulties in the required decoration.
13. How Glass Thickness and Weight Affect Perfume Bottle Quality
Glass weight serves two main purposes :
- To protect the bottle from breakage, provided that it is thick enough
- To signify the level of luxury. A very heavy weight will be used for a luxury perfume, whereas we use a low weight for mass market perfumes.
Perfume founders do not always know the right weight for their perfume. Sometimes if a project has a very low price, then they may push for lower weight. However, this is a false economy, as many bottles may break during transit or during pump crimping during production.
14. Why Re-Ordering From A Glass Bottle Supplier Can Cause Problems
Low quality glass factories may have inconsistent raw materials and may not be checking and testing the glass thoroughly. Without standardised testing glass material variances can happen easily. They may not store the correct final production samples from previous batches, thus causing a colour variance in the next production. When confirming a a new order founders should discuss the issue of colour variance and
15. Yes Does Not Always Mean Yes
When you are dealing with different cultures there may be a different approach to questions that you pose. Saying a direct no is not acceptable in some cultures, so suppliers may give the impression that your request is being actioned, whilst they are finding other ways to let you down gently. Some perfume bottle suppliers will say YES immediately to hook you in, even if they are not one hundred percent sure that they can do it. For them it is more important to reel in the customer and they think that they will solve the problem during the development process. However this does not guarantee a founder that the perfume bottle supplier can exactly follow the vision for his product. It is a sure way to lead to future compromises and delays.
How Can Founders Solve These Problems?
Our advice to founders is that they should ask many questions, but to pose them in different ways so that they can get chinks of information and a better understanding. Asking one fixed question ‘Can you do this? will not lead to a full understanding of the capabilities of the perfume bottle supplier or glass factory.
16. Sustainability May Not Always Be the Right Thing
Sustainability is a great goal nowadays that most of us aspire to, though not all projects allow it. What does sustainability actually mean for glass manufacture? Normally there are a couple of ways that brands can be sustainable:
- Reducing glass in a bottle to reduce weight and hence shipping cost. But this may reduce strength in a bottle and cause more breakage. It is also not often suitable for luxury brands
- Using more recycled glass during manufacture. Most manufacturers already use a small percentage of recycled glass or ‘cullet’ during manufacture : up to 15%. However, people try to push for a higher percentage of cullet nowadays which may give a more grey or green tinge to the glass.
It can be difficult to prove eco credentials of a factory and founder should ask for certification if this is very important to their brand story.
17. Non Conformity to EU or USA Standards
Glass is just glass, right? So why should I get conformity issues with a glass perfume bottle? The answer to this lies in the decorations or coatings of the bottle which may contain restricted chemicals. Coatings can peel or degrade, also silkscreen ink may contain banned substances. UV metallic coatings may not be tested and contain photo initiators which may be restricted under EU REACH legislation. If the coating is not fully cured, then it can leave residual reactive chemicals.
To avoid these problems founders should ask “Can you achieve REACH compliance paperwork for glass manufacture?’ or “Do your coatings contain heavy metals?”
18. Quality Control Issues With Some Glass Perfume Manufacturers
In any industry there are different quality levels and glass bottle manufacturers are no different in this respect. At the mass market level you will get low quality surface finish and few physical inspections during the production process. At higher price points the bottle surface will be smoother and there will be many quality control inspections : automatic machines and physical checks during the manufacture. Higher quality factories will throw out bottles which do not conform exactly to the product specification, whereas lower cost factories will be loath to throw anything away. This is why you may get more variance between bottles even within the same production batch. We have seen problems with bottle surface finish due to moulds which are worn out due to overuse. Sometimes additional polishing of the moulds can fix the problem, but other times it is necessary to replace the mould.
19. Lack of Documentation from Some Glass Bottle Suppliers
If you do not have the right paperwork, then it is treated as non compliant by the import authorities. You may need Intertek or SGS documents, REACH compliance documents or material safety documents to avoid import problems. Suppliers will not provide these documents at their cost, it will be an additional cost from a third party provider.
20. Why Some Glass Perfume Designs Cannot Be Manufactured
Nowadays we see many examples of AI design in perfume bottle supply. Many of our competitors show examples of AI design which are ready for clients to buy, though the design may be unworkable. If you go to Pinterest you will see many ‘Lebeni Perfume Designs which cannot be manufactured. What are the types of issues they cannot resolve? Typically dimensions and proportions are wrong. You may get a bottle neck and space for a cap which cannot house a pump and a fancy cap You may get intricate patterns of glass which it is impossible to achieve with glass. There may be decorations which you cannot make due to the over complex raised surface. Treat any AI design with suspicion and always checked it out by a specialist perfume bottle supplier. It is always necessary to check carefully to see if it is feasible for manufacture.
Recently a client came to us with a design generated by AI asking us to ‘just sense check it for us and advise what we should do’. The AI bottle design strategy had some serious flaws such as a recommendation for glass wall thickness of 20mm for a luxury bottle. This was supposedly a standard bottle available in stock and no standard bottles have this wall thickness. Even for a custom bottle this wall thickness would not be workable.
FAQs
Eight weeks is a reasonable lead time for glass bottle manufacturer, but if you require a special weight, it may take longer. At peak times during the last few months of the year it may take longer to get your order produced.
All glass bottle drawings from the manufacturer show variations in volume and weight. This is because there can be fluctuations in the weight dropped into the bottle mould and also in the blowing pressure.
Yes, in theory every bottle manufacturer can produce embossed designs. However, reality is somewhat different and what is possible is not necessarily what they agree to make. Some suppliers like to have an easy life and do not accept to produce more complex bottles.
Yes, in theory every bottle manufacturer can produce embossed designs. However, reality is somewhat different and what is possible is not necessarily what they agree to make. Some suppliers like to have an easy life and do not accept to produce more complex bottles.
The weight of a bottle will depend on the required volume, so the weight of a 100ml bottle will be much higher than a 50ml or 30ml bottle. A 100ml bottle starts to feel heavy at 250g, therefore we generally make higher quality 100ml bottles between 250 to 350g.
There are a few different reasons for bottle breakage which can be blamed on poor outer carton quality and insufficient internal protective packaging. Another reason may be that the glass does not have enough weight and wall thickness, thus causing weakness in some areas of the bottle.
Low iron glass is glass with low iron content and contaminants in the sand used to make the glass. The low iron bottles are more transparent clear glass and giving a high quality look.
A heavy glass base cools more slowly than the rest of the bottle. This can create internal stress, trapped bubbles and uneven glass distribution. It also increases production time and can leave the neck and shoulder areas too thin.
In our experience, the cheapest and easiest glass bottles are usually cylinder shapes or shapes with a very curved surface. As soon as you add pattern or more sharp edges the complexity of the bottle manufacture increases.
In every business communication is key, which is why our team are trained to assist our clients clearly. Choose a partner who will communicate clearly and not only understand you, but help your to solve problems effectively.
Final Thoughts on How To Choose A Glass Bottle Supplier
Most founders think that they are buying a glass bottle. In reality they are buying a complex production process with dozens of variables which can impact their final product.
The fact is that even very minor variations can affect the perceived value of your product. A slight change in colour or print alignment change can make your product appear cheap. Testing that the product is safe for your given fragrance is also vital, as very strong perfumes can affect glass decoration.
Choosing the wrong glass bottle supplier can lead to delays, breakage, poor decoration quality and expensive redesigns.
Asking the right questions is vital for choosing the right glass bottle supplier :
- Do you own the factory or do you work with partners? What control do you have over your partners?
- What decoration opportunities can be provided in house.
- Can they provide REACH paperwork
- Can they supply pumps and caps
- What are the minimum order quantities
- What type of glass quality do they make : iron free or normal flint glass?
- What are the quality control procedures in the factory
At Anisha Agency we help founders avoid these problems before production starts by reviewing bottle feasibility, decoration options, mould design and supplier capabilities. If you would like us to review your perfume bottle concept before you invest in tooling, contact us for a feasibility assessment
