Eric Fresnel, Sleever International

Premium Beauty News - What can you tell us, in a few words, about your group and its philosophy?

Eric Fresnel - A few interesting facts to start with! Sleever International, it’s approximately 1,000 people working virtually in every corner of the world in truly "multi-specialists" industrial and commercial sites for a turnover which will this year exceed EUR 150 millions. Sleever International has doubled its business in ten years.

It is true that an unrelenting quest for innovation and industrial rigor are behind Sleever International’s thirty-five years of growth, enabling us to raise the sleeve concept (thermo-shrink plastic label) to the rank of a major technology. Founder of the concept and owner of Sleever® brand name, Sleever International has constantly nurtured this technology through a spectrum of expertise from chemicals and engineering to transformation and service. As a result the sleeve today represents a solution of its own. Note that for example our manufacturing plant of mono-oriented film in Toulouse has tripled in size in ten years time. The sleeve concept has convinced the most demanding pharmaceutical, perfume and cosmetic brands. While at the same time constantly enriching its features: decoration, labelling, customization, tamper-evident seals, Sales promotion and traceability…

What is very important is that Sleever International is becoming a leader on the market for high value added solutions. This accurate analysis of each marketing, technical and economic issues takes shape through our extensive experience of sleeve technology, backed up by the various entities that are part of the "Sleever System". Sleever International includes Sleever Technologies® for films, Sleever-Studio® for prepress work, Sleever-Labels® for label converting, Sleever Machines® for shrinking, and Decosleeve® for contract packaging solutions. They all represent the varied facets of the expertise we offer our customers, backed up by a commitment to results: the Sleever® Charter. Keeping our word is more than a company value, it the foundation of our philosophy: establish long-standing relationships with our customers, suppliers and employees.

Premium Beauty News - What makes the sleeve unique is that in a single 3-dimensionnal media it combines all together four functions: decoration, information, protection and promotion.

Éric Fresnel - Unique, you are so right! And that’s surely why our product caught the attention, among other industries, of the cosmetics industry for whom we set up, four years ago, a dedicated team. The issues this industry has to address are often linked to the small size of the products, their sometimes complicated shapes, with their elongated aspect too.

Quite obviously and in particular make up, the richest segment in terms of novelties in cosmetics, relies on packaging innovation to move upmarket and propose novel methods of application (powder shakers, eyelid roll-ons...). Nomadic formats, jewel boxes, duo concepts, gentle shapes ... Everything is made available to fulfil women’s desires for changes.

To meet the specific needs of brands, for example, in make-up, we have developed highly efficient solutions in terms of print quality, precision in decoration, shape constraints, communication surface, special effects, tamper proofing, range effect and packing optimization.

Premium Beauty News - This clearly concerns make-up pencils, lipstick tubes, lipgloss or mascara. Can you give us a few examples of applications?

Éric Fresnel - Exactly! And believe me it was not easy to adjust to the proper speed and accuracy the horizontal machines, which were specifically developed for such applications.

Concerning the products that are currently on the market in this area, I will name the Biotherm, Cacharel and Shiseido products, but also Schwan Stabilo or Faber Castel, leaders in the manufacture of make-up products.

To help us achieve these designs, we have a Sleever-Logicpak machine offer with multipurpose Combisleeve® machines with a wide range offer to treat colour cosmetics unstable by definition on production lines, and with complex shapes.

As far as films are concerned, we have technical films, white injected, light barrier, etc.., low density and / or with extremely low thickness (30 microns).

We also offer revolutionary finishes, with duplex printing and specific feels, tactile effects, and why not olfactory sensations. All this is made possible using the new Helioflex technology developed by Sleever International.

Premium Beauty News - A "machine" offer combined with a very large offer in film processing!

Éric Fresnel - It is true that the beauty sector is very interested not only in sophisticated printings but also in tactile effects and even olfactory sensations which currently our dedicated research teams are able to offer.

Premium Beauty News - A currently unavoidable question nowadays, what is your response in terms environment?

Éric Fresnel - Our environmental approach, started as of 2001 around VOC-free* inks, then with TPE-G low-density films in 2005 and then biodegradable films in 2008, is based on a very simple idea: being that the best packaging solutions - future solutions are the ones offering the most limited impact on the planet throughout their life cycle. This explains why we have invested so much. The launch in 2008 of Biosleeve®, a biodegradable sleeve solution, has strengthened our offering in terms of sustainable development. We have also developed a new printing technology, Helioflex, with new generations of UV water based inks to further minimize the impact of packaging on the environment.

Premium Beauty News - You will be attending MakeUp in Paris. What will be the highlights of your participation?

Éric Fresnel - We will stage the full palette of innovations Sleever® can bring to the cosmetics market: decorating solutions for the most creative shapes, or for small size products (3 mm in diameter), with a customization capacity for very large volumes at high speed (300 strokes per minute), or for small series or even collectors’ items. Will be also showcased, all the tamper-proof solutions offered by the sleeve through the full range of possibilities in terms of protection and security. At the same time, innovations in terms of printing solutions (mirror, ...) or 3D-effect (Skinsleever) stimulating the consumers’ senses and thereby getting closer to them, will be highlighted.

Surprises will also await visitors, with animation we have specially set up on the occasion. So we sure hope you will come and visit us at MakeUp in Paris!