Decoration is where a molded part becomes a branded product. The right method depends on the container's shape, the resin, the run volume, and how the finished piece needs to perform on shelf. Below is a rundown of the decoration methods used across cosmetics, cannabis, and commodity plastic packaging. Availability varies by format and facility. Contact Jadewell to confirm which methods suit a given program.
The label is placed into the mold cavity before the shot, and molten resin fuses around it during injection. The label becomes part of the wall. It handles four-color process images and continuous color fades well, supports up to two spot colors plus metallic inks, and the result can't be peeled off and is highly scratch resistant. Because tooling has to accommodate the label placement, this is a decision made at the mold design stage.
Pad printing transfers a 2D image onto a 3D surface using a silicone pad, which makes it the go-to method for printing on curved, concave, or irregular geometry: closures, jars, and dispensers that a flat printing process can't reach cleanly. It's an indirect process: the image is etched onto a plate, picked up by the silicone pad, then deposited onto the part. Multiple pad passes handle multi-color designs.
A squeegee forces ink through a mesh stencil directly onto the container surface, one color per screen. It's a standard, cost-effective method for bottles and jars, and organic water-based inks are washable and won't release fumes, though they're limited to lighter container colors and don't hold up well against sugar-based liquid contents. Multi-color designs require a separate screen and pass per color, which is the main driver of tooling cost on a screen-printed job.
A dry printing process where pre-dried foil is pressed onto the part's surface under heat, commonly used for metallic accents, logos, or fine text on caps and closures. It works on both plastic and paperboard components, and because no wet ink is involved, there's no cure time built into the production cycle.
Also a dry process: a multi-color image is pre-printed onto a carrier film, then a hot stamping machine senses a registration mark and presses the transfer onto the part under heat. Because the artwork is prepared in advance, a full multi-color image transfers in a single pass, which lowers per-unit labor cost, but the upfront transfer-making cost means this method pencils out best at higher volumes.
A sleeve is digitally printed on flexible film, slid over the container, then shrunk tight to the part's contours with heat. It provides a full 360-degree print area and works on container shapes that don't have a flat panel to print on: useful for tapered bottles or dispenser pumps. Shrink sleeves also double as a tamper-evident feature across the closure-to-body seam, which matters for anything sold in a cannabis or supplement channel.
A pre-printed label with adhesive backing, applied by machine directly from a roll. It's the most common and cost-effective labeling method in the industry, runs on high-speed lines, and works across nearly any resin or container shape. Where artwork has to be swapped frequently (seasonal packaging, private label runs for multiple brands), PS labels are the easiest format to change without touching tooling.
Unlike a PS label, a cut-and-stack label has no adhesive layer of its own: glue is applied to the label or the container during application, using cold or hot adhesive. It's compatible with high-speed labeling lines and remains a common choice for large-volume commodity runs where per-label cost needs to stay low.
Dry offset prints multi-color line art, halftones, and full process images directly onto a preformed plastic part: tubs, pails, tubes, jars, lids, and closures are the typical applications. It's built for high-speed, high-volume production and prints directly onto the part, which removes a labeling step from the line entirely.
Flexo uses a flexible relief plate to print onto film, laminate tubes, and pressure-sensitive label stock. It's fast, holds detailed graphics well, and is the standard printing method behind most flexible film packaging: stand-up pouches, barrier bags, and similar formats.
Vacuum metalizing heats a coating metal to its boiling point inside a vacuum chamber; the resulting vapor condenses onto the part's surface as a thin metallic layer, then gets a protective topcoat. Spray coating achieves a similar look with an applied organic or ceramic finish in gloss, matte, or frosted textures. Both are common on cosmetic closures and components where a premium metallic look matters more than functional coating properties.
Raised (embossed) or recessed (debossed) detail cut directly into the mold surface, so the branding is part of the part itself. It reads well on caps and closures, adds no per-unit decoration cost once the mold is cut, and holds up to handling and shelf wear in a way that no applied finish can match. The tradeoff is that any design change means a mold modification.
Most programs end up combining two or three of these: an offset-printed body with a hot-stamped cap, or an IML container with a pad-printed closure. The right combination depends on container geometry, color count, run volume, and how the finished piece needs to hold up in the channel it's sold through. Request a quote with the decoration method and color count required.