Standard colours vs. Pantone matching for plastic closures

Colour is the one option every customer changes. Here is how our colour system works, what is standard, and how a Pantone match is made and approved.

01 · Five standard colours, two finishes

White, blue, red, green and yellow, as in the catalogue. Each is available solid (opaque) or transparent (tinted, see-through). Clear is transparent without pigment. Standard colours need no approval sample; they are produced from the factory's masterbatches.

02 · Colour zones

Trigger sprayers have two zones: the body (shroud) and the details (closure, trigger lever, nozzle). Body type X and the all-plastic VM-09X-A and VM1804 to VM1808 have a second body part, so three zones. Lotion pumps and mist sprayers are quoted in one colour for the plastic parts. Aluminium, bamboo and water-transfer closures are not coloured.

03 · Pantone matching

Give a Pantone code per zone (for example 2945 C). The factory makes a masterbatch and moulds a colour plaque or a sample part; you approve it against your reference before production starts. Matching takes one to two weeks and is part of the lead time. A Pantone colour costs the same as a standard colour.

04 · What to expect

• Plastic is not paper. A moulded PP part shows a small visible difference to the printed Pantone chip, and gloss and wall thickness change how the same masterbatch looks on a shroud and on a thin trigger lever. The approved sample part is the reference for production, not the chip.
• Transparent colours depend on wall thickness: thin parts look lighter than thick ones.
• White and natural PP are not the same: natural is slightly translucent.
• Colours are matched per production run; keep a reference part from the approved run for repeats.

05 · On the website

The configurator shows an approximate preview: a standard swatch or the nearest screen colour for a Pantone code. Production is matched to your Pantone reference and approved before the run, not to the screen. If your code is not in our preview table, pick the closest swatch so the picture is close; the code is what we match.

06 · Minimums

Each colour build is its own configuration with a minimum of 20,000 pieces. Two colours of the same model are two items. Special combinations (a blue trigger with a yellow nozzle, a printed shroud) go in the special build field and are quoted individually.