Plastic (W)rap.

This article provides information on the process used by Color Ink in developing the point-of-purchase (POP) wraps for Dyson vacuum cleaners. Eye-popping contrast is precisely what Dyson had in mind when it designed sleek POP wraps for its high-end DC07 models, which retail for between $400 and $500. With canary yellow accents on a charcoal-metallic background, Dyson's display packaging certainly stands out. And it's durable, too, scientifically printed on not-so-common 32-mil polyethylene to stand up to the repetitive rigors of in-store product displays. But before Color Ink made a clean sweep of this print job, it had to do the upfront dirty work. Despite the company's well-earned reputation for specialty printing on a variety of substrates, including, vinyl, fluted and plastic, the press crew wasn't eager to run with the extra-thick polyethylene on its 6-color KBA Rapida 105. Meanwhile, Color Ink's onsite ink lab, staffed by Flint Ink, was charged with laying down the colors and making them stick. With the Flint experts' help, Color Ink has spent a considerable amount of time determining which ink sets would bond the best on various substrates, not scratching or wearing off. After testing for die levels and adhesion, the ink lab made drawdowns on the plastic substrate and decided on Mirasheen hybrid UV ink, a shinier, more expensive version of PMS 877 Metallic Silver.