Can you afford not to? There are various companies in the US that would provide standup pouches to you, but their quality is not as good as that offered by overseas factories. That’s true. There are various companies overseas that have been in this business for several years and they provide some really awesome features on their pouches.
Let’s discuss the construction of a standup pouch. Printed pouches are made with several layers of scientifically engineered layers called barrier films. These layers consist of alternating layers of oxide barrier and polymer. They also have substrate layers. These layers are laminated together to provide protection to the product. In printed pouches, there is an additional printed layer. This layer is custom printed according to your requirements, and then sandwiched between other layers.
Why is the printed layer not the outermost? If it was the outermost layer, the printing would come off really easily and rub on the fingers of your customers. We don’t want that to happen. This is why we cover the printed layer with a transparent film. This keeps the printing safe, and it cannot be scratched off in any way – it’s there as a permanent part of your pouch.
Further, these layers act together to protect the contents against moisture, odor, puncture, UV rays, air, and germs. Also, these layers provide the strength for the pouch to stand erect on the store shelf.
Custom printed pouch bags that are printed overseas are almost always rotogravure printed. This is the highest quality printing style available. US based manufacturers generally use flexographic printing that doesn’t give as bold and crisp colors as rotogravure. Besides, this printing done overseas is 30-50% cheaper than flexographic done in the United States.
Also, Asian markets offer better quality at cheaper rates. Their lead times are faster too – that’s true! However, there can be some exceptional conditions and the overseas companies must be ready to take them into account. It’s best to have some support from a US based manufacturer who can help the Asian companies out in case they face a challenge.
We are in a global economy and overseas factories can perform better than local US companies, and we have seen examples in industries like cell phones, shoes, clothes, and others. Made in US products are awesome, but if you want competitive prices and quality, you can try overseas pouch manufacturing companies.