Printed / Branded Plastic Glasses

Many of Regalzone’s customers ask about printing on plastic glasses and we take pride in being able to offer advice, options and support from beginning to end.

Account Managers, Brand Managers, Event Managers and Marketing Managers appreciate the short lead times we offer, the quality of the print and Regalzone’s ability to deliver to a deadline.

This article gives some basic advice if you are considering branded plastic glasses and suggests some of the first things you need to consider.

Getting value from printed plastic cups and glasses
It sounds obvious, but you should only go to the expense of getting your logo or message printed onto the plastic glass if it is going to be seen by others. If the users are unlikely to walk around with them so that other people see them, the investment you make in getting the plastic glasses branded is going to generate a poor return. By extension of this logic, getting reusable plastic glasses, re-fill cups and souvenir cups branded offers the best value because the logo/message gets exposure for much longer. In fact, branded polycarbonate glasses will keep promoting your product for years after the event.

What are the minimum quantities?
Contrary to what many companies will tell you, it is possible to get a small quantity of plastic glasses printed. You don’t have to get them printed by the thousand, and you can get just one plastic glass printed if that’s what you want. However, if you have got anything printed before you will know that a significant proportion of the cost is in the set-up. What this means is that the more you print, the cheaper each unit becomes. Regalzone has a minimum order value of £500 and is set up to deliver the best prices for printed plastic glasses at pallet quantities, printed at the point of manufacture. However we have partners that can offer you excellent value at smaller quantities and we be delighted to put you in contact with them.

What are the lead times?
The best value is offered by printed plastic glasses at the point of manufacture. We give a nominal lead time of six weeks for this type of job but it can sometimes be done in less. If you do not have six weeks then we can arrange for them to be post-production printed in the UK, but there are additional costs for transport and the labour involved in unpacking, printing and re-packing. Let us get you a quote and you can decide.

What effects can be achieved?
You can get plastic glasses printed in one, two and three spot colours, or full colour. Spot colour is when the colours are solid colours (like the Tesco logo for example). Full colour is needed for when the colours are blended or more than three colours are used (as in a photograph for example). There are of course combinations of this – for example, you may need a full colour image on one side of a plastic pint glass and text in a solid colour on the other side.

Customers often ask if they can get an engraved or frosted look on a plastic glass. Well, it is not possible to get plastic glasses engraved but a reasonable facsimile of a frost look can be achieved by using a translucent white ink. 

As you would expect, printing in one colour and one position gives you printed plastic glasses at the lowest cost. Two and three colours do not cost significantly more.

What to do next
Think about what drink you are serving, to how many, and in what location. Think about what you want to achieve by getting your glasses printed.  If you would like some advice on the choice of plastic glass and how the print will look, we would be pleased to take your call.

PS: If you are new to the world of printed glassware you may come across the terms decorated glassware, or glassware decoration. These terms are a catch-all to describe the printing of glassware (plastic or otherwise), but also techniques such as laser etching and mould creation.