Package of the 2nd Quarter 2007

A new winner was determined in a tight race for Kaufman’s Package of the 2nd Quarter - and the winner is KIS by Tressa. KIS - kreative. innovative. smart. - is a new haircare and styling line launched exclusively in salons throughout the United States and Canada. This new luxury haircare and styling line was designed for professional stylists with their professional clientele in mind. The concept behind this line was to create a product line that is new and innovative yet simple and easy to use.

High performance products charged with the powerful Omega-SPA Complex, along with outstanding fragrances make for a high-end haircare line, and the packaging needed to reflect that same feel. What originally started off as a 4-SKU line turned into a much more vast line of 11 SKUs, which meant the makers of KIS needed to find stock packaging that didn’t look like anything else in the market.

"We were open minded when looking at different bottle options, but knew we needed something to differentiate us from the rest of the haircare lines that already exist in the salon market" said Rachel Schenck, Creative Director for the KIS line, manufactured by Tressa. Kaufman Container presented a variety of stock packaging components that gave the feel of a custom look without the high cost of building several new molds. "When Kaufman showed us the bottles from EJ Pack, we knew that was it. The rest of the line just fell into place from there."

Besides finding the right shape, color was essential for this line. The KIS creators wanted to achieve a signature feeling of "sassy, fun, sexy and sophisticated" by using unique color combinations of orange, green and light blue. To differentiate each segment of the line, bottles were custom colored in green for the haircare products, orange for the styling products, and blue for the finishing products.

In addition, the pumps - supplied from Kaufman Container through Calmar and Seaquist Perfect - were color coded as well for ease of use at the salon. According to Schenck, pumps were used to make the product more accessible and to save time in the salon. "Flip top closures just take more time when you are using the product all day long. Also, the pumps keep the product from being contaminated or diluted with water versus some of the other dispensing options." To add to the functionality of this line, 1-liter bottles from Kaufman Container were complimented with dial-a-dose pumps from Taplast in order to allow you to select the preferred output of product.

To keep with the luxurious feel of the line, Schenck said the only option for decoration was silk screening. Done in-house at Kaufman Container, this proved to be a challenge because of the unique colors and shapes in the KIS line. "The silk-screening had to be dead on, because the decoration on the outside reflects the quality of the product on the inside of the bottle" said Schenck. The round shape of the bottles, intricate artwork, and the small size of some of the components allowed no room for error. Getting the right color matches was essential as well, said Schenck. "Everything had to be perfect. Kaufman carried out pre-production runs to make sure we achieved exactly the right look."

When it came to choosing a source to supply all their packaging, the ongoing relationship between Tressa and Kaufman Container made the choice easy. "Kaufman has been supplying the packaging for our main line forever. We felt we could trust what they provide us with, and we knew if any problems came up, they would be fixed quickly and efficiently," said Schenck. "We also like the fact that we can warehouse what we need at their facility and have the bottles shipped to us on an as-needed basis."

All the plastic packaging in this line was provided from Kaufman Container, including five PET cylinder bottles for Shampoo, Conditioner, Root Lifter and Leave-in Sealing Spray and 2 round PET bottles for a Spray Gel and Shine Serum, all from EJ Pack. A double wall PP jar for GelWax came from Rexam and a Beaded Deep Conditioner comes in an LDPE tube from Artube. The 1-liter HDPE bottles are a custom mold from Kaufman Container. All pumps and closures are from Calmar and Seaquist Perfect. KIS also has two aluminum cans in the line for finishing sprays.

The new line - formulated, produced, filled and shipped by Tressa - launched August 1st, 2007 in salons nationwide and in Canada and has already had an incredible response. According to Schenck, the color and shape of KIS - as well as the high quality product in the bottles - is what truly sets it apart from everything else that exists in the marketplace. "We realized from the beginning that we had an outstanding product, but we needed to make sure that by looking at the package others could see what we already knew."

For more information on KIS, log onto their website at www.kishaircare.com. Two new styling products are being added to the line and will be available in salons October 1st.

Congratulations to the Kaufman team of Carrie Moore and Judy Haworth for a job well done and an outstanding Package of the 2nd Quarter!

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