Foil Mylar Bags and Foil Pouches

What is in the foil mylar bag range?

Mylar is the trade name for a polyester film, PET. A foil mylar bag is that film laminated to aluminium foil or a metallised layer, with a PE sealant inside.

The ten styles below use that build in different shapes, finishes and sizes. Some are plain metallic, some are printed edge to edge, and one is film on a roll for your own machine.

Pick by what you need the bag to do, then by how it should look.

Who buys foil pouches in the UK?

Anyone selling something that oxygen or light would spoil. Coffee roasters, chocolate makers, supplement brands and freeze dried food producers lead the list.

Sweet brands buy mini and window bags. Gift and favour businesses buy gold bags and die cut shapes. Factories with their own packing machines buy printed film on a roll.

A brand that wants the look of foil without a full print run often starts with plain silver mylar bags and a label.

• Coffee roasters and tea blenders
• Chocolate, fudge and confectionery makers
• Supplement, protein and nootropic brands
• Freeze dried and dehydrated food producers
• Wedding favour and gift businesses
• Food factories running form fill seal machines

What size foil bag do you need?

Foil bags are made to your dimensions. The usual way to size one is to weigh the product into a test bag. Then allow 30 to 40 mm of empty film above the fill line for the seal.

Mini bags start at about 60 × 90 mm and hold 10 g to 30 g. Standard stand up foil bags run from 100 g to 2 kg. Film rolls are sized by web width and repeat length instead.

Foil or metallised: which barrier do you need?

True aluminium foil, 7 to 9 microns thick inside the laminate, is the highest barrier we offer. Oxygen and moisture transmission are close to zero. It suits a 12 to 24 month shelf life.

Metallised PET is PET film with a vapour-thin coat of aluminium. It looks the same on the shelf, costs less and still blocks most light and oxygen. It suits 6 to 12 months.

For coffee, chocolate and anything with fat, choose foil. For sweets, dried pasta or bath salts, metallised is plenty. The mylar zip lock bags with a press-to-close zipper are offered in both builds. Films for compostable, food-contact or higher barrier use are options we add on request.

When do gold and silver bags work better than print?

A gold bag says premium before anything is printed on it. Chocolate, luxury tea and gift coffee sell in gold with a single black or white logo.

Silver is the plain workhorse. Samples, trade packs, bulk pre-packs and anything that gets a label later go in silver. One colour print on silver is cheap and sharp.

Both take full colour too, with a white under-print behind the colours so the metal does not show through. Leave the under-print off where you want the gold to shine through a design. See the gold mylar bags in matte or gloss for the two finishes side by side.

Should a foil bag have a window?

A window in a foil bag lets the product sell itself while the rest of the bag keeps the barrier. Jelly sweets, nuts, freeze dried strawberries and dog treats all look good through one.

The window is an area where the foil or metallised layer is left out, so it is a weak spot in the barrier. Keep it small on products with a long shelf life, or skip it for coffee.

Shapes are up to you: a circle, an oval, a bone, a strawberry. The mylar bags with a clear window show a matte black bag with the window cut as a panel.

• Clear window for bright, colourful products
• Frosted window for a softer, premium look
• Keep the window 10 mm from any seal and off the gusset
• Smaller window on products needing 12 months or more

What can a die cut mylar bag look like?

A die cut bag is sealed as a normal pouch, then cut to an outline. A round bag for a cookie, a bottle shape for a drink mix, a bear for sweets, a leaf for tea.

The outline follows your artwork and the free proof shows the cut line over the design. Seals still need to run around the outline, so very thin shapes are avoided.

Shaped bags stand out at a till or a market stall. The die cut mylar bags in custom shapes page shows a round bag with a printed illustration.

Which mini, zip lock and seasonal bags suit sweets?

Mini mylar bags are the small ones, 60 mm to 100 mm wide, with a zipper or a plain heat seal. They hold a handful of sweets, a sample of coffee or a single portion of a supplement.

Halloween bags are printed with pumpkins, bats and webs for October treat sales. Wedding favours, Easter and Valentine's sell well in the same small formats with a different print.

The mini mylar bags with a zipper are usually ordered in black with a window, or in a solid colour printed edge to edge.

What are printed film rolls for?

If you own a form fill seal machine, a flow wrapper or a chub filler, you do not need finished bags. You need printed film on a roll in the right width and repeat.

Rolls are quoted by web width in millimetres, repeat length, film build and the number of metres. Eye marks are printed along one edge so the machine cuts each pack in register.

Foil, metallised, kraft and clear laminates are all available on the roll. The printed film rolls for packing machines page lists what we need from your machine manual.

How does paper laminate change a foil bag?

A paper laminate bag has kraft paper on the outside and foil or metallised film behind it. The customer sees paper. The product sees foil.

Coffee roasters and tea blenders use it when the brand is natural but the shelf life must be long. Print on kraft is softer, so one and two colour designs in dark inks work best.

The paper laminate mylar bags with a kraft outer are offered as flat and stand up bags with a zipper or valve.

How are foil mylar bags printed?

Printing on metal is different from printing on white film. Colours printed straight onto foil go dark and metallic. A white under-print layer is laid down first wherever colours must look as they do on screen.

Leaving that white out on purpose creates a metallic effect: a gold logo on a gold bag, a silver band on a silver bag. Full colour digital suits short runs and seasonal bags. Plate print suits large runs and rolls.

Finishes are matte, gloss, soft touch matte and spot gloss over matte. The full colour printed mylar bags show a gloss print on a stand up bag.

What goes wrong with foil bag orders and how do you order?

The classic error is artwork with no white under-print, so the first proof looks bronze instead of red. Our designers catch that on the free proof. The next is a window on a product that needed full barrier.

To order, send the product, fill weight, quantity and artwork. Each quote is written, begins at £0.25 a unit and names the quantity it covers. Proof approval starts a 4 to 6 business day production run, followed by free tracked UK delivery in 2 to 3 business days. Report any damage or misprint within 10 days with photos for a reprint or refund.

1. Choose plain gold or silver, a printed bag, a shape or a roll.
2. Give the fill weight or the roll width and repeat.
3. Choose foil or metallised and a matte or gloss finish.
4. Add a zipper, window, valve or hang hole.
5. Approve the free proof with the under-print layer shown.
6. Receive the bags flat, or the rolls boxed, at your UK address.