Materials

What It Is Actually Made Of

The body, the lid, the seal and the coating are four separate specifications, and a quotation that does not name them is a quotation for an unstated product.

The Materials

Every Material Named On This Site

The third column is the one that matters: what choosing the material actually changes. No row here makes a compliance claim about a specific article — that belongs to a test report issued for a named product, a material and a destination.

Body, component and finish materials
Material	Where it is used	What it changes
18/8 (304) stainless steel	Body, default	The drinkware standard: 18% chromium, 8% nickel. Accepted under food-contact regulation when the finished article passes testing.
316 stainless steel	Body, on request	Adds molybdenum, which resists chloride attack. Higher cost and a narrower mill supply, so it is confirmed before a programme is planned around it.
201 stainless steel	Not used in the published range	A lower-nickel grade used in some low-cost drinkware. It is named here so a buyer comparing quotations knows which grade they are being offered, and it is not a grade this range is published on.
Food-grade PP	Plastic range and lid bodies	Polypropylene, the working material for injection-moulded lids, caps and the plastic cup range.
Tritan / co-polyester	Lid bodies where specified	A clearer, tougher alternative to PP on lid bodies. Named where a programme specifies it rather than as a default.
Silicone	Gaskets and seals	The part that decides whether a lid survives a few hundred open/close cycles. Usually the first component to fail on a cheap lid.
Powder coat	Finish, default route	Electrostatic powder applied and cured. The durable route, and the one most Pantone shades are matched against.
Spray / wet paint	Finish, alternative route	An even satin coat. Used where a shade cannot be matched in powder, or where a very flat finish is wanted.
PVD / vacuum metallising	Finish, premium route	A metallised layer applied under vacuum, which is how the mirrored and iridescent finishes are made.

Finishes and colours

The finishes this plant applies, photographed on real bodies. Shades are matched to a reference you approve rather than picked from a list, which is why this is a range and not a numbered colour card.

Solid Coating One flat shade across the whole body — the cheapest finish to hold consistent on a long run, and the easiest to re-order.
Spray Coating An even satin coat matched to any Pantone reference. The default when a brand has one colour and wants it exactly.
Matte Metallic Metallic flake under a matte topcoat: it catches light without becoming a mirror, and it does not show fingerprints.
Metallic Paint A brighter metallic than the matte version, with a visible sheen on the highlight. Reads as a premium line in a shelf line-up.
PVD Gradient Vacuum metallising through a gradient mask, so the shade shifts across the body. A production-order finish, not a sample-bench one.
Snow Gradient A soft fade from solid to bare steel, used for winter and gifting ranges. The transition line is what has to be held batch to batch.
Two-Tone Gradient Two matched shades blended across one body, so a single item reads as a pair.
Three-Tone Gradient Three shades in one mask. The most decoration-sensitive finish here: registration drift between runs is visible, so limit samples are kept.
Spiral Gradient A rotational fade wrapping around the body, which only reads correctly on a body with no seam interruption.
Laser Marking No coating at all — the laser exposes the steel underneath. Permanent, cannot peel, and the only finish here that is also a logo method.

Verification

How We Know What It Is

Incoming material is checked against the purchase specification — grade, thickness and surface condition — before it enters production.
Dimensional checks run at cutting, forming and the vacuum stage, with hourly capability verification against the master sample.
Vacuum retention, leak resistance and drop testing run on sampled units from each production run.
Approved limit samples are kept for colour, texture and print registration, so both sides judge against the same standard.
Records, test reports and material declarations are archived against the order number.

Documents

What Proves It To Your Compliance Team

A material name on a website proves nothing. What a compliance team needs is a report issued for the article and the market, and the difference between the kinds of document is worth knowing before you ask for them.

Certifications & documents QC checklist

Asked Before You Approve

Material Questions

What steel do you use?

18/8 (304) stainless steel is the published default on the drinkware range, and 316 is available on request. The grade is checked on incoming material against the purchase specification before it enters production, which is the point at which a substitution can still be caught.

Why is 201 not used?

It is a lower-nickel grade used in some low-cost drinkware, and it is named on this page so that a buyer comparing two quotations knows which grade they are being offered. It is not a grade this range is published on.

Are the coatings food-contact safe?

The finished article is what is tested, not the coating in isolation, and the applicable test route follows the destination market. A coating tested at one thickness is not evidence at another, which is why reports are issued against an article and a material rather than against a product family.

What is the lid made of?

The lid body is normally food-grade PP, with silicone for the gaskets and seals. Tritan is named where a programme specifies it. The gasket is the part that decides whether a lid survives a few hundred open and close cycles, which is why lid function is cycled on sampled units.

Enquiry

Ask about a material before you specify it

Send the item number or the drawing, the market it is going to, and what the material has to do — we will say what applies rather than what sounds best.

Ask about a material before you specify it

Send the item number or the drawing, the market it is going to, and what the material has to do — we will say what applies rather than what sounds best.

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