Thanks to Sleever's Anti-Counterfeit Sleeving Solutions, Consumers Can Now Rest Assured No One Has Tampered with Their Favorite Cognac.

Today, counterfeiting and forgery are no longer confined to luxury goods, but have spread their odious toxin to everyday consumer items including food and drinks. The wine and spirits industry has not been spared. In fact, a study by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation (OECD) revealed that alcohol and beverages are among the most counterfeited articles.

For such products, the prime weapon in the brand protection arsenal is secure packaging, with the most effective systems providing multi-level defenses against fraud. First, recognition features visible to the consumer's naked eye, including watermarks, tamper-evident seals and holograms. Second, bubble tags, deformation sensors, invisible pigments and other elements that can be detected with a simple handheld device by transport companies, customs agents and retailers. And third, technologies that give a product its unique and distinctive "fingerprint" providing solid proof of authenticity, including DNA marking, Tagants, and more.

Now Sleever International takes product protection to a whole new level with Holosleeve® 3D for wine and spirits bottles. Designed to protect vulnerable high value brands with a visual anti-forgery signature, Holosleeve 3D combines mono-oriented heat shrink film technology with an exclusive, unforgeable holographic image that is destroyed once the product is opened.

It is based on mono-oriented OPS base film which can "remember" its deformation after heat shrinking, creating three-dimensional relief patterns. Achieved through embossing or debossing, the 3D-motif can be combined with up to 6-color gravure printing, very precise positioning and a slew of special effects. Traceable tags can be integrated to combat grey market diversion.

Holosleeve 3D can also be used with highly secure demetallic holograms – a self-destruct system developed in cooperation with European specialist Hologram Industries.

The technology thus provides a sophisticated and customized level of protection as it reinforces and enhances brand awareness. According to the company, "The result is a multi-technology innovative solution adapted to each customer and each product, thus practically inimitable, to effectively fight against forgeries and substitutions, but also [in] grey markets because of the possibility of integrating traceable tags."

The Holosleeve is available in strip, transfer and sensor versions and its qualities can further be enhanced by covert UV printing which can only be detected by certain wave lengths and special relieve effects.

Proof of success? Remy Martin and Hennessy cognacs are among those who have already adopted this technology to protect their precious elixirs. The solution can be adapted to other high value sectors affected by forgeries, such as perfumes, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and para-pharmaceuticals.