New Product Line Offers Durable, Safe and Stylish Baby Bottles and Sippy Cups
Kingsport, Tenn. — June 23, 2009 — Eastman Chemical Company announced today that its customer Key Baby, LLC, a manufacturer of infant care products, has introduced a new line of baby bottles and sippy cups approved by world-renowned leader and pioneer in integrative medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil. The product line, Weil Baby™, is made with Eastman Tritan™, a new-generation copolyester that provides a balance of properties to help the infant care market respond to consumer demand for products that offer superior clarity, dishwasher durability and toughness, as well as to meet manufacturer needs for ease of processing.
“We wanted a material that allowed us to create a practical product that combined superior durability with unique style and design,” said Steve Schmidt, CEO of Key Baby. “Eastman Tritan™ copolyester offered us the best of both worlds, and we are looking forward to giving parents a new option in infant care products.”
Key Baby chose Eastman Tritan™ EX401 copolyester for its glasslike clarity, high-heat resistance and durability. Tritan also offered a higher-quality infant care product, because it is manufactured without bisphenol-A (BPA) and is biocompatible for tissue contact — ensuring the plastic bottle will not irritate an infant’s sensitive skin.
Using Eastman Tritan™ EX401 copolyester also appealed to Key Baby because it provides flexible and sustainable processing solutions. Key Baby is the first to utilize Eastman Tritan™ EX401 copolyester in an injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) process for baby bottles. It is also suitable for extrusion blow molding (EBM) and injection molding (IM) processes. Processing with Tritan is a sustainable option since no separate annealing step is required, which can help realize energy savings. In addition, it offers faster injection molding rates and yields more parts per pound of polymer due to its lower density.
“Environmentally-conscious consumers are looking for durable products that can withstand repeated dishwashing and everyday use, but also offer peace of mind and are affordable,” said Schmidt. “With Eastman Tritan™ copolyester, we can provide a product that is appealing to parents interested in safe, well-designed products.”
Key Baby worked with HLB, Inc., a product design firm with offices in Chicago and Boston, to design the innovative bottle, as well as a specialized venting system. The AirWave™ venting system allows air to flow between the threads of the ring and neck and into waves located at the bottle neck’s top, reducing normal pressure from infant sucking and helping minimize colic.
The Weil Baby infant care line includes 5- and 9-ounce bottles and a variety of sippy cups made from Eastman Tritan™ EX401 copolyester, as well as traditional glass bottles. The unique colors and sleek designs set Weil Baby apart from other infant care product lines, and because it’s made with Tritan, the line is highly impact- and shatter-resistant, as well as odor-, taste- and stain-resistant.
Eastman Tritan™ copolyester is being used in molding several infant care items, including reusable bottles, pacifiers, breast pumps, bottle sterilizer lids, plastic cutlery and dishes, and more.
For more information about Eastman Tritan™ copolyester, visit www.eastman.com/tritan.
For more information on Weil Baby™, visit www.weilbaby.com.
For more information on HLB, Inc., visit www.hlb.com.
About Key Baby and Weil Baby™
Key Baby is the exclusive manufacturer of Weil Baby™ feeding and accessories products. Key Baby is committed to the health and safety of families through research, innovation and sustainable business practices.
Weil Baby™ delivers superior products approved by Dr. Andrew Weil—world-renowned leader and pioneer in integrative medicine—for the first years of health and wellbeing. Trusted and tested, Weil Baby bottles, sippy cups and feeding products are based on Dr. Weil’s thirty years of medical and nutritional advice.
Andrew Weil, M.D., donates all of his after-tax profits from royalties from sales of Weil Baby&trade: products directly to the Weil Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting integrative medicine through training, education and research. For more information, visit: www.weilfoundation.org.
For more information about Weil Baby™, visit www.weilbaby.com or contact Christopher Johnson, CMO, at+1-212-905-3560 or cjohnson@weilbaby.com.
About HLB, Inc.
HLB, Inc., with offices in Chicago and Boston, creates products of Meaningful Design™ that range from life-saving medical advances to everyday consumer necessities and industrial items. For over 45 years, HLB has achieved meaningful results for our clients and their customers. The HLB team is highly experienced in the process of uncovering the right ideas and rapidly bringing them to fruition.
For more information about HLB, Inc., visit www.hlb.com or contact Ford Pearson, president, at +1-312-454-1116 or fpearson@hlb.com.
