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It's also the first "broadly distributed mass-market sold in plastic," according to Kelly. "This is the first time you'll see it in a product on the shelf at a place like Wal-Mart," says Kelly. While the Atmos dispensing system has been used commercially for several years, it's always been for lower-volume, high-priced cosmetics and personal care products. As the user depresses the actuator, the valve opens, allowing product to be squeezed out of the bottle by the contracting rubber sleeve. That bottle has a rubber sleeve that's stretched tightly around it. At first glance, the delivery system, dubbed Atmos(TM) by Exxel, seems simple: Product is filled under pressure into a "flexible" inner PET bottle. Instead, it relies on an inner polyethylene terephthalate bottle, a rubber stretch sleeve and a valve, all from Exxel Container (Somerset, NJ), to dispense the gel product. Alternative delivery method The plastic bottle, unlike the aerosol can, employs a pressurized delivery system that does not use gas propellants. The 6-oz plastic package retails for $2.89, compared to the 7-oz aerosol can, which fetches $2.69. "We'd like to have this be the premium package version," says Kelly. The bottle began appearing on store shelves last month alongside the venerable aerosol version, which Gillette intends to keep selling. To answer the need for a more shower-friendly package, Gillette has just launched a new version of its Satin Care Soft Touch Shave Gel for women in a stylish high-density polyethylene bottle. It can rust, it's slick when wet, and if it's dropped, it can hurt toes or chip the tile or tub. Trouble is, a metal can isn't great for women who shave in the shower. Aerosol packagers have long used a propellant system-pressurized gas-that requires a metal container for product dispensing. There's a reason why no other mass-market pressurized shave gel out there is in a plastic package." Kelly, business director for Gillette's shave preparations group, is referring to the exclusive use of metal cans for such products. A shave gel in a plastic bottle instead of an aerosol can? To the uninitiated, it may not seem all that impressive, but as Gillette's Anne Kelly puts it, "This is quite a technical accomplishment.
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