Every material we mould, and what it actually costs you.

Quick comparison

If you only read one section, read the table. The numbers are what we quote at 3,000 pieces, single colour, polybag packing, FOB Ningbo.

Stainless steel: 304 and 316

Both are austenitic, both are food-safe, and both will outlive the brand that sells them. The practical difference is molybdenum: 316 contains 2–3%, which is what resists chloride pitting. If your product is sold in Australia, Florida, the Gulf or on boats, 316 earns its premium. If it is sold inland and washed in tap water, 304 with a mill certificate is enough.

Wall thickness matters more than grade

A 0.4 mm wall in 316 performs worse than a 0.5 mm wall in 304 for insulation and dent resistance. We measure thickness on every coil and record it on the batch sheet; ask for that number rather than the grade alone.

What the coating does to the equation

Most returns on steel bottles are coating failures, not steel failures — and almost always at the weld seam, where pretreatment is hardest. This is why we treat adhesion as a separate gate rather than part of the paint station.

PP and Tritan

PP is the workhorse: cheap, tough, dishwasher-safe, slightly hazy. Tritan is a copolyester — clear as glass, no BPA, no estrogenic activity, and about 60–70% more expensive per unit. If your claim is “BPA-free and it looks like glass”, you want Tritan. If your claim is “cheap enough to give away at a trade show”, you want PP.

• Both are single-wall. Do not expect insulation. A plastic “insulated” bottle is usually a PP shell with a thin air gap, and it performs accordingly.
• Taste transfer is real in PP after hot liquids. Tritan is better but not immune. If the product is for coffee, glass or steel.
• Resin substitution is the number one cause of complaints in this category. Ask for the lot number on the batch record.

Borosilicate glass

Borosilicate (3.3) handles thermal shock far better than soda-lime, which is why it is the standard for coffee and tea drinkware. Double-wall glass gives genuine insulation and looks expensive, but it is the most fragile thing we ship: breakage in transit runs 0.5–1.5% even with moulded pulp inserts, and that has to be priced in.

Aluminium, copper and bamboo

Aluminium is light and cheap and needs an internal liner — usually a resin coating — because the metal itself is not suitable for acidic drinks. That liner is the failure point, so ask which one is used and whether it has a food-contact report.

Copper is a niche premium material with genuine antimicrobial marketing behind it, but it reacts with acidic liquids and needs a lining. Treat it as a gift product, not a daily-use bottle.

Bamboo is almost always an exterior sleeve over a steel or glass liner. The sustainability claim only holds if the adhesive and the liner are also compliant, which is where most “eco” products quietly fall over.

How to choose in ten minutes

1. Write down the claim the product must support: 24-hour cold, BPA-free, plastic-free, unbreakable, under USD 3 landed.
2. Cross the table against that claim. Usually one row survives.
3. Check the channel. A retailer will ask for a test report on the exact configuration; a promotional distributor will not.
4. Price the packaging before you fall in love with the material. On glass it is a third of the landed cost.

If two rows survive, send both to us. We will quote them side by side with the same packaging assumption, which is the only fair comparison.