Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CFO of the Year
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 12, 2014 02:00 AM

Reinventing the Mason jar, in plastic, for a new generation

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    PMI Worldwide
    Pacific Marketing Inc.'s Aladdin brand introduced a plastic version of the Mason jar as tumblers last year.

    The Mason jar is back. If my late Grandma Carver was still around to see the different sizes, colors and uses for the jars, she'd accuse Pop Carver of spiking the pickles she preserved in them. And Pop would be ducking when Grandma realized the trusty jars are plastic, not the traditional glass.

    Grandma's reaction would pale in comparison to John Landis Mason seeing someone sipping a smoothie out of a tinted green insulated Mason tumbler branded “Aladdin” with a handle and plastic straw sticking through the stainless steel lid.

    Mason patented his jar in 1858, the threaded neck and screw-on lid sparking a home-canning revolution by making it safe and easy to preserve green beans, tomatoes, peaches, berries and other goodies fresh from the garden. He wasn't as careful with the patent rights, assigning them to another company and eventually dying with a cupboard bare of canned food.

    During its heyday from 1939 through 1949, more than 3 million Mason jars were sold. In the 1950s, canning became a lost art and demand dwindled as Americans abandoned farms for the cities.

    Today, original Mason jars are prized collectibles. They also are inspiring a new generation of jars that would have Grandma asking, “What's the world coming to?”

    One of the companies behind the Mason jar's revival is Cool Gear International.

    “It's really an iconic shape,” says David Conrad, creative director for Cool Gear. “Just by taking the top off, it became a drinking vessel.”

    That happens to be Cool Gear's specialty.

    “It started as a little bit of a joke in a way,” Conrad admits, noting a typical user comment: ‘You don't have any glasses around; we can use this.'

    “When we started seeing people responding to that form, we said, ‘Okay, how do we really make this to what people want it to be and do what we do best which is an on-the-go hydration solution.' It just became a no-brainer.”

    Alan Lee
    Gaylon White

    PMI Worldwide feels the same way, rolling out a stylish line of glass and plastic tumblers, food storage jars and party drink dispensers under its Aladdin brand.

    “There's a fairly significant trend in the consumer market where people are looking back to more nostalgic times when life was simpler, a little bit slower, we weren't always on our cell phones, we weren't quite so busy — sort of having a longing for that moment,” says Aladdin marketing manager Jenn Polanski.

    Cool Gear's Conrad adds: “We started seeing people use Mason jars in high-end restaurants to create layered salads. Now it's become sort of a chic piece that people are serving from.”

    Based on the huge success of a plastic Mason tumbler in 2013, Aladdin has expanded its collection to include more sizes and colors and a tinted green glass tumbler that's a spitting image of Grandma's canning jars.

    “It's made with recycled glass and it's out of a factory in Spain,” Polanski explains. “It's for a consumer that's a little bit more eco-minded and really into glass over plastic.

    “The future hit of the line,” according to Polanski, is going to be the 32-ounce tumbler.

    Cool Gear International

    Cool Gear International's take on a Mason jar salad bowl and glass.

    Made of SAN plastic, this mother-of-all-tumblers hits the market this summer as the thirst of ice-tea drinkers reaches its peak. It comes with a polypropylene lid and smoothie-sized straw. Of course, the plastic is BPA-free, ­although Grandma wouldn't know the difference between BPA and WPA, the Depression-era Works Progress Administration program Pop called “We Piddle Around.”

    Aladdin is feeding the Mason craving with posts on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

    “People love to take pictures of themselves with the Mason,” Polanski says.

    The target audience for Aladdin is women between the ages of 20 and 60.

    “What we see the most on social media is the savvier 20-something year olds,” notes Polanski. “But we're also seeing moms buying these in mass and giving them to their daughters.”

    The future for the Mason jar is brighter than ever.

    “The form really drives the success of it,” Conrad says. “We'll go forward, we'll go backward, we'll go to the side by doing pieces that are even smaller versions for spice jars or something for the infant industry where it's baby food.”

    Even the new Mason products are collectibles.

     “People are putting together collections for their table tops that are from different patterns or even different materials — like the things your grandmother might've collected over the years,” Polanski says. “Duplicating that experience with new things is going to be a huge part of the next wave of this nostalgic trend.”

    Come to think of it, Grandma Carver would like the new-fangled Masons. She may even have thought of new uses for the old jars on her own because she always made the most of what she had. I only wish Grandma was here to enjoy them.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Plastics Industry Association, Radoszewski file paperwork to settle legal battles
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Dow moving ahead with $6.5B Path2Zero project
    2
    A tale of two industries for compounders at close of 2023
    3
    TC Transcontinental closing flexible packaging plant
    4
    Kickstart: Quieter pickleball play
    5
    Numbers That Matter Live November 2023: Will plastics markets recover in 2024?
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CFO of the Year
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified