New packaging is changing the sports beverage for the better. As a student athlete, staying hydrated is extremely important. In fact at one point I drank a bottle of Gatorade everyday for swim practice. My sports idols told me I had to drink Gatorade to be a champion and I believed them. Only much later did I realize big brands like Gatorade spend millions in marketing to attract customers and entice children with their unhealthy and artificially colored bright drinks. The drinks have become so popular that according to Statistica: “In the U.S. alone, the sales volume of sports drinks amounted to over 1.2 billion 192-oz. cases in 2021.” Thankfully, a new innovation in the design of the bottle is changing and improving the sports drink industry forever.

Companies like Prime and Body Armor have adopted a sleeve design that completely wraps around the bottle and makes its content opaque. This style is a stark contrast from the typical clear bottle that proudly displays its artificially colored contents. This is extremely important for a few key reasons:

The sleeve design is a new look, but one that consumers have gravitated towards. Viral videos all over TikTok show young kids collecting and using the empty bottles as display pieces and collectible items. In fact the drink grossed “$250 million” in its first year according to co-founder Logan Paul. The sleeve design is a fan’s favorite that looks better and sells more.

It’s healthier, a lot healthier. Food coloring is a major issue plaguing the child/teen food and beverage industry. Companies like Gatorade have a proven formula of using unhealthy bright dyes to capture the attention of shoppers. The issue is, it's unhealthy. According to the Cleveland Clinic: “Red dye 40 contains benzene, a known cancer-causing substance.” The Prime sleeve allows for a colorful and good looking drink on shelfs while using no artificial preservatives. There’s no need for dyes when the natural (yet less appealing) colors are hidden. 

The sleeve allows for a clearer nutrition facts list. Too many companies have gotten away minimizing the ingredient list and making it difficult to read. Clear bottles typically have small labels, with text colors and sizing intentionally obscured to hide the drinks' harmful chemicals from customers. The sleeve covers the whole bottle leaving more space for larger and more legible nutrition facts. The clearer the ingredients list is, the more companies are accountable for keeping ingredients healthy. In fact, out of the 5 major sports drinks, (Prime, Body Armor, Vitamin Water, Gatorade, and Powerade) the 2 drinks with a sleeve had no dyes while the 3 clear bottles all had food dyes and various preservatives.

The invention of sleeve design has positively revolutionized the sports drink industry and other companies should follow suit. Market giants such as Gatorade and Powerade have spent far too long marketing their poisonous drink to impressionable young athletes through unnatural colors and hidden addictive ingredients. We must urge elected officials and professional sports leagues to advocate for a standardization of the new sleeve design and propose penalties for companies still using artificially colored drinks and clear bottles. You're not just putting a cover on a bottle, you're putting a protective sleeve on children's health.