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If you are new to the balloon industry or just curious like me, you might be wondering about the different balloon brands. How many are there? Which ones are the most well known? And which one should I use for a specific application? Believe me, I have spent my fair share of time asking the same questions so I decided to find out once and for all.
I polled several balloon artists and asked them which balloon brands they used most. The top six brands are; Betallatex, Decomex, Geman, Kalisan, Qualatex, and, Tuftex.
There are lots of balloon brands out there but these were the top six brands that showed up over and over again when talking to balloon professionals.
I have been in the balloon industry for 10+ years and I had heard of most of these brands but I haven’t personally worked with each of them. I decided I needed to get my hands dirty and see for myself so I bought a package of each in either 11″ or 12″ depending on what size the brand offered. Some brands have 11″ balloons and some brands have 12″ balloons but 11″ and 12″ balloons are considered standard sizes in the balloon industry.
Continue reading and check out the charts below to see how each brand matched up with the others.
Betallic + Sempertex = Betallatex
A little history. Betallic was founded in 1983 mostly making foil and other non latex balloons. Sempertex was founded in 1938 manufacturing latex balloons. Together they formed an alliance and named it Betallatex. Learn more by checking out the history page on Betallic.com here.
- Tag Line: Quality Latex Balloons
- Made In Colombia
- 100% Pure Natural Rubber
- Biodegradable
- Fashion Assortment
- Size: 11″
My Thoughts:
- Good quality brand
- Balloons feel sturdy
- Good stretch
- Lots of colors to choose from (not necessarily in this pack)
- The bag is made to be resealable, which is super convenient. Although possibly not necessary if you have a storage system for your balloons.
- The colors eucalyptus and white sand are very popular (not in this particular bag) but they can be hard to get a hold of at the time of writing this article.
What Other People Are Saying:
- Quality brand
- Awesome balloons
- Hard to get the colors I need
- Beautiful metallic colors
- Narrower neck than others
- Good stretch
- My go-to brand when I can get the colors I need
Decomex
- Tag Line: The Most Fabulous Balloons
- Made In Vietnam
- Natural Latex
- Biodegradable
- Standard Assorted
- Size: 12″
My Thoughts:
- They seemed to have a lot of wrinkles in the balloons when I first pulled them out of the bag.
- Good stretch
- The necks seem extra long, comes in handy when tying
- They feel a little thin
- Good assortment of colors
What Other People Are Saying:
- Inconsistent colors
- Quality isn’t as good as Qualatex and Tuftex
- They don’t last as long as other high quality brands when filled with helium, even if treated with Hi-Float
- Affordable and durable
- Very stretchy
- Long necks
- The latex seems thinner than other brands
- Able to get when other brands are out
Gemar
- Tag Line: Lifting The Moment
- Made In Italy
- Natural Rubber Balloons
- Biodegradable
- Classic Assortment
- Size: 12″
My Thoughts:
- Several balloons had defects around the lip of the balloon.
- This assortment came with four different shades of pink, which seems a bit excessive to me for a classic assortment.
- This pack came with 13 different colors, which seems like a lot to me.
- Feels a bit thinner than the Betallatex or Qualatex
- Lots of colors
What Other People Are Saying:
- Gemar has the best color of gold
- Color streaking or striping when inflated
- Affordable
- In stock
- Super stretchy
- Defective out of the bag
- Gemar is hit or miss
Kalisan
- Tag Line: Colors Of Life
- Made In Turkey
- Natural Rubber Latex
- Biodegradable
- Standard Assorted
- Size: 12″
My Thoughts:
- In a package of 50 balloons, I only got one blue balloon, one white balloon, three dark green balloons, and three yellow balloons.
- I like that this assortment comes with black and white, you don’t see that a lot
- This package came with a lot of black balloons and oranges
- The red looks more like pink next to the other reds
- Lots of unique and interesting prints (not in this bag)
This was my first time actually using Kalisan balloons, I was disappointed with the “assortment” of balloons in this package. As I stated above the package came with very few of some colors and a lot of black balloons. Because the package only came with one blue balloon and the fact that the blue balloon popped immediately after inflating (which can happen with any brand), this brand was not able to fully be compared to the others in the sun test (Part 2 – Coming Soon).
What Other People Are Saying:
- Mixed consistency
- Not very reliable
- Very thin
- Lots of available colors
- Really good brand
- Less expensive than other brands
- My go-to brand
Qualatex
- Tag Line: The Very Best Balloons
- Made In USA
- Natural Latex
- Biodegradable
- Standard Assortment
- Size: 11″
My Thoughts:
- Good quality balloons
- Good stretch
- Balloons feel sturdy
- Lots of colors to choose from (not in this pack)
- No purple in the standard assortment, that seems like a missed opportunity to me
- The blue in this assortment seems really dark compared to the others
- The standard assortment has only 6 colors
What Other People Are Saying:
- My go-to brand when I can get the colors I need
- Great for stuffing
- Narrower neck than others
- Good stretch
- The quality isn’t as good as it use to be
Tuftex
- Made In USA
- Natural Latex Rubber
- Biodegradable
- Standard Assorted
- Size: 11″
My Thoughts:
- No purple in this standard assortment
- The lip on every blue balloon had weird imperfections
- The standard assortment has only 6 colors
- Very stretchy
- Good colors
What Other People Are Saying:
- Too thick to see through for double stuffing
- Best brand of balloons for outdoor use
- Beautiful hot pink color
- They last longer in the sun
| Made In | Colors in Assort. | Pros | Cons | |
| Betallatex | Colombia | 10 | white in this assortment, beautiful colors, good stretch | narrow neck, colors out of stock |
| Decomex | Vietnam | 9 | long necks – easy to tie, good stretch | defects around the lips, inconsistent colors |
| Gemar | Italy | 13 | lots of colors, the best color of gold, affordable | feels thin, streaking/striping color, too many pinks in the classic assortment |
| Kalisan | Turkey | 12 | unique/interesting prints, black in this assortment | the red looks pink, not very reliable, mixed consistency, not a good mixture of balloon colors in the bag, only 1 blue balloon in the bag, only 1 white balloon in the bag |
| Qualatex | USA | 6 | great for stuffing, good stretch, beautiful colors | the quality isn’t as good as it used to be, no purple in this assortment, fewer balloons in the assortment |
| Tuftex | USA | 6 | good for outdoor use, very stretchy | defects on every blue balloon, no purple in this assortment, fewer balloons in the assortment |
Balloon Brands Color Comparison
Betallatex
Decomex
Gemar
Kalisan
Qualatex
Tuftex
Uninflated Top Balloon Brands Side By Side
Red
Blue
Yellow
Blown Up Top Balloon Brands Side By Side
In this test the temperature was 75 degrees, the balloons were in direct sunlight and the 11″ or 12″ balloons were only blown up to 6″ (15.4 cm). Check out my post How To Size A Balloon Using A Balloon Hand Pump here.
00:00:00
00:15:00
After only 15 minutes of being in the sun, several of the balloons began to show signs of oxidation and many of the balloons nipples began to appear significantly darker than the rest of the balloon. Check out my post An Immersive Look At Balloon Brands – Part 2 (Coming Soon).
I hope this post brought value to your day. If it did, please consider sharing it with a friend or on your favorite social media. Thanks For Reading Fun With Balloons!
I hope this post brought value to your day. If it did, please consider sharing it with a friend or on your favorite social media. Thanks For Reading Fun With Balloons!
