I get asked to recommend a resin almost every week, and the question is usually framed backward. Customers want to start with a price point and work toward a film. I start with the failure mode and the environment, and let that point to the resin.
Start with the failure mode
Before talking resin, I want to know how the current film, or a comparable product, actually fails in the field. Does it puncture during handling? Tear at a stress point? Split in cold storage? Lose seal integrity over time? Every one of those points to a different property, impact strength, tear resistance, low-temperature toughness, seal performance, and every resin family has different strengths against each of those. Picking a resin without knowing the failure mode is picking blind.
Then factor in the environment
The same product can need a completely different resin depending on where it lives. Film that sits in a freezer needs cold-temperature toughness that a standard blend will not deliver. Film exposed to sustained sunlight outdoors needs UV stabilization that an indoor product never has to think about. Film holding chemicals or oils needs resistance that has nothing to do with its strength at room temperature. The environment is not a footnote, it is half the spec.
Only then does cost enter the conversation
Once the failure mode and environment are clear, there is usually a range of resins and blends that would technically work, and that is exactly where cost should come in, choosing the most efficient option among structures that actually meet the requirement. Letting price drive the decision before the requirement is defined is how you end up with a film that is cheap on paper and expensive in returns, complaints, and reorders.
The short version
Resin selection starts with how the product fails and where it has to survive, not with the price sheet. Get those two things right first, and the resin choice, and the cost conversation that follows it, gets a lot easier.