Preferred embodiments relate to methods and apparatus for making articles made of polyester, preferably virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET), having coated directly to at least one of the surfaces thereof one or more layers of recycled or post-consumer PET and one or more layers of a material with good gas-barrier characteristics, preferably silicon oxide. Preferably, the recycled PET layer comprises about 25% to about 50% of the entire material content. Preferably the articles take the form of preforms and the containers are blow-molded therefrom and the barrier layer is subsequently applied. The preferred barrier materials have a lower permeability to oxygen and carbon dioxide than PET. In addition, the neck of the preforms and bottles is at least partially in the crystalline state and the body is primarily in the amorphous or semi-crystalline state. This structure in a preform enables the preform to be easily blow molded by virtue of the amorphous material in the body, while being able to have dimensional stability in hot-fill applications.