Featured image for SEQUENT Proves Sustainability Can Infiltrate The Luxury Sector

SEQUENT Proves Sustainability Can Infiltrate The Luxury Sector

by Dieline Author on 01/15/2021 | 6 Minute Read

Editorial photograph
Editorial photograph

Sustainability in the luxury sector: is it important?

The I AM SUSTAINABLE campaign started 2018. Wrapology has won awards for this consistent approach. IAMSUSTAINABLE even features on our zoom backdrops and currently features as a window campaign in our central London showroom. We promote our 6 pillar values everywhere (less waste, manufacture responsibly, mono material, petroleum free, sustainably sourced materials & naturally degradable), promoting this framework of planning sustainability at the start of EVERY new project with a Client. At last, we see that in 2021, it is firmly embedded in mainstream industry as part of packaging programmes referred to known as ESG. Major distributors are pitching us with their Tier 1 suppliers and bringing us in to educate their teams on the practical execution of this thinking.

When designing a new piece of packaging, we include the logistics team, the brand team, the ops & finance team and a brand's creative agency before scoping the packaging brief. We regularly are able to strip out unnecessary waste (e.g stripping out requested 200k single use polybags by designing transit packaging better) as we address WASTE AS A DESIGN FLAW.

But "go MONO" is our holy grail. Wrapology believes that paper based mono material product packaging ensures that the end customer can easily recycle waste with most local council kerbside recycling collections. Plastic and fabric content in packaging has been interrupting the efficiency of recycling.

In 2018, we took the commonest packaging items (bags, boxes, ribbons, pouches, display packaging etc), and ran an exchange programme to strip them down to champion the Mono concept to key

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Buyers. We communicate our 6-pillar checklist for internal PR to their teams to support budget to strip out fixed, mixed materials causing recycling issues.

For high volume of container/ box packaging, our ULTRA SMOOTH PAPER PULP packaging is central to this strategy. It fortuitously coincides with UK 2021 single use plastic tax. It has transformed our plastic based packaging clients within Tech and Jewellery/ Accessories.

Our ultra-smooth paper pulp packaging is loved by all. Moving on from the much-loved rough recycled carton moulded egg boxes, brands have said for years that the egg carton is the ideal but can it be made more premium whilst still retaining its eco credentials?

We produce packaging for major international brands who encounter mixed materials and petroleum based packaging particularly within Tech, Accessories and Luxury Drink. They need premium packaging whilst desiring an environmental proposition that covers off Avoid, Reduce, Re-use, Replace, Recycle for a truly circular sustainability plan.

  • Can it be dyed and printed in brand colours?
  • Can it be moulded to varying content?
  • Can the surface be ultra-fine, hard and protective and beautiful to touch?
  • Can we avoid plastic content? Can it be made from a non-crop food product?
  • Can it be recycled post use?
  • Can the production quantities be low enough for smaller brands to access?
  • Can the mould costs be below USD10k to make it a commercial proposition?
  • Can sampling occur within a shortened timeline of 2 weeks to avoid a lengthy development cycle?

The answer, after extensive research & development over the past 4 years, is "yes" to all of these questions. For giant industries producing tens of thousands of units, this paper pulp packaging has been available but not to the lowly 10k piece run at a commercial price.

Wrapology has made this affordable to the masses and we actively push this product to consumer goods industry everywhere and anywhere relevant. We make our paper pulp in 100% waste-product; sugar cane.

It has featured in the Guardian for its Eco credentials.

Step 1

The raw material arrives from the material supplier. The paper comes from the waste product of sugar cane which has long fibres and fast growing ability. We can also use paper made from bamboo or recycled corrugated boxes. We also re-use any wastage in the factory as a paper source.

How are paper pulp products made? We make our paper pulp products in Dongguan, China, close to our paper packaging factory.

Step 2

The paper is placed into a big blender and mixed with water and blended into a wet paper pulp. This is then fed through large tubes to the forming machines.

Step 3

The forming machine has a male and female plate that press together sandwiching the wet paper pulp between the two plates and pressing the majority of the water out.

Step 4

The semi-finished product is transferred to another set of machines that use heat and pressure to remove all of the moisture. Debossing or embossing is done at this stage. The product is almost perfectly formed now.

Step 5

The paper is placed into a big blender and mixed with water and blended into a wet paper pulp. This is then fed through large tubes to the forming machines.

Sheets are transferred to a die cutting machine which individually cut out each product and a worker packs them together.

History

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Readers will know that Paper Pulp is a collaborative journey based on transformative technology, not an invention by Wrapology. But, it is the way it is refined and re-purposed for a new commercial end AND made accessible to mass industry.

According to Wikipedia, in 1911, newspaper editor Joseph Coyle of Smithers, British Columbia invented the egg carton after observing farmer's eggs' often being delivered broken.

In 1915, after breaking yet another bottle of milk, Ohio toy factory owner John Van Warmer invented a paper-based carton, for which he wins a patent. The design employs the triangular, "gable-top" opening system.

This led to Tetra Pak, was founded by Ruben Rausing who worked with Erik Wallenberg's 1944 innovation, a tetrahedron shaped plastic coated paper carton from which the company name was derived.

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Wrapology believes our now paper pulp offering, is the equivalent solution to replace plastic fitments in all packaging. We continually work on improving this type of packaging and leading the market in design thinking. The first paper pulp packaging we did in 2019 was a simple moulded box with integrated fitment for a fragrance, then we produce a PMS dyed clam shell toolcase for hair tongs for well known beauty brand Gisou, before ending up with this design submission for SEQUENT.

These three pieces of packaging have paved the way for simple commercial packaging structures of a new shape, of a SINGLE MONO MATERIAL, that are needed by all. This is our ethos; we strive for Mono and transformative thinking in our approach to design.

The principle is to put a responsibly sourced, single type raw material to enable 100% mainstream recyclability at its core. No longer should the Jewellery and Tech market entertain mixed paper/ PET box packaging that has hitherto been so typical within Tech.

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Editorial photograph

The SEQUENT design brief to us was to meet the eco and technology values of their kinetic watch technology. Our take on Paper Pulp packaging is beautiful, both in image and in values. It is petroleum free, uses an existing waste product that is not food competitive, has a brand style that is premium but can be custom made, a low price point, ability to stack for low shipping footprint and made responsibly in an automated way that is not a drain on the human manipulation. It is modern manufacturing at its best.

Over the last year, 3D engineering in the Wrapology design process has allowed us to adjust the box angles to end up with a perfect design for SEQUENT; a stackable and interchangeable set of layers to suit SEQUENT's adapative product range and reduce the intensity within storage and freight. Further work was done on how to produce an ecommerce box that held this box set in a perfect position for the consumer to receive a brand experience better in their home than they may have received at retail, that is both keepable and recyclable at their front door.

SEQUENT Proves Sustainability Can Infiltrate The Luxury Sector | Dieline - Design, Branding & Packaging Inspiration (thedieline.com)

https://www.wrapology.com/6pillarsofsustainablepackaging

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