Every year package and design companies launch new lines to keep shapes shifting in an effort to keep clients happy and help win personal care consumers over with items that are bit different from others on the shelf. The companies represented on the Exploring Innovation panel at LuxePack 2015 reach above and beyond that industry average and push the limits of possibility.
Cut from couture cloth
It has become common practice for fashion labels at every tier of the market to license makeup and fragrance lines that build loyalty and connect with new aspirational consumers.
Distinctive packaging ensures these personal care extensions have the look and feel of couture. To bring such deluxe packages to market, the French company Oriol & Fontanel invests in the latest technology. And consequently the company has built a reputation for imaginatively embedding couture textile elements into containers and packaging.
In partnership with DuPont, the company has devised an over-molding method that incorporates fabric into plastic packaging, so every nuance of the material is evident but the texture remains out of reach. “This innovation will be huge over the next 2-3 years because of a demand from clients,” Laurent Gery, general manager of Oriol & Fontanel predicts.
The company has seen success with its textile ornaments and compact labels for Givenchy, YSL and Burberry. And as Oriol & Fontanel believes it’s better to be copied than to copy, the company is already looking ahead to its next design initiative, “textile inside the perfume package,” according to Gery.
Ergonomics for the modern age
Consumers expect portable, convenient personal care that’s as mobile as they are. Developing packaging to meet the needs of life on-the-go, MWV recently launched the airless pump-on-pouch.
Market research informs MWV’s innovation pipeline. And the company tests its prototypes with consumers too. “I like the convenience, portability, ease of use, and the ability to get the last of the lotion out,” one commented.
The new small containers are intended to fit into tiny spaces at home and beyond and to be useful during “time pressed consumer moments,” according to Amber Ellis, vice president of beauty category marketing for MWV.
Speaking volumes and suggesting scents
Fragrance is a language all its own and defies description. Designing perfume packaging, then, requires imagination and an eye for artistry.
Sheherazade Chamlou, vice president of sales and marketing in the perfumery division of SGD North America, reflected on the packaging for the latest fragrance from Narciso Rodriguez at LuxePack.
She called attention to three elements of the container’s appearance: the technique and silhouette of bottle’s inside design, the color of that inside design, and the shape of the bottle itself. Thanks to the combination of these, the perfume isn’t visible through the bottle. Instead, “the mystery of fragrance is revealed only when applied” explained Chamlou.