High-end vs sustainable: how can luxury packaging win at both?

The issue of sustainability continues to dominate the conversation around packaging and how the industry needs to evolve going forward. In large part, industry players are responding to this issue, moving to innovate around new materials or reduce their dependence on materials and processes with a high ecological impact. There is still a long way to go though and certain sectors are having to contend with greater challenges, whether it be maintaining product safety in the food and drink sectors or, in the case of luxury packaging, working out how to stay high-end while also being sustainable.

The issue faced is that the whole purpose of luxury packaging is reliant on premium materials and processes that may not have been developed or sourced with ecological responsibility in mind. And while other packaging manufacturers may only have to account for whether their replacement, sustainable material is fit for purpose from a mechanical sense, luxury manufacturers must be intensely aware of its aesthetic quality. Also parlaying this with the higher costs of the sector makes for a difficult challenge, one that Delta Global is striving to contend with.

I think we’re all brands, whether it be luxury or mid-market, sustainability is a given now – it’s essential. It’s not something that is an option; it has to be an essential. And certainly, it’s down to innovative businesses like us to provide the luxury that is still required because of the type of brands that we’re working with, but also being able to provide luxury with sustainability. The two go hand-in-hand. We’ve been particularly successful with the brands that we deal with.

Well I think it’s to do with having a realisation that sustainability is going to cost you more money – that’s the whole point. We’ve had decades now of a blasé attitude towards sustainability. And we have to face facts; sustainability is going to cost more money. However, it’s up to, again, businesses like ourselves to do as much as we can to drive value through the supply chain and luxury packaging that we produce, to minimise any cost increases whilst working with the brands to develop the sustainability they’re looking for.

I think there’s trends to reduce the amount of packaging but to make what you do use as luxurious and reusable as possible. I think the key is looking at other ways that the packaging can have a secondary life, not just as a vessel to carry the products or to display the product.

I think there’s more room for costs in the luxury market. There’s, generally speaking, a greater price paid for a luxury item then there is for, let’s say, a middle or lower market item. So it makes it a little bit easier for the luxury market to absorb those additional costs.

I think that it’s ensuring that the brand integrity is portrayed correctly.

The future of luxury packaging looks very bright. I think it’s an essential part of the brand experience. But I think it’s all about innovation.

Yes – there’s a lot of innovations coming through. Certainly, we’ve been very active in innovating new products, particularly from a sustainable perspective, across rigid boxes, across online packaging that has a luxury feel to it at the same time and creating the brand integrity through luxury packaging, as well as e-com packaging for luxury brands.

It’s all around sustainability right now. Everything is around sustainability.

I think that the headline is sustainability. I think the specifics are understanding that every element of the packaging is sustainable, not just the headline parts of the packaging. So let’s take a luxury bag, for example, it’s not just the fact that the paper is of a sustainable and recyclable material but so are the handles, so are the finishes, so is the supply chain. Every single part of it, every single part of that process has to have a sustainable credential to it.

I just think there’s been a whole shift away from plastics obviously. There’s been just a greater awareness across a wider number of brands more than anything. And lots of places, up until probably 18 months ago and maybe before the David Attenborough effect, they’d ask about sustainability on a broader scale but wouldn’t really consider it because it was more expensive. But I think it’s a natural expectation now of the consumer.

Well we’re already FSC accredited. We’re already ISO accredited. We’re looking at becoming SA8 1000 accredited across all of our global operations. We have tripled the size of our sustainable and design innovation centre, in terms of people and resources, and are actively looking to work with sustainably conscious brands across the globe.

Triple the size of our business.

There are four key pillars for our business and that’s luxury, sustainability, innovation and e-commerce. So it’s driven through those four key pillars.

It’s difficult to be specific as a lot of it is commercially censored. The thing is, we’ve not long had a rebrand through Champion. We’ve had a lot of media interest, a lot of PR interest in what we’re doing. But I think it has just reached at a pinpoint where it is and I think that we’re actively focusing our efforts on those key areas.

I think it’s just to have an open mind of what’s possible and have a realistic budget for being able to provide the type of product that they really do want.

Website: www.deltaglobal.co