From proposals and solutions relating to refillability to research into materials and designs promoting recyclability, it was no surprise suppliers present at this year’s Luxe Pack Monaco show offered the luxury sector a wide range of ecodesigned solutions. Here is an overview.
Increasingly sustainable and ecodesigned, and still desirable! The combination of these objectives seems increasingly achievable, given the impressive technical advances seen at Luxe Pack Monaco this year. As they are endowed with greater technical sophistication, ecodesigned solutions are becoming more premium in terms of functionality and refinement.
Optimised monomaterial ranges
The Procos all-cardboard Yoga Box launched in 2020, and characterised by its lightness and economy of materials, has been reinvented as the Sunshine Box. For this version, Procos applied its monomaterial approach and optimised the magnet-free closure system with an ingenious notch design on the front wall, inside the box, combined with a bevelled knob. This new, patented, invisible closing technique offers greater ease of use and a more elegant design. The Sunshine box and its light version also feature a tray to hold products in place, secured by two Tencel ribbons.
With Metapack, the 100% Zamak Timeless cases, square, round, or in any other shape, are now refillable, reusable, and infinitely recyclable with a patented, registered closure system consisting of a clasp stem to avoid mixing materials, while offering a very high-end solution.
Metapack’s ecodesign approach is also reflected in the Infinity collection, featuring 100% aluminium, refillable and recyclable bag sprays with no plastic parts.
Aluminium clearly stands out among the materials chosen to embody sustainability. Accordingly, Axilone extended its full-aluminium concept from lipsticks and cases to a comprehensive offering for eyes, including eyelash and eyebrow mascaras. This range can be supplied in full PP or PET.
Alongside glassmaker Verescence, Axilone also showcased a standard solution combining glass and aluminium, designed for liquid makeup formulas, including liquid lipsticks, glosses, and eyeshadows. This solution called Kali combines the 7.5-ml flask manufactured by Verescence in lightened glass and 20% PCR with a 100% aluminium, “pure metal” cap and stem made by Axilone: a standard, premium, fully customisable solution with a dual component that can be recycled separately.
To encourage the use of recycled aluminium with a high percentage of PCR and thus reduce CO2 emissions, Tesem presented for the first time the outcome of its new BRI&Va technology, designed to meet one of the key aesthetic challenges of recycled aluminium: shine. Thanks to this patented technology, even a high percentage of post-consumer aluminium can offer shine equivalent to that of anodised virgin aluminium, and retain it over time.
As for body care and hygiene products, TriMas introduced Singolo, its new fully recyclable 2-cc monopolymer pump. With customisable formula viscosity and bottle design, it has been awarded the European RecyClass A certificate, and it complies with the ISTA 6 e-commerce standard. It should soon be available in 4-cc and 5-cc dosages.
Refillability on-the-go
In all beauty categories, refillable solutions are becoming more widespread, more responsible, and simpler.
As regards perfumes, Techniplast and Silgan Dispensing now offer a variant of their respective technologies to make it possible to refill on-the-go sprays: these travel sizes are increasingly popular among consumers.
A pioneer in refill solutions for perfumes and beauty hygiene, Techniplast unveiled the RT Pump smart connector designed for easily refilling bag sprays. You simply remove the push button from the source bottle, then screw the filling connector onto the travel size product, place it upside down on the bottle, and activate pumping. The RT pump monomaterial connector is compatible with all travel sizes fitted with an unscrewable pump, and with all pumps on the market, and it prevents any loss of juice through secure handling. It is also made in France.
For its part, Silgan showcased the Replay Connector designed to make it easier to fill travel-sized bottles fitted with the same manufacturer’s new Pirouette SNI13 screw pump technology. Replay Connector is an all-plastic refill system based on the company’s patented LifeCycle technology. “Until now, travel-sized bottles had not received the attention they deserved. It is time for the spray used in these small sizes to be in line with the brand’s high-end positioning,” explains Sandy Gregory, Director Fragrance Marketing. Replay Connector ensures safe, efficient, and clean filling.
Premium refillable solutions
In the skincare segment, the Re-Feel solution developed by Technicaps, a specialist in thermosetting resins, in association with the Pochet Group and CILKOA, won the Luxe Pack in green award for the best ecodesigned packaging solution. The jar manufactured by Pochet du Courval contains 15% PCR, and its weight was reduced while retaining the same strength and quality as a standard jar. The refill produced by Technicaps is made entirely of cellulose from sustainably managed French forests. It is optimised with CILKOA’s innovative barrier treatment without any plastic liner to ensure compatibility with oily and aqueous formulas. The thermoformed pulp cup can be decorated by screen printing, hot stamping, or other means.
For its part, Lumson, a specialist in top-of-the-range airless solutions, launched XTAG, a 15-ml or 30-ml glass bottle with an airless refill system featuring a pouch. Claimed to be a ‘positive luxury’ product, XTAG consists of an outer glass bottle crafted using pressé technology and a refill cartridge containing the pouch attached to the pump. Lumson offers a wide range of customisation options: the inner and outer glass, the refill, the pump and the cap can all be personalized to suit brands’ needs.
Redesigned caps
Coverpla is launching two new caps, Marilyn and Gaby, both made from virgin surlyn resin, a material that “looks like glass, resists perfumes, and can be recycled”.
Eastman, in partnership with Meiyume, has unveiled the new Cristal Halo Cap, made from 100% PET, a resin with a lower carbon footprint than Surlyn’s, and which is easily recyclable. This innovation combines pure transparency with practical benefits, including compatibility with most fragrances, environmental friendliness, and affordability.
FaiveleyTech, the first supplier to create beauty accessories in Sulapac with a marbled effect, highlighted perfume caps made from Sulapac Luxe Flex, a highly functional biobased material designed to replace fossil plastics. The incorporation of this new effect is part of FaiveleyTech’s overall ecodesign approach, which involves giving priority to more noble, ecoresponsible materials (biosourced and recycled materials) that require fewer post-injection treatments and offer great potential for enhancement.
Also of note were the new full aluminium caps developed by Axilone.
Technology to support clean desirability
Glassmaker Stoelzle Perfumery & Cosmetics partnered with Nexdot to present Lumi Coat, a UV-resistant varnish designed to offer superior protection to glass bottles, while retaining their original optical clarity. This technology protects the juice from UV rays, which are responsible for colour changes and fragrance degradation. Lumi Coat makes it possible to develop fragrances with fewer stabilisers and additives, thus helping brands create cleaner formulas.
DS Smith, a specialist in corrugated packaging, offers a new opportunity to enhance cardboard packaging with a newly installed state-of-the-art laser cutting machine at its site located less than two hours south of Paris. This technology opens up a whole new range of design possibilities, with very precise die-cutting or perforated decoration on cases, sleeves, and even wedges, without varnish or ink. In addition, thanks to 100% digital technology, DS Smith can now offer individual customisation.
In addition to Colour Dimensions, a new tool grouping its entire portfolio of premium coloured papers into five aesthetic categories, paper manufacturer Fedrigoni highlighted a new extension to its Re-Play range of self-adhesive labels derived from the recovery of glassines. The new reference includes glassines derived from its own sources and from partnerships with Italian and Spanish wine companies.
New perfume gestures
In line with new perfume trends, Superga Beauty and its partners Cosmogen, Premi Industries (Berlin Packaging), and the GBC laboratory, have developed three turnkey solutions for fragrances to be applied “differently” from spraying, and layered. With the brushes and roll-ons in the Layering Parfum collection, the Group offers brands a sensory oil perfume encapsulated in a travel-sized tube. The packaging developed by Cosmogen is recyclable and, fragrance-wise, the GBC laboratory formulated an alcohol-free, vegan melting gel oil made from oils of natural origin for a non-oily, non-sticky finish. The collection also includes a stick version with an applicator in a monomaterial (PP or PCR), refillable, recyclable, and waterproof container.
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