Plant-based premiumization: Chanel selects Sulapac’s bio-based caps for fragrance bottles

07 Oct 2021 --- Luxury beauty house Chanel is releasing its new 125 mL Les Eaux De Chanel fragrance bottles with caps made from bio-based Sulapac material.

The cap is composed of three layers, made out of 91% plant-based materials obtained from renewable resources and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood chips, which are by-products of industrial side-streams.

“When a brand is established, it is important that the brand experience is spot on. Luxury brands take this to another level,” Suvi Haimi, Sulapac’s CEO and co-founder, tells PackagingInsights.

Ultimately, it took the Sulapac team 48 attempts to perfect the final product over the course of two years.

“We have set a very high-quality standard for our sustainable material, with an ambition to replace conventional plastics. This first product launch of our collaboration with Chanel shows we can do it.”

It took Chanel and Sulapac 48 attempts to perfect the final product over two years.Feeling and sound
For premium and luxury packaging, aesthetics and experience are “extremely important,” Haimi underscores. “Every detail matters. For example, brands consider carefully how their packaging feels and sounds when you open it.”

Other R&D considerations include the material’s resistance to fluctuations in temperature, the grip, and the depth of the satiny matte finish on the iconic double-C engraving.

Besides the cap itself, the fragrance bottle material components were also designed with an eco-friendly eye. The glass perfume bottles are thinner and lighter compared to other Chanel Eaux de Toilette of the same size, which requires a smaller volume of raw materials and optimizes transport.

Moreover, the corrugated cardboard was transformed into clean, simple outer packaging. Opting out of the lamination and glossy coating further enhances the boxes’ recyclability.

Lighting up luxury
Major houses like Chanel continue to improve the environmental profile of their beauty products. Last month, Estée Lauder Companies joined forces with Roctool to create waste-reducing packaging solutions for Clinique’s luxury beauty bottles.

Earlier, LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics collaborated with global specialty material provider Eastman to develop packaging that will eliminate the use of virgin plastic from its product lines.

“Crucial sustainability”
Sulapac provides a range of bio-based materials to the cosmetics industry. Its previous partnerships involved supplying German cosmetics brand i+m with a 30 mL biodegradable jar, ands creating a new flexible material designed for thin-walled cosmetics jars.

In two previous interviews with PackagingInsights, Haimi emphasized how sustainable packaging alternatives “rarely meet the high standards” of premium cosmetics brands, but truly sustainable packaging is “crucial to long-term market success.”

Ahead of the EU Single-Use Plastic Directive, Sulapac also appealed to EU policymakers to redefine the term “plastic” in legislation due to definitions the company view as unclear and misleading.

By Anni Schleicher

This feature is provided by Personal Care Insights’s sister website, Packaging Insights.

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