BOXED wine retailer Laylo has teamed up with packaging giant DS Smith to bring a new experience to drinking premium wine at home.
The luxury wine brand, founded by Laura Rosenberger and Laura Riches, first approached DS Smith to help reduce the likelihood of damage whilst the wine is in transit. The packaging needed to be ‘planet safe’ without compromising its core function of preventing damage to the wine.
DS Smith’s creative design team offset the inner wine packs at an angle, which meant a reduction in the number of exposed edges and corners that could potentially be damaged. The firm explained that the inner fitting works in harmony with the wine packs and the outer pack to ‘cradle, support and protect’ the product from any drops, impacts and shocks.
As well as ensuring the wine was protected, enhancing the customer opening experience was also a priority for Laylo. DS Smith combined print and structure with a two-step open and reveal.
Laura Rosenberger at Laylo said, “We established Laylo because we saw the sustainability benefits of boxed wine, and we knew our biggest challenge was to change perceptions around quality. To do that, we designed beautiful packaging you’d be proud to have on your countertop. We want every box to arrive in perfect condition, and for the unboxing experience to demonstrate the quality and expertise behind the brand.
“DS Smith has been the perfect packaging partner to work with. From start to finish, the collaborative and hands-on approach to design and product development left us feeling assured that our new packaging could withstand the rigours of the supply chain and wow our customers.”
DS Smith also used the company’s circular design metrics software to analyse the carbon footprint of each pack design. The finished design and kraft materials are described as creating a pack with a footprint of 202 grams CO2E – whilst ensuring ‘full protection’ of the wine through the e-commerce supply chain.
The pack design is said to be engineered to use a ‘size efficient area’ of material, whilst the kraft paper with its longer fibres helps the packaging resist impacts and drops.
Anne Curtis, business unit lead e-commerce at DS Smith, said, “No one wants to receive damaged goods, especially when they’re expecting to receive a premium product that tastes even better than it looks. However, the demands of e-commerce put intense pressure on packaging as it moves through the supply chain – with some products reaching greater G-forces than an Astronaut travelling through the atmosphere to space.
“This is why we put packages through their paces – we use an impact intensity measurement to see how they fare, and what we find is that the answer is not more packaging, but better designed packaging. This is the kind of innovation our designers are focused on, as well as finding ways to make every item as sustainable as possible.”
DS Smith’s DISCS technology, named after the types of testing it performs (Drop, Impact, Shock, Crush, Shake), replicates a product’s journey to ensure packaging is fit for purpose.
