Wildsmith Skin

Mycelium gift set packaging / Source: Wildsmith Skin

BeautyEuropeMyceliumMycoCompositePackagingPaper

5 MINUTE READ

Emma Grace Bailey

WHAT WE SAY:

Mycelium is a wonder material. Strong, malleable, abundant and completely natural, its emergence as a packaging material is long overdue.

Skincare brand Wildsmith Skin is pioneering its use, working with, not around, the challenges this ‘freshly grown’ material presents. Now being sold in both Liberty and Harrods in UK, the brand has proven that the perfectly imperfect appearance of nature’s nervous system is all part of its charm, not to mention the fact it degrades into nothing but soil-enhancing nutrients after use. The only question we have: how fast can it grow?

KEY FACTS:

British skincare brand Wildsmith Skin uses Mycelium-based packaging to house its gift sets, replacing the moulded plastic tray inserts commonly used by the beauty industry. The brand claims that creating these trays produces up to 90% less carbon compared to plastic ones.
Created in the UK by supplier Magical Mushroom Company, a licensee of Ecovative Design, the mycelium trays are ‘grown’ in custom moulds. Agricultural waste (like corn and barley husks) sourced from Holland is added to the mycelium to strengthen the final product.
One tray is grown over a period of five days and Wildsmith Skin has 60 trays grown per week, although the supplier has the capacity to grow more.
The mycelium trays can be home composted at the end of their life or buried in soil to decompose. They fully compost in around 90 days, although this is quicker for smaller packs.
Key to the mycelium offering is that the packaging breaks down without a trace, adding essential nutrients back into the earth.

Mycelium gift sets / Source: Wildsmith Skin

Raw mycelium trays / Source: Wildsmith Skin

DIVE DEEPER:

The beauty and personal care industry generates 120 billion units of packaging a year, and most of it is not accepted by kerbside recycling programmes.
Wildsmith Skin’s fully compostable solution goes some way to tackle this issue, demonstrating the power of natural fibres to be formed into structural objects and then degrade back into their natural state.
Wildsmith Skin’s packaging is produced in the UK on a small scale, avoiding wastage and unnecessary transit of the packaging.
The packaging supplier uses a biomass system for heating, partially removing fossil-fuel dependency at the site, and saving 85 tonnes of carbon every year.
The brand has dealt with a number of challenges to get mycelium packaging to market. It's possible to get a ‘dodgy’ batch, meaning the mycelium tray becomes bendy and sheds when in use, in turn not adequately protecting a product. While an infrequent occurrence, it is key to be mindful of the variability.
No one tray is the exact same shape either, and mycelium trays can only be grown with rounded edges, making it difficult for the brand to outsource the application of its Paper sleeves. At present, these are all applied in-house by hand.
Mycelium packaging is just one of Wildsmith Skin’s environmental activities. It has recently started a Return and Recycle programme for its primary packaging, which allows for free return and recycling should a consumer not have access to a local programme. Consumers can, and do, send back the mycelium trays too.
The compostable gift sets start at GBP 50 (USD 63) for a hand wash and lotion package, up to GBP 150 (USD 125) for its Copper Peptide Duo. Shipping is available across the UK and Europe.

"Because it's waste, you think it would be cheaper. It's not. It's comparable to a cardboard box."

Katherine Pye – General Manager, Wildsmith Skin

Key Design Considerations:

The whole picture

While the insert tray of the packaging is made from mycelium, the outer sleeve and primary packaging of most items are not. Be sure to establish the recycling, reuse and compostability of all elements of the packaging, especially with complex objects, such as applicators and pumps.

End-of-life considerations

What would people without access to a compost heap or garden do with this packaging? It would likely end up in landfill or be incinerated, releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere. Consider if a fully recyclable product, such as paper or Moulded Fibre would be more suitable for your customer base.

On-shelf appeal

Wildsmith Skin’s General Manager Katherine Pye explained to us that due to the nature of mycelium, you can never achieve a perfectly square or rectangular shape, making it harder to position on retail shelves and thus impacting marketing opportunities. Which is why it makes sense that the brand wraps each tray in a paper sleeve to allow for multiple on-pack marketing opportunities.

Shipping impact

Mycelium packaging is solid, therefore, the objects are unable to be nested for delivery to the fulfilment location. The hollow inverse of the tray is also unable to be filled with objects or information leaflets. This will impact transit emissions and storage requirements.

Scalability

Every mycelium tray created needs it own mould to grow in. The more trays you want, the more moulds you need, all of which require space. To create thousands of trays a day or a week, you would need thousands of square foot, meaning mycelium, at present, isn’t a viable option for mass-market, high-quantity brands. 3D-printed mycelium is emerging, however, with manufacturers such as the Magical Mushroom Company offering this service to improve turnaround time.

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WHAT WE SAY:

Mycelium is a wonder material. Strong, malleable, abundant and completely natural, its emergence as a packaging material is long overdue.

KEY FACTS:

DIVE DEEPER:

The beauty and personal care industry generates 120 billion units of packaging a year, and most of it is not accepted by kerbside recycling programmes.

Wildsmith Skin’s fully compostable solution goes some way to tackle this issue, demonstrating the power of natural fibres to be formed into structural objects and then degrade back into their natural state.

Wildsmith Skin’s packaging is produced in the UK on a small scale, avoiding wastage and unnecessary transit of the packaging.

The packaging supplier uses a biomass system for heating, partially removing fossil-fuel dependency at the site, and saving 85 tonnes of carbon every year.

No one tray is the exact same shape either, and mycelium trays can only be grown with rounded edges, making it difficult for the brand to outsource the application of its Paper sleeves. At present, these are all applied in-house by hand.

The compostable gift sets start at GBP 50 (USD 63) for a hand wash and lotion package, up to GBP 150 (USD 125) for its Copper Peptide Duo. Shipping is available across the UK and Europe.

Katherine Pye – General Manager, Wildsmith Skin

Key Design Considerations:

The whole picture

End-of-life considerations

On-shelf appeal

Shipping impact

Scalability

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