Floral Street

Moulded fibre fragrance box / Source: Floral Street

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4 MINUTE READ

Nadine Smith

WHAT WE SAY:

It has become customary to package anything glass in a plastic tray for protection. But why is plastic the only material that can protect?

British fragrance brand Floral Street are proving that simpler solutions, such as moulded fibre provide just as much - if not more - protection, while offering a premium experience for the end consumer. While it might not be as glossy as plastic-coated paper boxes, the brand’s minimalist approach to branding and colour lets the packaging’s full recyclability speak for itself.

KEY FACTS:

British fragrance brand Floral Street is renowned within the industry for its innovative use of recyclable and industrially compostable Moulded fibre. Created in partnership with Papermaking expert James Cropper plc, the brand’s secondary protective box is made from Colourform, a blend of natural wood fibres sourced from FSC and PEFC-certified forests.
Colourform is an award-winning thermoformed pulp packaging. Part of the pulp is derived from waste coffee cups. Floral Street claims over 350,000 waste cups have been recycled into boxes. The pulp used is Elemental Chlorine-Free or Totally Chlorine Free.
Maintaining a feel of understated elegance throughout the design, the boxes are debossed with the Floral Street logo and end-of-life instructions. While allowing the box to retain its mono-material qualities, the use of debossing opposed to printing reduces the manufacturing steps.
Allowing for maximum flexibility, fragrances sold in-store are packaged solely in the moulded fibre box and those delivered through the mail have an additional tertiary printed carton board sleeve.

Moulded fibre debossed fragrance boxes / Source: James Cropper

Moulded fibre full-size and samples fragrance boxes / Source: James Cropper

DIVE DEEPER:

Within the premium fragrance packaging sector, box inserts are typically vacuum formed plastic made with high impact polystyrene sheeting (HIPS). Like all plastics, HIPS is frequently not recycled through either failure to be collected, separation issues at the Materials Recovery Facility and low value of recyclate. Similarly, printed cardboard boxes - often used to house fragrance flacons in - can be difficult to recycle if they feature premium print embellishment, such as UV cured or metallic inks, lamination and glitter.
Floral Street is tackling all of these issues with its moulded fibre boxes that feature no printed design elements, with the only decorative feature a coloured elasticated band to keep the box closed.
Available for full-size and mini fragrance bottles, the box is formed using a wet press technique, with the process taking one minute from start to finish.
Excluding the elasticated band, the boxes are mono-material, increasing their recyclability. They can be easily collected by kerbside recycling collections and processed through the waste paper and card stream. The box is also industrially compostable.
An LCA carried out by James Cropper claims that Colourform demonstrated it has less than 50% of the global warming potential of HIPS.
The packaging is an example of more environmentally friendly premium packaging and has become so integral to the brand’s identity that it became a design feature at its Covent Garden flagship store in London.
Floral Street champions environmentally-friendly approaches to fragrance. A 20% discount is available for using the in-store refill station, opposed to purchasing a new bottle. All fragrances are vegan and the brand encourages consumers to reuse the moulded fibre box as a seed tray.
Floral Street fragrances retail from GBP 25 (USD 32) for 10 millilitres to GBP 100 (USD 130) for 100 millilitres.

"I'm so proud of our pulp cartons...They are 100% compostable, reusable and recyclable. That's an industry-first...They use less energy, with waste water being cleaned and recycled and any waste pulp composted at local farms."

Michelle Feeney - Founder and CEO, Floral Street

Key Design Considerations:

Luxury verses mass market

Floral Street is a premium brand and uses luxury packaging techniques. A total production time of one minute for a box would not be economically feasible in other sectors. Could you use less premium moulded fibre to create protective inserts, leaving the secondary packaging a quicker-to-make cardboard box?

Water consumption concerns

The wet press technique used by Colourform requires a lot of water. Considering the box is thin walled and non-coloured, could a dry press technique be appropriate instead?

Additional components

Alongside the box and insert, consider the primary packaging of the product. Could the glass bottle be exchanged for a lightweight alternative and is the pump mechanism recyclable?

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WHAT WE SAY:

It has become customary to package anything glass in a plastic tray for protection. But why is plastic the only material that can protect?

KEY FACTS:

DIVE DEEPER:

Floral Street is tackling all of these issues with its moulded fibre boxes that feature no printed design elements, with the only decorative feature a coloured elasticated band to keep the box closed.

Available for full-size and mini fragrance bottles, the box is formed using a wet press technique, with the process taking one minute from start to finish.

Excluding the elasticated band, the boxes are mono-material, increasing their recyclability. They can be easily collected by kerbside recycling collections and processed through the waste paper and card stream. The box is also industrially compostable.

An LCA carried out by James Cropper claims that Colourform demonstrated it has less than 50% of the global warming potential of HIPS.

The packaging is an example of more environmentally friendly premium packaging and has become so integral to the brand’s identity that it became a design feature at its Covent Garden flagship store in London.

Floral Street champions environmentally-friendly approaches to fragrance. A 20% discount is available for using the in-store refill station, opposed to purchasing a new bottle. All fragrances are vegan and the brand encourages consumers to reuse the moulded fibre box as a seed tray.

Floral Street fragrances retail from GBP 25 (USD 32) for 10 millilitres to GBP 100 (USD 130) for 100 millilitres.

Michelle Feeney - Founder and CEO, Floral Street

Key Design Considerations:

Luxury verses mass market

Water consumption concerns

Additional components

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