“Beauty faces a challenge in the next decade,” declared designer Marc Rosen, as he introduced a panel whose task was to present to the audience individual views on the Luxe Pack Session Topic “The New Packaging Paradigm.” Rosen said, “Style with substance is the new reality,” and he asked, “How can we be creative and responsible at the same time?”

Karen Young, CEO, The Young Group, said, “Packaging is working incredilbly hard,” noting that 80% of purchase decisions are made in-store. She asked, “Are we forced to choose bertween bling vs. crunchy? There is enormous confusion on the consumer side, as well as the packaging side,” she said. Though it’s not the easiest plaform, Young declared that sustainability can partner with great design. In fact, she said, companies can save 2-5% in supply chain costs by adopting green packaging,

Green is the key trend in luxury packaging, Young said, adding that beauty has a 20.8% share of the $12 billion dollar global luxury pakaging industry.

“Green starts with design,” Young said, encouraging those that would like to succeed to put together a green task force within their company. “Unless we’re making a collectible work of art, that we’re passing down from generation to generation, it’s important to make products that stay away from the landfill,” she said.

For more on the Luxe Pack seminars, stay tuned for the July/August issue of Beauty Packaging.