Author name: Josh

Brands that have already adjusted for the EU’s PPWR and US state EPR laws sometimes assume UK packaging rules are covered by the same work. They aren’t. The UK left the EU regulatory system and runs its own packaging rules – the Plastic Packaging Tax and packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) – with their own […]

A box can look perfect in a sample photo and still fail in the real world – crushed corners, a collapsed lid, or a product that shifted and cracked its insert somewhere between the factory and your customer’s doorstep. Packaging testing, most commonly done to ISTA (International Safe Transit Association) procedures, exists to catch these

Brands that have already adjusted their packaging for the EU’s PPWR are now facing a similar shift on the other side of the Atlantic. A growing number of US states have passed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws for packaging, which shift the cost and reporting burden for packaging waste from municipalities onto the brands that

Toy packaging has to do two jobs at once: look bright and appealing on a shelf or in an unboxing video, and carry the safety labeling that US and EU regulators require before it ever reaches a child. Getting the labeling wrong is one of the most expensive mistakes a toy brand can make, since

Supplements and wellness products are one of the fastest-growing DTC categories, and buyers in this space judge a brand’s credibility from the box before they ever read the label. At the same time, dietary supplements sold in the US and EU carry real packaging and labeling requirements that are different from cosmetics or food, and

Pet products are one of the fastest-growing categories for independent and DTC brands, and the packaging expectations have grown right along with it. Pet owners now shop pet treats and supplements the same way they shop their own food and skincare — reading ingredient lists, checking for premium materials, and judging brand quality by the

Candle packaging has to do more work than almost any other category of gift and cosmetic packaging. The box has to protect a fragile glass or ceramic vessel through international shipping, carry legally required warning and labeling information, survive being handled in a warm retail environment, and still look premium enough to justify a $30–$60

If you have ever gotten two quotes back for the same box — one from a supplier pushing offset printing and one pushing digital — and wondered why the prices and minimum order quantities were so different, the answer comes down to how each press physically puts ink on your board. Neither method is universally

Subscription box packaging has a problem most one-time-purchase categories don’t: the same customer opens your box every month, or every quarter, indefinitely. Packaging that feels exciting the first time can feel repetitive by the sixth. Designing for a recurring unboxing means balancing brand consistency against periodic freshness, while keeping cost-per-box sustainable at recurring volume. Here’s

China and Vietnam are increasingly presented as an either-or choice for packaging sourcing, but the honest answer is that they’re suited to different priorities rather than one being categorically better. China offers the deeper, more mature supply chain; Vietnam offers tariff diversification and a growing but narrower manufacturing base. Here’s how the two compare on