Laylo, one of the premium boxed wine retailers – set up by two former senior executives for one of the UK’s largest wine companies, Laura Rosenberger and Laura Riches – has partnered with sustainable packaging company DS Smith to bring a fresh new experience to drinking premium wine in the home.

The luxury wine brand first approached DS Smith to help reduce the likelihood of damage whilst the wine is in transit to consumers’ homes. A problem, the founders say, that was occurring frequently and compromised the premium, more sustainable unboxing experience they had hoped to deliver.

To meet these expectations, the new packaging needed to be planet safe without compromising its core function of preventing damage to the wine. To do this, DS Smith’s Creative Design Team created a strong, protective, yet elegant design solution.

By offsetting the inner wine packs at an angle, DS Smith was able to reduce the number of exposed edges and corners that could potentially be damaged. The inner fitting works in harmony with the wine packs and the outer packaging to cradle, support, and protect the product from any drops, impacts, and shocks.

As well as ensuring the wine was protected while out for delivery, enhancing the customer opening experience was also a priority for Laylo. DS Smith therefore combined print and structure, with a two-step open and reveal – that demonstrated Laylo’s commitment to caring for the customer and product.

Laura Rosenberger, senior executive, Laylo, commented, “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 rigors of the supply chain and wow our customers.”

DS Smith also used the company’s Circular Design Metrics software to analyze the carbon footprint of each pack design. The finished design and kraft materials create a pack with a footprint of 202 grams CO2E – whilst ensuring full protection of the wine packs through the e-commerce supply chain. The pack design is engineered to use a size-efficient area of material, whilst the kraft paper, with its longer fibers that help the packaging resist impacts and drops while in transit, ensures the product arrives with the consumer looking its very best.

Anne Curtis, business unit lead - Ecommerce, DS Smith, comments, “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 traveling 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 so that the product is safe while in transit and avoids excess packaging. To ensure that sustainability is built into the design of DS Smith’s packaging, it has trained over 700 of its designers to use its circular design principles, enabling designers to consider different stages of a product's lifecycle — including creation, maintenance, and recovery.