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Retailer Revelations
Carl Dunne, owner of Cards and Gifts, Sheffield and Dronfield
i Boxed & Packaged Coecttion
www.outoofthebluestudios.co.uk
“Sustainability was a huge consideration for customers. We were asked a lot for UK made products. We did have one customer who was upset that there was less glitter on cards, but all commented that they understood and that more needed to be done to find an environmentally sustainable glitter. Too many customers for my liking said they were sending messages, e-cards etc. instead of physical Christmas cards due to cost and waste, we need to counter this! So, I’ll be expecting more suppliers to provide us with UK-made and printed, taking on board that more needs to be done to make their products sustainable and environmentally-friendly. Into the Green's products are especially interesting as they meet those standards already.”
Above: The Christmas catalogue for Out of the Blue Studios, the wholesale sister company of Into the Green, which is also committed to sustainability.
Chris and Tracey Bryant, co-owners of Expressions, Cats Whiskers and Polkadot in Swindon, Bishops Cleeve and Keynsham respectively. “Sustainability was a consideration. Customers were pleased to know that all our Christmas wrap was suitable for recycling. Oddly though we had a few comments about the lack of glitter on cards!”
A Loud and Clear Message Both Ling Design’s and GBCC’s huge new Christmas collections for 2022 will be delivering the strong sustainable message right through to the consumer with the packaging detailing that there is no glitter or plastic used in the collections. What’s more, the coating has even been removed from the cardboard used for the FSDUs of the group’s charity Christmas cards. Right: Swan Mill, which owns both Ling Design, GBCC and Penny Kennedy, is making significant sustainability commitments with their respective ranges.
Well Minted This year marks a new chapter for The Mint Group (which includes Museums & Galleries, Mint Publishing and Real & Exciting Designs) as it has moved away from cello-packs for Christmas and are moving to a plastic-free aperture box. “We are consciously moving away from plastic packaging where we can,” assures Sophie Bylina, administration and relationship manager of the Mint Group. The group’s ‘zero plastic’ pledge features strongly in its catalogues with a separate M&G Christmas catalogue detailing the 2022 boxes, a new charity range with British Heart Foundation as well as an extensive Christmas relations collection.
Purpose and Beauty “At Belly Button we are all about creating purposeful design and a beautiful product, so anything that enhances that aim is a welcome addition. It so happens that there are various aspects of sustainability that do just that, and in the 10 years since we have incorporated ‘planet friendly’ as we like to call it into our collections, we have seen the quality of recycled board for instance improve incredibly,” states Rachel Hare, creative director and boss lady at Belly Button Designs. For this Christmas, Electric Dreams is packed in the publisher’s specially-designed paper jacket and Mobius in a luxury box, both of which replace any need for a plastic bag or over packaging. On the single card front, in 2022 all of Belly Button’s collections will be available either nested or card clasped. Above: Belly Button Designs’ Mobius Luxury Boxed range for 2022 will adopt the same plastic-free approach to its boxes as this last year.
No Flitter to Flutter As part of UK Greetings’ commitment to sustainability, its Special Editions charity Christmas 2022 range is fully plastic-free, flitter free and all packaging is made of recyclable board. The publisher has expanded the number of good causes the collection supports with the addition of Mind standing to benefit from sales this year with 10% of the RRP going directly to the charities. Below: One of the boxes in the Special Editions 2022 collection.
Above: One of the designs in the new British Heart Foundation box from Museums & Galleries. PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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