A celebration of packaging’s power – landmark London Packaging Week closes on a high

After an action-packed opening day of the 15^th London Packaging Week, the doors of the Excel opened again for a second day of insights, innovation, and a full agenda of events. As the final day of 2025’s showcase, the exhibition hall was once again buzzing with energy as thousands of visitors, exhibitors, brands, and speakers made their way around the event.

Davide Cerrato, CEO of Bremont Watches, said the markedly British flavour of the show made it special for his team. “For us, our British heritage and identity is super important,” he said. “We are proudly British. The company was founded by two British brothers, Nick and Giles English, and is rooted in aviation, a passion for flying, engineering, and this idea of robustness and indestructible watches. “It’s important to stay true to who you are, enriching elements of your story with the new elements that are future proof.”

Jamie Hale, founder and Managing Director of luxury packaging manufacturer Zone Creations, spoke about the trends he has seen in his business now manifesting at the show, saying, “We're very fortunate to work with clients that are brave with some of the things they do. We work with some amazing creative agencies as well. They will come to us with a pretty wild concept often, and that's down to us to try and make it into something as an actual product.

“I think we're seeing trends combining craft with technology. We're an artisan making company, but we will use technology where we need to, doing it in a sustainable way, using 3D printing.

“We're producing a lot of innovative composites. There are lots of materials that we get to see that are new to market, so that gives some challenges as well, but we've always been known for trying new materials for our packs. We work in art production, furniture production, and making more one-off pieces. That gives us a really useful innovation stream to try new things, which we can roll out into a packaging project. That means we can go to clients with confidence in new materials because we've used them on a smaller scale.”

Global CPG brand Unilever is embracing modern materials that allow it to transition its products out of hard to recycle packaging and reduce plastic pollution. This is already seen on shelves with examples of 100% paper-based packs and sachets and In food service environments, with tubs made using 100% PCR content.

Omer Bin Younus, Global Packaging Director at Unilever, acknowledged that the company has a complex product portfolio that requires a complex mix of solutions with different barrier characteristics suited to the product. Nonetheless, Unilever has big ambitions to bring an end to plastic pollution and move its products to sustainable, recyclable, and circular solutions.

“In the long-term, this will include greater use of recycled content in plastic packaging where it continues to be needed and used, alongside high-barrier papers, advanced moulded fibre packaging, and paper-based solutions that are recyclable and compostable.

“Dual end-of-life solutions present opportunities and challenges and we are collaborating with the supply chain to advance their development, so they will provide the required performance at the same time as being easier to recover, recycle, and return to the natural environment.”

Another highlight of Day Two was the discussion around how emerging brands can disrupt the beauty space. This talk featured Lucy Edwards, the blind broadcaster, activist, and founder of inclusive beauty brand Etia alongside Paul Finch, co-founder of Growth Studio, and Emily Caine, Head of Beauty at TikTok Shop.

Edwards spoke following the discussion, adding, “What was really lovely about this is that I could talk about being bling completely openly and have the representation on a massive stage – because packaging, for my brand, is the thing we focus on the most.

“As a blind person, I haven't been able to dip into my makeup bag and understand what I'm holding for 12 years, since I lost my sight when I was 17 years old. So it's really understanding what that consumer wants, who I'm representing - but also the wider consumer who hasn't necessarily thought about this. How can we make our packs aesthetic, but also universally designed for everybody.

“I think it's going somewhere because there are voices like mine, but also, within the pandemic, we had this massive influx of creators who look like me and who come from all different subsections of society, who are demanding different things from their packaging like never before.”

Another talk saw Nick Vaus, co-founder and Managing Partner at branding agency Free The Birds, take to the stage as part of a panel discussion on building consumer trust through packaging design. Afterwards, he added, “Education has to start with packaging companies, because they’re the source. Designers, when they’re making choices, can be all over the place. You can go to art college and you want to make something amazing, but you don’t always know the ramifications, and you need that education.

“Everyone has to be really honest about things they’ve learned and things they’ve been caught out on. That’s why it’s lovely to see some of the awards here. They’re always the things that attract future thinking, and it’s just really nice to do talks like this and get to know different people from the industry.”

And, with the world’s packaging professionals gathered in London, it proved to be a fitting time to celebrate Dick Searle, Co-CEO of The Packaging Federation and legendary figure among the UK’s packaging community, with the Innovation Awards’ Lifetime Achievement prize. In his speech, he issued a clarion call to the industry, saying, “Our packaging sector safeguards food, drink, and so many more supply chains. Indeed, it’s difficult to see how supply chains would survive without what we do. Without effective packaging, the world would simply stop.

“We need to collectively support our packaging businesses, because in every town and every industrial state you go to, you'll find a packaging company. And we need to speak up and tell people that packaging is an environmental gain. We need to talk about its environmental achievements, its recycling achievements, its credentials, and its bold new designs for the circular economy.”

Elsewhere, on the show floor, the buzz of networking between brands and suppliers was a constant throughout the day. Andrew Rawlin, UK Managing Director for Luxury Brands at IDP Direct, was one of hundreds of packaging professionals representing his company at their booth. He argued there is no substitute for the kind of sensory experience provided by a live trade show, saying, “It’s a very tactile business. You see people looking, feeling, and touching, exploring the textures and structure of the print. Is that really an overall embossed pattern? Is the foil embossed and bevelled? It provides the full experience.

“We have made some contacts, we've had some nice positive conversations, and if you actually get one that converts to a decent order, it's all worthwhile, and we'll be back again next year.”

Software suppliers Esko, R-stream, and Hybrid Software similarly embraced the opportunity to engage with the many brands who attended London Packaging Week 2025. This focused heavily on the ability of their respective solutions to help brand owners navigate complex artwork management.

“Time to market is one of the biggest challenges brands face today,” opined Esko’s chief marketing officer Jan De Roeck. “There is a lot of pressure to supply faster without compromising quality. This is the biggest challenge across the whole value chain.

“We have developed solutions such as the Esko S2 platform that allows brands and their labels supply chains to access connected Cloud-based operations and data to achieve new levels of go-to-market speed and efficiency. This is even more important for highly regulated industries, where the approval process is more complex and takes longer, posting a greater challenge to getting a product into the market.

“We are continuing to develop further systems for all brands that leverage the capabilities of AI to simplify and streamline artwork management and hasten time to market.

“We have had many positive conversations with brands at London Packaging Week 2025 on this important topic and look forward to helping them shorten their time to market.”

R-stream is an enterprise end-to-end label artwork management software with integrated services, which is designed to help companies in packaged products sectors reduce costs and mitigate risks through process automation and optimisation. The company boasts the likes of ExxonMobil and several pharmaceutical companies amongst its client list, demonstrating the company’s ability to serve and support the most challenging and demanding markets.

For all brands, multiple artwork revisions has been the accepted norm for a long time. Bastien Persenaire, Artwork Automation Specialist Project Manager at R-stream, spoke of the need for brands to eliminate errors from the initial design and maximise artwork that is right at the first attempt. “A lot of brands are still having to make multiple revisions and encountering compliance issues, which causes delays and costs them time and money.

“Our solution fuses the latest automation and workflow technology with human expertise in artwork production to give brands the best possible outcome, which is artwork that is right at the first attempt.

“This is our first time exhibiting and London Packaging Week 2025 has been an interesting and useful experience to demonstrate to brands how our Software-as-a-Service model can help them reduce errors and accelerate market entry.”

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to benefit from mingling with brands that need the supply chain’s support to improve their packaging and processes when London Packaging Week returns on 16 & 17 September, 2026. Visit www.londonpackagingweek.com now to register your interest in a free visitor’s ticket or to book a stand to promote your business at the beating heart of the UK’s packaging community.