In the luxury sector, packaging is far more than a container: it is an identity marker that communicates a brand’s values. Today, this aesthetic and emotional dimension is increasingly intertwined with another criterion that has become central to consumer choice: sustainability.
According to McKinsey’s Sustainability in Packaging – What European Consumers Value in 2025 report, interest in more responsible materials continues to grow across Europe. Consumers place particular importance on reducing plastic, choosing renewable materials, and gaining transparency around material decisions. Most importantly, they expect sustainable solutions to maintain quality, aesthetics, and functionality — an essential requirement for premium and luxury packaging.
The Pro Carton Consumer Survey 2025, commissioned by the European association of cartonboard manufacturers, confirms these trends with clear data on European consumer perception:
• 75% consider packaging sustainability an “important” or “very important” factor;
• 70% attribute high value to plastic reduction in packaging;
• 72% prefer renewable or recyclable materials;
• and, significantly for brands, 64% believe that packaging directly influences their perception of a company’s sustainability commitment.
In other words, packaging is now seen as one of the key indicators of how seriously a brand approaches its environmental responsibilities. Within this landscape, ISEM Packaging Group, leveraging the technological expertise of EGISA, which developed the project, introduces Eco Glitter, a solution designed to overcome the limitations of traditional glitter while preserving the signature brilliance of high-end packaging and progressively replacing fossil-derived materials with renewable alternatives.
Why glitter has become a strategic topic
Traditional glitter used on premium cartons is composed of plastic micro-particles and is usually applied on a metallized PET backing. In recent years, this type of material has increasingly entered the European debate on the reduction of fossil-based polymers: EU Regulation 2023/2055 moves precisely in this direction by limiting microplastics intentionally added to products.
At the same time, many luxury brands have begun replacing metallized PET film with cold foil, which enables selective metallization without leaving plastic on the packaging and does not hinder recyclability, a shift that reflects the growing ambition to reduce fossil-based components even in decorative finishes.
Although premium packaging is not directly affected by these restrictions – the glitter applied to folding cartons is fully embedded in UV varnish and does not disperse into the environment – the luxury sector now operates in a context where every material choice communicates a brand’s positioning. Moreover, Europe’s message is clear: when non-fossil alternatives offer comparable performance, their adoption is strongly encouraged.
Meanwhile, brands are moving faster. Many beauty and fragrance companies have included the reduction of virgin plastic and the increased use of renewable materials in their 2030 sustainability roadmaps, not only in the structural components of packaging, but also in more complex decorative finishes. This is why glitter is no longer just a sparkling effect, but a strategic topic that touches on regulation, R&D and brand positioning — and ultimately becomes a concrete competitive advantage.
Eco Glitter: a plant-based innovation for luxury finishing
It is within this cultural, regulatory, and market evolution that Eco Glitter emerges — the alternative to traditional glitter developed by EGISA and promoted by ISEM Packaging Group.
The key difference lies in the material itself: Eco Glitter is produced using a plant-based cellulose film, offering a more sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-derived plastic. This allows brands to:
• replace a fossil-based material with a renewable resource
• reduce reliance on PET
• maintain the same brilliant, sparkling effect required by the luxury segment
This approach enables the substitution of fossil components with more responsible materials while preserving colour, luminosity, and visual consistency, three essential requirements for high-end packaging. This is what we refer to as responsible substitution: evolving materials wherever technically feasible, without compromising on aesthetics.
Furthermore, Eco Glitter is fully embedded in a UV varnish, forming a compact and stable layer. This ensures high performance, prevents particle release, and delivers a flawless, long-lasting finish: exactly what the beauty and fragrance sectors demand.
An intuition refined over time: Eco Glitter for “I Want Choo”
How did the Eco Glitter project begin? With EGISA’s intuition that even a sparkling finish could evolve toward more responsible materials without losing its aesthetic appeal. A belief strong enough for the team to develop an initial prototype as a self-promotional project and present it four years ago at Luxe Pack Monaco. It was there that the innovation found its first supporter: Interparfums, an international fragrance company known for developing and producing perfumes for leading luxury brands, who immediately recognized its potential.
This marked the beginning of a development journey that led to four generations of Jimmy Choo I Want Choo folding cartons. An evolution driven by continuous research and numerous technical challenges: ensuring colour and sparkle stability (crucial in the beauty sector), optimizing high-speed industrial processes, and maintaining compatibility with complex varnishes and premium finishing techniques.
After the Jimmy Choo I Want Choo (red edition) and I Want Choo Forever (black edition) editions, both developed in traditional glitter with 12 μm PET film, Interparfums wanted to further evolve its iconic packaging by introducing a more responsible approach to materials.
I Want Choo Le Parfum (Gold Edition) marked the first real sustainable upgrade, with the official debut of Eco Glitter, produced using a cellulose-based film of plant origin. This version also introduced the transition to an 8 μm PET film, a change that resulted in a 33% reduction in plastic, while preserving the visual balance required by the brand.
The most recent upgrade – I Want Choo With Love (pink edition), released in 2025 – marks the most significant step in the entire evolution. The folding carton eliminates the metallized PET film entirely, replacing it with cold foil, which further reduces plastic content and improves recyclability. This transition represents a substantial technical advance, as cold foil allows the board to be metallized only where needed – without laminating the entire surface with PET – resulting in a lower plastic footprint while preserving excellent visual impact.
This progression has allowed the brand to preserve the expressive impact typical of the Jimmy Choo universe while significantly reducing the environmental footprint of the folding carton.
As Pauline Moret, Purchasing and Packaging Development Manager at Interparfums, explains: “The aim was to create a packaging that was not only distinctive and visually striking, but also in line with the brand’s values of sustainability. We therefore introduced elements such as the eco glitter for a more responsible sparkle effect, as well as reducing the plastic content by 33% thanks to the limited use of polyester in the folding carton. In this way, the design combines aesthetics with environmental commitment.”
Next challenge? Achieving compatibility with water-based varnishes. This is a technically demanding step that our R&D teams at ISEM Packaging Group are actively working on to further improve recyclability in pulping systems. It reflects our continued commitment to advancing material innovation across the entire packaging value chain, ensuring that every evolution strengthens both performance and environmental responsibility.
Looking ahead: why innovation truly matters
Global dynamics make it clear that sustainability is no longer an optional requirement, but a force reshaping the entire packaging value chain. The McKinsey report Sustainable Packaging – Global Consumer Views 2025 highlights that recyclability is now the most important criterion in evaluating sustainable packaging, while renewable materials are increasingly seen as a tangible indicator of a brand’s environmental commitment.
At the same time, products that communicate sustainability-related attributes have recorded 28% cumulative growth over the past five years, demonstrating that sustainability has become a global competitive driver. Not only that: consumers view brand owners and packaging producers as the primary actors responsible for driving innovation in this space, an expectation that is accelerating the development of more advanced aesthetic and technical solutions.
It is within this momentum that Eco Glitter finds its place: a finishing solution that enables brands to visually express their commitment while preserving the distinctive brilliance of luxury packaging and adopting more responsible materials.
For ISEM Packaging Group, this means continuing to lead the industry toward solutions that combine aesthetics, performance, and responsibility. For brands, it means demonstrating — tangibly and visibly, even on the surface of a folding carton or a rigid box — an authentic commitment to the future of packaging.
