Luxe Pack’s annual New York packaging trade show brought together a record-breaking number of over 5,000 suppliers, brands, and manufacturers across beauty, fragrance, wine and spirits, wellness, and personal care. Across the show floor, exhibitors showcased everything from refill systems and bio-based materials to smart packaging integrations and accessibility-focused functionality.
And while aesthetics remain a priority, the bigger conversation this year suggests a shift is underway: Packaging innovation is increasingly less about making products look different and more about rethinking how they’re made, used, and discarded.
That shift comes as growing regulatory pressure, sustainability fatigue, and rising consumer awareness continue to force the beauty industry to rethink packaging as a whole, by placing a stronger emphasis on sustainable sourcing, material innovation, and next-generation packaging solutions.
For Kailey Bradt, CEO of vegan skincare brand Sonsie, one of the standout sections at the show was “Material ConneXion,” an installation spotlighting emerging materials and packaging alternatives.
Bradt said the section reflected what she believes is the industry’s next major frontier, which is material-level innovation. “The next wave of innovation has to come from bio-resins [meaning bio-based and compostable],” Bradt told BeautyMatter, pointing to advancements happening in biodegradable materials like polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) that use significantly less fossil resources and energy to produce than traditional plastics.
One company that stood out to Bradt was Shellworks, which develops its own PHA material in-house rather than sourcing it elsewhere, allowing for more flexibility when it comes to packaging development.
The focus on alternative materials reflects a broader shift happening across the beauty packaging space, where brands are exploring compostable materials, recycled inputs, and lower-waste packaging systems.
Although sustainability remained a prevalent theme throughout the show, the conversations reflected a more cautious and commercially grounded approach than in previous years, largely focused on lightweighting, selective post-consumer recycled (PCR) integration, and improving manufacturing efficiencies. “Those are solutions brands can realistically implement at scale without dramatically increasing operational complexity or cost,” said Allison Kent-Gunn Garibay, beauty packaging expert, educator, and founder of 3E Beauty Consulting.
Garibay added that the industry sentiment has shifted from sustainability breakthroughs to sustainability on a budget, crediting factors such as the 2025 tariffs, US political shifts, and ongoing economic and geopolitical pressures as the reason many brands have chosen to deprioritize certain sustainability initiatives.
Sonsie’s Bradt echoed those thoughts, saying much of the innovation on the floor still felt incremental. “We’re still seeing a lot of plastic. We’re seeing a lot of mixed materials,” she said. “There’s little you can do to impress me from the design perspective these days because so much has already been done.”
Refill systems also remain a point of contention among brands, Bradt shared. While refillability continues to drive much of luxury packaging innovation, Bradt argued that many current systems still create unnecessary waste because they rely on multiple materials that are difficult to separate or recycle properly.
While sustainability dominated the discourse at Luxe Pack, functionality and usability also emerged as growing priorities.
Italian packaging supplier Baralan previewed its new “Last Drop System,” a packaging mechanism designed to help consumers get every bit of product out of cosmetic containers before throwing them away.
Initially developed for nail polish bottles, the system, which uses a wand mechanism, allows users to push the applicator downward to reach the formula at the bottom of the bottle without having to tilt or shake the package. The wand mechanism itself is made from recyclable polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) materials and is designed to work across multiple product categories, including concealer, lip gloss, and mascara.
“We always try to introduce innovation or new functionalities to help brands optimize,” said Caroline Baranes, Chief Business Officer at Baralan. “It’s not only about the waste of the packaging but also helping with the product itself.”
The company also positioned the system as part of a broader push toward more inclusive packaging design. Its one-handed functionality, for example, could make products easier to use for consumers with mobility or dexterity limitations, an area becoming more important across beauty packaging solutions.
Other suppliers showcased cooling applicators, metal-tip packaging, sensory-focused components, and integrated beauty tech designed to blur the line between packaging and skincare tools.
Garibay added that balancing luxury aesthetics with functionality was one of the biggest themes she noticed throughout the show. “What I’m seeing increasingly is brands trying to preserve the elevated sensorial and luxury aspects consumers expect while quietly simplifying operational complexity behind the scenes,” she said.
Those new priorities—maintaining emotional appeal while managing tariffs, freight costs, manufacturing limitations, and regulatory pressures—surfaced repeatedly across the show floor.
Beyond sustainability and functionality, other conversations at Luxe Pack centered on packaging’s growing role in brand storytelling and consumer engagement.
Garibay pointed to the continued influence of K-beauty as a major force reshaping how brands approach packaging design and consumer experience. “K-beauty brands have demonstrated that expressive, tactile, visually engaging packaging can become just as much a part of the product appeal as the formula itself,” she said.
As social commerce and beauty discovery accelerate online, brands are approaching packaging not just as shelf presentation but also as content that can generate buzz and emotional connection as it pushes digital storytelling forward.
Technology integration emerged as one of the more forward-looking areas in packaging.
Bradt considers Nuon Medical one of the most interesting exhibitors at Luxe Pack. The company, which embeds beauty tech directly into packaging systems, showcased concepts featuring red light therapy, heating and cooling functions, and built-in skin moisture sensors. The multifunctionality highlights brands’ desire for new ways to make products feel more immersive, efficacious, and functional.
At the same time, suppliers appear to be navigating innovation as regulatory pressure increases surrounding microplastics, packaging waste, and sustainability standards.
“Regulatory will drive a lot of the changes that we have not seen [in packaging] yet, and it's not necessarily cost just from the material perspective but tariffs and health and safety versus even clean/sustainable,” says Bradt. “There will be regulatory implications around all of it.”
Even as the industry pushes forward on sustainability and material innovation, one major challenge remains unresolved: consumer education.
“Beauty brands forget how much consumers don’t know,” Bradt said. “We all talk to each other in these niches, but consumers aren’t necessarily part of that conversation yet.”
That disconnect is more apparent as brands attempt to explain recycling systems, compostability claims, and packaging sustainability in ways consumers can actually understand.
Bradt believes education will ultimately become one of the industry’s biggest hurdles, particularly as conversations around clean beauty evolve beyond ingredients to focus on packaging materials, microplastics, and environmental impact.