Fragrance carton is the apple of DKNY's eye

Fresh-picked for Estée Lauder's DKNY Be Delicious fragrance line for men and women, a new carton design conveys an au naturale look and feel to support the brand's "apple" theme. Chosen by New York City-based Estée Lauder to develop the secondary packaging for its apple-shaped Eau de Parfum Spray bottles, folding carton converter Curtis Packaging Corp. (www.curtispackaging.com) says it spent "many months" evaluating carton substrates to find one that could provide a rugged, recycled look while maintaining color consistency. Ultimately it selected Kraftpak®, a specialty virgin substrate developed by MeadWestvaco (www.meadwestvaco.com). "This unique substrate had the natural kraft look and feel that we were searching for," says John Giusto, vp of manufacturing at Curtis. "We were successful in locating a mill that was able to hold the brown color of the substrate from run to run because of its virgin fiber. Holding a uniform board color was especially important as the background of the carton required a tinted varnish to achieve the desired graphic effect."

Also to support the brand's marketing concept, DKNY asked Curtis to apply to each carton a produce-style label reading "DKNY Be Delicious 100% Pure New York." The challenge for Curtis was to find a way to affix the very small labels at high speeds within strict tolerances while maintaining DKNY's budget. Instead, it eliminated the label, printing and UV-coating the graphic directly onto the carton using a 10-station, 51-in. KBA (www.kba-print.de) Rapida press.