What I've learnt and changed with my packaging

This blog comes from a different angle today, not so much about lingerie but about the packaging it gets sent out in.

It can often be a last thought, unless you’re totally brand aware and awesome and on it. When I ran Vanjo first time around, because that was all I did, I had it sorted. I wrapped the lingerie in black tissue lined with pink ribbon, that matched the clothing label. Each package had a postcard that was a picture of lingerie on models from different ranges of Vanjo.

The post office was a walking distance from where I lived in Belfast so at lunch I use to wrap all the orders and walk on round.

When I started Van Jonsson Design, I kind of hit the road running, “How to become a lingerie designer” the book took off really quick, I was balancing sending them out, doing my masters, freelancing for other companies, and balancing a baby on my knee at the same time. Simple tasks like address stickers were pushed to the side. Books were wrapped in brown paper, labels were just copy and pasted with the address and printed.

It took awhile to even transfer to getting an address label printed up, I then bought bulk padded envelopes but wasn’t happy that they couldn’t be recycled and I’m still using the smaller ones I have up and have slowly migrated to cardboard books for the bigger books, and then onto the one I definitely want.

Here’s the thing, you don’t want your packaging to be so expensive that you need to up your prices, yet you want the person who receives it to look forward to opening it.

All of books (and lingerie) are wrapped in black tissue paper, a hand printed card which you can keep if you like and the tape which closes the cardboard boxes is fully recyclable.

I would recommend at the start making a list of all the packaging you need and branding it up, and if you hit the ground running like I did, know that you will get there, one step at a time. Start small and keep building up.

Don’t however think you have to wait to get it perfect, you don’t and you won’t. By getting going you’ll know what works and what doesn’t. If you are unsure go simple, go one colour on your labels, black or white (or your brand colour) and then your logo or brand name. It will look clean and put together. That or outsource it.

If you’re not happy with your packaging, now might be the time to stop and take an honest look at it all.