The 2020 Walpole Yearbook forecasts the future of British luxury, with essays from Esquire’s Alex Bilmes, The Economist’s Daniel Franklin, Lydia Slater of Harper’s Bazaar and other leading luxury commentators, as well as stories from 60 Walpole member brands.

The Walpole Book of British Luxury is created in partnership with Studio Buffalo, Pureprint, House of Hackney and G.F Smith.

The muted opulence of bespoke materials and detailed features are a statement in sustainable ecommerce packaging. The purpose of packaging is to present the product as the hero and to fade away once it’s accomplished this feat. The company's collaboration with Intl. Direct Packaging and James Cropper culminated in a packaging system that delivers its unique vision and creates an interactive unboxing for readers.

Bringing together James Cropper’s latest innovations in sustainable and hygienic paper for packaging with the packaging manufacturing craftsmanship of International Direct Packaging (IDP), the launch of Walpole’s 2020 Yearbook exquisitely demonstrates what sustainable luxury packaging could look like in the future.

This year’s Book of British Luxury is a product of a collaboration between master papermaker James Cropper and IDP, presented in a luxury box produced using James Cropper’s 100% post-consumer waste recycled fiber paper in Shadow Black from its new Rydal Packaging Collection. The box was designed and manufactured by the award-winning IDP team, focusing on what the future of sustainable luxury means. The boxes are constructed of Black Ryland paper corrugated into F Flute boards that are embossed and debossed with handcrafted artwork to mirror the beautifully designed cover of the 2020 Yearbook by House of Hackney & Buffalo.

With brands increasingly concerned with the environmental impact and safety of their products, the box demonstrates the marriage of beauty, outstanding eco credentials and antimicrobial qualities, ringing in a new era for luxury packaging. Because these boxes are made of mono-material and do not use inks or glues, they are 100% recyclable without needing to be disassembled.

The recycled qualities in the Rydal collection include James Cropper’s innovative CupCycling fiber, sourced from used coffee cups. With 175 years of papermaking heritage, James Cropper created the world’s first technology to upcycle used coffee cups. This unique post-consumer fiber stream gives a second life to a valuable resource and is designed with circular economy principles at the core.

In addition, the paper incorporates James Cropper's PaperGard antimicrobial technology, which has been tested against a strain of coronavirus, with favorable results. Addressing the recent demand for cleaner surfaces, PaperGard allows paper products exposed to high touch volumes to in effect "self-sanitize" without affecting the appearance or performance of the paper itself. The silver ions present within the paper continually work to prevent the growth of the micro-organisms, effectively reducing contamination levels on the surface.

“Beauty, functionality and the user experience have always been prerequisites when it comes to luxury products. In recent years consumers began looking to brands to also demonstrate their social and environmental consciences; and now in our post-COVID-19 world, they also want to know that the packaging they interact with is as safe as it can be," explains Tricia Hartmann with James Cropper.

“The packaging for the Walpole Yearbook addresses all of these concerns, while surpassing the expectation for beauty, design and functionality.”

So, is the future of e-commerce more brown boxes that look the same, or is it something else entirely?