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Stories, colors and music: A brief guide to an eco-friendly pride packaging

6 min readFeb 15, 2021

For some it may seem like just rainbow washing, but for others it is a real daily cultural work, culminating in the month of June. On our part, we believe that proudly claiming the dignity and rights of the LGBTQ+ community is still all-important today and we want to do our small part too.
That is why, while planning our next Campaign, we decided to create a short guide to help you develop your project for a brilliant and eco-friendly Pride Packaging. In this article you will find some history, a series of selected and sustainable materials, and even a special playlist to inspire you while creating the concept to make your project truly fabulous.
Not enough? Just contact us and we’ll help you in designing, developing and manufacturing your Proud packaging!

The Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village: one of the few bars in New York where **LGBTQ+** individuals were free to socialize, dance, and be themselves. | On June 28th, 1969 A shot glass was thrown into a mirror by Marsha P. Johnson who yelled “I got my civil rights!”. That moment became known as “the Shot Glass that was Heard Around the World.”

Say it clear, say it loud. Gay is good, gay is proud”

June is Pride Month, when the traditional and most important parade for the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals is held. Indeed, the first Gay Pride was held in New York on June 28, 1970, to commemorate the 1969 riots of Stonewall.

In 1969 homosexuality was illegal throughout the United States (as well as in several other nations) and appeared in the diagnostic manual of mental illnesses. Being an even vaguely effeminate man or minimally masculine woman was socially unacceptable and the police spent their time raiding the places where homosexuals were known to gather, for no good reason. Homosexuals, transsexuals or those non-conforming to the Barbie/Ken stereotypes were regularly beaten by the police, discriminated against, fired, thrown out of the house, isolated, and interned.

The situation was so terrible that homosexuals were forced to rely on the Italian mafia to find “safe” spaces. One of these was the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Of course, the police continued the raids, but everything was resolved after an arrest was made and the place was reopened.

During the the first Christopher Street March, the participants took to the street wearing bright clothes, briefs and swimwear, in protest against the rules of society and they were joined by thousands of people who also demonstrated against the war in Vietnam and for sexual liberation.

On the night of June 28, 1969, Marsha P. Johnson, yelling “I got my civil rights!” threw into a mirror the Shot Glass that was Heard Around the World.” When the police broke into the bar, instead of being silent, the customers rebelled and the riots would not subside for the next six days.

It all ended with the re-appropriation of the building and the street where the first activist and liberation movements of the LGBTQ+ community were born.

Exactly one year later, the first Christopher Street March was held in Manhattan to commemorate these events.

One of the most important symbols of “Pride” is undoubtedly the flag known as the Rainbow Flag, which was created in 1978 by the San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker.

According to the artist, the 8 colors of the original flag represented the 8 peculiarities of the LGBTQ+ community: Pink = Sex, Red = Life, Orange = Healing, Yellow = Sunlight, Green = Nature, Turquoise = Magic, Blue = Peace, Purple = Spirit.

There are many versions of the flag which represent the progression of the movement, one of the latest ones being the Progress Pride Flag, which was designed by Daniel Quasar to place a greater emphasis on “inclusion and progression”. As well as the addition of black and brown, the transgender flag colors are also featured. The arrow shape indicates the need for change. It was created by Daniel Quasar in 2018.

FROM STONEWALL TO PRIDE PACKAGING

The claim of the rights of the LGBT+ community has conquered a consistent space in the public debate, becoming a global battle and in recent years even companies have begun carrying out ad hoc campaigns and producing special collections to publicly express their support.

In this regard, Marketing Society has compiled a list of good practices to keep in mind to build LGBT+ friendly campaigns without being inappropriate.

In this sense, packaging is an important part of Pride campaigns.

The Goose Island Beer brand invited Shea Couleé, star of the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race, to design its limited-edition cans dedicated to Pride Month, which bear **his** name, Shea Coul-Alé. Part of the profits were donated to TransTech, which is responsible for facilitating the access of trans people to the workforce.

Other prominent examples of Pride packaging include wine and bubbly brand Barefoot’s newly launched, limited-edition Pride Packaging Collection of Brut Rosé Bubbly in four rainbow-themed designs. In the beauty sector, cosmetic brand Face Halo is releasing a new Pride-themed version of its reusable makeup remover and Marc Jacobs Beauty unveiled five new shades of its Enamored Hydrating Lip Gloss Stick for Pride Month, with each shade housed in rainbow-print packaging. The lip gloss box also includes brown and black stripes on the rainbow flag, which draws attention to issues of people of color within the LGBTQ+ community.

To support you in the development of your project, we have selected some sustainable coated materials, which recall the colors of the flag and the sparkling aesthetics of pride, thanks to the support of Foilco, the Favini paper mill and Fontana Grafica, the exclusive distributor for Italy of the WINTER & COMPANY| creative coverings.

Favini: Bio-degradable, recyclable, inclusive Coverings

The **Burano by Favini range of papers**, which takes its name from the colorful island of the Venice lagoon, is a line of high-quality colored pulp papers with interesting sustainability features, offered in 35 different shades and in different weights and formats. In full respect for the environment, Burano is Burano is completely biodegradable andrecyclable, and the Black is free of sulfur and carbon black. Si tratta inoltre di una carta certificata FSC®. Il Forest Stewardship Council® è un’organizzazione globale senza fini di lucro dedicata alla promozione della gestione responsabile delle foreste del mondo. FSC definisce standard basati su principi riconosciuti di gestione responsabile delle foreste [stewardship, N.d.T.] che sono supportati da operatori attivi in campo ambientale, sociale ed economico. Per saperne di più, visita il sito fsc.org

Embossings, faux leather and flocks

If you are interested in other types of coating for your boxes, you can take inspiration from these materials distributed in Italy by Fontana Grafica, for WINTER & COMPANY.

**ECOREL® PURE SKIVER** is a vegan imitation leather. The coated paper is fully recyclable, r FSC®-certified and contains 50% post-consumer waste. WELINO ® **FELT** is a strong coloured paper covering, with a timeless original texture made of 40% post-consumer waste fibre (PCW), 100% recyclable, vegan and FSC® Mix certified. **SUEDEL®** **LUXE RECYCLED,** is made of a 100% recycled paper base and 100% recycled cotton flock from industrial waste. The vegan suede imitation is FSC®-certified and inspires at first touch. Credits: **Fontana Grafica**/**WINTER & COMPANY**

Shine, sparkle and put some glitter on!

Have you ever wondered why gay prides are always so sparkling, shiny and full of glitter?!

Stardust has a very important symbolic meaning for the LGBT+ community. The use of glitter makeup is, for many queer folks, a way to celebrate being “out” in a very public and consistent way, especially after years of restricting full gender and/or sexual identity expression to certain audiences. More glitter means more visibility and a greater sense of self. The other thing is that for queer folks, glitter doesn’t only have to be a symbol of femininity. That is to say that wearing glitter doesn’t automatically make you femme, because ultimately, it’s a symbol of queerness in a larger sense.

Glitter and sparkle, like many queer(ed) expressions of sexuality and gender, draws attention to its own artificiality, making no attempt to be “natural” or anything but constructed, just as queerness draws attention to the roles we play and social norms we often follow in terms of gender expression, sexuality, and relationships.

One way to make product packaging more sparkly is definitely by applying a colored, glittered or iridescent foil to the finishing. We have chosen Foilco’s range of colors and patterns, which works best on smooth surfaces, both natural and glossy.

Did you think the metallic effect on the foil meant you couldn’t recycle it? You can, as long as the material/substrate that you foil onto is repulpable. Once transferred, foil is so thin that it dissipates within the re-pulping process.

Moreover, Foilco is an environmentally-friendly factory: using a specialist waste management company, Foilco can now work alongside printers and print finishes to recover their own foil waste, which is converted into SRF — a higher quality and more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuel(s).

SING, DANCE AND GET INSPIRED!
We don’t know if you are still working remotely or are in the office, but we think you absolutely have to listen to our playlist because we are sure it will make you dance and sing wherever you are and will give you the right energy to make your packaging project fabulous!
You can find it here

Not enough? Just contact us and we’ll help you with designing, developing and manufacturing your fabulous Proud packaging! Just write us at info@inthebox.it . You’ll be able to understand the quality of our customized and environmentally conscious packaging for luxury goods.