Breaking Into National Retail Across 14 SKUs
How Knockout standardized four carton sizes and used gang printing to get Aspen Natural Skincare retail-ready, on budget, for a national rollout.
Aspen Natural Skincare website →
- Client
- Aspen Natural Skincare
- Industry
- Clean, indie skincare
- Packaging Type
- Custom retail cartons (secondary packaging)
- Key Requirements
- Retail-ready packaging across 14 SKUs on a limited preview budget
- Manufacturing Region
- North America
- Outcome
- National retail placement, including a British Vogue campaign feature
Aspen Natural Skincare
ASPEN is a completely clean indie beauty brand dedicated to delivering the best wildcrafted ingredients. Their nontoxic formulas use kombucha, adaptogens, and potent plant extracts to rebalance the skin's microbiome and increase its resilience to stress.
Beyond skincare, ASPEN donates 5% of all proceeds to Operation Underground Railroad to help fight human trafficking.
Learn more about Aspen Natural Skincare →
14 SKUs, One Retail Preview Budget
ASPEN was working with a branding agency to get their products distributed in retail outlets, and needed secondary packaging across 14 SKUs to complete the polished look. Since this run was primarily for previewing to national retailers, costs had to stay minimal while still matching ASPEN's luxurious product positioning, all without the long lead times of overseas suppliers.
- Secondary packaging across 14 SKUs on a limited preview budget
- A look that matched ASPEN's luxurious product positioning
- A North American partner focused on sustainability
- Fast lead times to support an upcoming retail preview
Standardized Sizes, Gang-Printed for Savings
Knockout reviewed ASPEN's primary packaging sizes and standardized the 14 SKUs into four different carton sizes with unique print for each, saving on setup and production costs. North American FSC-certified SBS paperboard and vegetable oil-based inks kept the project sustainability-forward, while a gang printing method optimized the Pantone-matched print run to keep costs below a typical offset run.
- 14 SKUs standardized into 4 carton sizes
- Gang printing to reduce the cost of Pantone matching
- North American FSC-certified SBS paperboard
- Vegetable oil-based inks and a matte aqueous coating
Retail-Ready, and Featured in British Vogue
As a result of Knockout's consultative process, ASPEN is now retail-ready, with placement in nearly a dozen retailers and a hand-selected feature in a three-month British Vogue retail campaign. The collection's shelf presence conveys the brand's core values while balancing quality and sustainability.
- Placement in nearly a dozen national retailers
- A three-month feature in a British Vogue retail campaign
- A cohesive shelf presence across all 14 SKUs
- Cost savings from standardized sizing and gang printing
Common questions about this project
How can standardizing carton sizes reduce packaging costs across many SKUs? +
Consolidating a large SKU count into a small number of standardized carton sizes cuts down on separate die charges, structural design, and prototyping costs for each individual product.
What is gang printing, and how does it lower the cost of Pantone matching? +
Gang printing runs multiple designs together on a single press sheet, spreading setup costs across several SKUs. This makes precise Pantone color matching more affordable than running each SKU separately.
Why choose North American FSC-certified paperboard over overseas suppliers? +
Working with a North American FSC-certified supplier shortens lead times and simplifies sustainability verification compared to overseas suppliers, which is important for brands with retail launch deadlines.
What does retail-ready packaging need to include for national distribution? +
Retail-ready packaging needs consistent quality and color across every SKU, since national retailers expect a uniform look across a brand's full shelf presence.
How does Knockout help clean beauty brands prepare for national retail? +
Knockout works through structural design, print, and material sourcing together, so a brand's packaging can meet the consistency and lead-time demands of a national retail rollout.
