Speedo repackages for the Olympics

While Olympic swimmers are this week contending with Beijing smog, Speedo is set to reinvent its entire goggles range with what it claims is the category’s first sustainably designed packaging.

North London consultancy R Design, which won the project without a pitch last year, has redesigned both structural packaging and on-pack graphics for the 260-strong range, launching on trial in John Lewis this week.

The impetus for the packaging overhaul, explains Speedo marketing manager equipment and footwear Steve Jordan, was to comply with parent group Pentland’s overarching ecological vision. ‘There’s a big push to be more ecologically sound and to move away from plastic pouches. The move to cardboard [from managed forests] is a really innovative step. We’re the only company that’s doing this in the swim product category.’ Instead of the traditional pvc pouch, the new pack is a fully recyclable Forestry Stewardship Council-certified cardboard box that can be hung vertically and horizontally. More premium ranges, sold with a pouch, now use Speedo material off-cuts, and as a result, are unique.

R Design creative director Dave Richmond explains that the final design was also driven by the need for visual clarity within a retail context. ‘First and foremost, we designed it for the consumer to see the goggles and locate the desired style by photographing and placing them on the pack actual size. This is almost the exact image you would see as you slide open the box.’

International roll-out of the new packaging is expected in early 2009.