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Insights that drive Packaging, Paper and Performance

September 2026

Europe’s competitiveness depends on keeping manufacturing viable

As Europe looks for ways to strengthen its industrial base and competitiveness, much of the debate understandably focuses on building new industrial capacity. But retaining viable manufacturing also means enabling established industries to adapt to structural changes in demand. European demand for graphic paper has fallen by more than 60 per cent since 2007. A market of more than 40 million tonnes in 2008 had contracted to around 13 million tonnes by 2025 and is projected to reach just over eight million tonnes by 2030. This decline in demand reflects long-term structural changes in how information is consumed and distributed, driven principally by the continued shift towards digital alternatives. That scale of change presents an unavoidable question for our industry. How do we reshape a manufacturing base built for a much larger market while continuing to serve customers reliably and invest in sustainable European production? It is a question both Sappi and UPM are facing. The proposed 50/50 joint venture would bring together our graphic paper businesses in an independent company, creating a broader industrial base better able to respond to the market Europe now has.
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Costco August sales up 9.9% amid higher gas prices, digital growth

Costco Wholesale Corp. maintained momentum in August as its average worldwide transaction increased, boosted by higher gas prices.   The membership warehouse giant reported that its net sales increased 9.9% to $23.70 billion in August. For the 16-week fourth quarter, net sales increased 11.3% to $93.9 billion. The average worldwide transaction was up 5.7%. Excluding fuel and foreign exchange, the average transaction rose 2.8% Costco noted that the average worldwide selling price of gas per gallon was up 25.8% in August.
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The PACK Act Clears Key Hurdle

The Packaging and Claims Knowledge (PACK) Act took a step forward September 1 as the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade advanced H.R. 6832 to the full committee, building momentum for federal packaging sustainability labeling claims. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Representative Randy Weber (TX-14), would establish a uniform federal framework for recyclable, compostable, and reusable claims on consumer product packaging, replacing the growing patchwork of conflicting state requirements. “Whether you’re making a product, stocking a grocery store, or trying to figure out what in the world a label even means, you shouldn’t need 50 different rulebooks,” Weber said in a statement. “The PACK Act cuts through the confusion and brings some good old-fashioned common sense back to the process. If a business chooses to make a recyclable, compostable, or reusable claim, they should have one clear, voluntary federal framework to follow, not a regulatory maze that changes from state to state.”
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Saks, Neiman Marcus Try And Put A Fresh Foot Forward

Exemplar Luxury Group -- the holding company that rose from the ashes of the rancorous Saks Global bankruptcy -- is rolling into fall fashion with splashy new campaigns from Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. The campaigns come just months after the company re-emerged. That January Chapter 11 meltdown was especially bitter. Amazon, an early investor, told CNBC Saks burned through hundreds of millions in less than a year, and investors accused the company of mismanagement. Perhaps most damaging, though, was that Saks owed payments to dozens of vendors, by an amount Reuters reported as $337 million. Among them were Chanel and Kering, which owns Gucci and Saint Laurent, some of the most coveted brands in the luxury space. With a centralized marketing team, Exemplar is hoping to rebuild both stores’ reputations for high-end style and must-have luxury brands.
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UN: Every US$1 invested in climate and clean-air action can return US$15

Every US$1 invested in tackling climate change and air pollution together can generate around US$15 in economic benefits, according to a report published today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). This is higher than tackling climate and clean air separately, and it includes both market and non-market economic gains. “For too long, we have treated climate action as a cost to be managed and air pollution as the unfortunate outcome of development. This report shows the opposite: clean air is a key driver of development, health, food and energy security, and climate stability – an asset we must invest in,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “Proven solutions already exist. What we lack is the decisive leadership from governments, financial institutions, and businesses to deliver them with the speed and coordination this crisis demands.”
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UK Plastic Packaging Tax sidelines bio-based alternatives, warns Duo Packaging

The UK’s Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) has drawn criticism from Duo Packaging, which argues that the policy unintentionally disadvantages bio-based plastics by treating them in the same way as fossil-based plastics. The PPT, introduced in 2022, requires manufacturers to pay a tax if they have produced or imported plastic packaging components in the UK — including bio-based plastics — that contain less than 30% recycled plastic.
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Athletic Brewing appoints new CMO amid marketing push

Athletic Brewing Company, a leading nonalcoholic brewer, announced Dan Kleinman has been appointed chief marketing officer after a monthslong search, per information shared with Marketing Dive. “As Athletic Brewing continues to evolve from an industry pioneer into a transcendent global brand, we couldn’t be more excited to welcome Dan Kleinman to our senior leadership team,” said Bill Shufelt, co-founder and CEO of Athletic Brewing Company in press materials. The nonalcoholic beer category has seen significant growth, and now makes up 87% of all non-alcohol sales in the U.S., per Beer Institute data. The category saw a growth of 23% in 2025. Alcohol consumption has fallen considerably in recent years, with 54% of U.S. adults saying they drink as of 2025, the lowest in nearly 90 years, as measured by Gallup. That number is even lower among young Americans at 50%.
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The UPS Store enlists first brand character to support franchisees

The UPS Store on Monday introduced Blu, its first brand character. Blu, a friendly woman wearing a blue The UPS Store polo and black pants, is part of a larger national, multiyear campaign set to run on television, digital, social and print channels. The effort is aimed at small business owners and spotlights the retailer’s services, such as printing, shipping and mailboxes. The effort follows a recent pivot by United Parcel Service, the parent company of The UPS Store, to focus on premium services. In early 2025, it announced it was reducing deliveries for Amazon by over 50%. The reduction in volume led to a broad restructuring of the company’s network, including the elimination of 48,000 jobs that year, with an additional reduction of 30,000 positions planned for 2026.
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Come Monday

Jimmy Buffett taught the world that sometimes you just need to waste away in Margaritaville because, after all, it’s five o’clock somewhere. The late singer-songwriter, who passed in 2023 at age 76, remains beloved among Parrot Heads everywhere. His success was largely rooted in Buffett’s band as chronicled in the upcoming documentary Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers. The film, rolling out in major cities starting September 5, timed to Jimmy Buffett Day on September 4, traces their journey back to the 1970s and 1980s. 
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What Makes a POP Display Actually Work in Retail? (Backed by Real-World Examples)

Walk down any retail aisle and you can watch it happen in real time. Some displays stop shoppers mid-stride, draw them in, and move product off the floor. Others sit in a prime spot — right brand, right size, right location and somehow get walked past all day. That difference is rarely down to luck. A point of purchase (POP) display has to do several jobs at once. It has to catch attention, communicate a brand in a few seconds, survive the daily reality of a busy store, and arrive in one piece after a long trip through the supply chain. When any one of those jobs is missed, even a beautifully designed display underperforms. Below, we break down the four things that separate retail displays that sell from the ones that fade into the background, plus the common mistakes that quietly cost brands sales. https://hoodcontainer.com/pop-display-design-best-practices/
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McKesson Faces $55 Million Ransom Demand After Massive Data Breach

Cyberterrorist group ShinyHunters claims responsibility for breaching pharmaceutical giant McKesson, allegedly stealing 284 million patient records. Cyberterrorist group ShinyHunters has taken responsibility for an attack against pharmaceutical giant McKesson- the latest in a string of cyberattacks rocking the industry in 2026. On August 28, McKesson filed documents notifying the Securities and Exchange Commission of the attack. “At this time, customers may experience intermittent service degradation that we believe may be related to this incident,” McKesson said in a statement. “We are aware of these issues and continue to monitor the situation closely.” The company has confirmed that the hackers took data from customers in the oncology and surgical business units.
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Consumers Weigh In on AI-Generated Packaging Graphics

T&T Design Group puts human, AI, and hybrid package design to the test, uncovering a complicated relationship between visual standout, trust, perceived value, and purchase intent. A T&T Design Group study of 3,600 consumers found that packaging graphics created through a hybrid human-AI process significantly outperform both pure AI-generated and human-only designs, earning higher scores for appeal, trust, and purchase intent, with consumers willing to pay 7% more for hybrid designs compared to 1.8% less for AI-only graphics.
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The Digital Product Passport Is Coming to America—Whether U.S. Printers Are Ready or Not

Here is an uncomfortable truth for the U.S. printing industry: a regulation drafted in Brussels is about to dictate how you document, produce, and sell printed textile products—and most American printers have no idea it is happening. The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is frequently dismissed as a European concern, a piece of continental bureaucracy that stops at the Atlantic. That assumption is not just wrong. It is commercially dangerous. The brands you print for are already preparing. The deadlines are closer than they appear. And the printers who treat the DPP as someone else’s problem will find themselves quietly removed from supply chains they have served for decades. At its simplest, a Digital Product Passport is a digital record attached to a physical product accessed through a QR code, NFC chip, or barcode that documents everything about that product across its entire lifecycle.
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REI announces Labor Day Sale with deals to close out summer and gear up for fall

REI Co-op is helping customers make the most of the final stretch of summer and get ready for the cooler days ahead with its Labor Day Sale, running August 28 through September 7. Whether customers are making the most of the waning summer sun or looking ahead to brisker fall adventures, REI’s Labor Day Sale includes deals on trusted outdoor gear, apparel and accessories from REI Co-op and other trusted outdoor brands. 
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How Employee-Led Conservation Projects Save 2.3 Billion Gallons of Water a Year

Since 2023, employee-led projects at ten Domtar mills have reduced the company’s water use by more than 2.3 billion gallons a year — enough to fill 3,480 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Twenty-four projects, designed and driven by the people who know the mills best, are helping Domtar’s paper and packaging mills reach the company’s water target: a 20% reduction in water-use intensity by 2030, compared to 2020 levels.  The program works like a competition. Through the Water Reduction Capex Fund, Domtar sets aside a portion of capital spending solely for water-reduction projects, and mill teams submit proposals for a share of it. There’s one unusual rule.  “The projects didn’t need to provide a financial return. The priority was saving water,” says Brian Kozlowski, senior director of environment and sustainability for Domtar’s Paper and Packaging business unit. “That gave our employees the chance to think beyond the bottom line — and they really did.”
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Untuckit to be acquired by apparel and accessories firm with eye on expansion

A direct-to-consumer brand is getting new owners who plan to accelerate its growth. Randa Apparel & Accessories (Randa) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Untuckit brand and operations. Terms of the deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals, were not revealed. “We spent 15 years proving that a shirt built to be worn untucked could become a brand people trust,” said Chris Riccobono, Untuckit’s co-founder. “Randa brings something different: more than a century of relationships with the world’s leading retailers and suppliers, along with the global capabilities to help Untuckit reach its next stage.”  Following the close of the transaction, Untuckit and its leadership team will continue to operate from its SoHo headquarters in New York City. The brand will be operated as a standalone business.
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EPR Tide Recedes, but Other Waves of Regulation Are Likely to Follow

Legislation aimed at creating extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs for packaging hit something of a speed bump in 2026. This year, lawmakers failed to pass packaging-focused EPR bills in six states—just one shy of the number of states that have EPR laws for packaging on their books. That ought to come as a relief to printers and converters of labels and packaging, but in many cases it won’t. This is not because the news isn’t positive. It’s because all too often, printers and converters are only vaguely aware of what EPR is and how it could affect their relationships with customers to whom they supply packaging and labels. Groups on both sides of the EPR debate want to raise the industry’s awareness: advocates by passing laws to impose EPR requirements that no one subject to them can afford to ignore; opponents by warning printers and converters of what the intended and unintended consequences of the EPR movement can be.
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The Neuroscience of Unboxing: Why Your Customer’s Brain Remembers the Box.

Most brands think about the customer experience as everything that happens before the sale – the ad, the landing page, the checkout flow. But the science of how customers actually form memories suggests the most important moment may come after the purchase, when the box arrives. In a physical store, the end of the experience is checkout. Online, you might think checkout is the end, but it’s only the middle. The real ending is the moment your customer physically interacts with your brand – the unboxing. It's the one part of the eCommerce journey that is physical, tangible, and impossible to skim past. If that ending is a generic box and a wad of plain kraft, that's the memory your brand leaves behind. If it's a considered, branded moment, that's what the customer's brain files away – and what they reach for the next time they're deciding where to reorder.
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10 years in, ePac CEO touts success of digital printing focus

Flexible packaging specialist ePac is having what many would consider a milestone year. In January, it was acquired by private equity firm Butterfly Equity, marking the latter’s first packaging investment. In February, the company announced a $50 million, three-year agreement with HP to install more than 10 digital printing presses. San Diego-based ePac has nearly two dozen locations and announced footprint expansions across North America this year: It’s scaling operations in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Vancouver while preparing to open a new facility in Phoenix. EPac serves CPG customers, appealing to smaller and medium-sized brands that demand faster and more nimble packaging suppliers. The company strives to provide customers with quick turns of 15 days or less. Digital printing enables that speed and is a pillar of the company’s business strategy.
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Flint Group Digital Xeikon Welcomes Strategic Partnership with Xerox

Flint Group Digital Xeikon, announces a new strategic partnership with Xerox Holdings Corporation. As part of the collaboration, Xerox will offer digital presses under the Xerox brand based on Xeikon’s proven digital printing technology, enabling printers to access high-quality, high-productivity digital print solutions through Xerox’s established sales and service channels. The partnership reflects a shared commitment to helping printers respond to growing demand for shorter runs, faster turnaround times, versioning, and high-value applications in an increasingly dynamic market. By combining Xerox’s commercial reach and customer relationships with Xeikon’s digital press technology, the two companies are positioned to accelerate adoption of digital print production across a broader segment of the market.
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