Gillette Fusion 5 Gift Pack — Two Formats, One Brief, Six Weeks
Client: Gillette (P&G)
Format: Rigid Box
Category: Personal Care
Gillette India asked us to imagine climbing a staircase, and to design a package that carried that image through every layer of the unboxing experience. After one and a half months of development work by our New Product Development team, we delivered two distinct packs for P&G's online-only Gillette Fusion 5 gift range. Both formats share the same external finish language.
Both solve the same brief from different structural starting points. And both were built specifically for e-commerce, where the rigid box is the first physical interaction the customer has with the product.
The Staircase Pack — Four Cartridge Version
The Staircase is a two-tiered drawer construction. The outer carton uses velvet lamination across the full surface, which gives it the matte, tactile quality that signals premium before the pack is even opened. The shaving blade and Gillette logo are rendered in orange raised UV combined with embossing, creating dimensional contrast against the velvet background. A spot UV treatment identifies the carry case position on the front panel.
The interior is where the staircase concept is executed structurally. Two drawers open in sequence, each recessed at a different depth to create the step revealing the brief described. The middle tier holds the carry case. The innermost tier holds the shaving handle and four blade cartridges. Both drawers are constructed from black matte paper with EVA foam liners, engineered to hold each component securely in position through transit without movement or rattle.
The result is an unboxing sequence with a defined pace. The consumer does not open a box and find products. They pull the first drawer, find the carry case, pull the second, and find the razor and cartridges. The hierarchy of the reveal mirrors the hierarchy of the product.
We are currently working with the P&G team on the next iteration of this pack, specifically on eliminating the EVA foam from the drawer construction through the use of recycled pulp moulded components. The structural performance brief remains identical. The material changes entirely.
The Slider Pack — Two Cartridge Version
The Slider was developed for the two-cartridge version of the Fusion 5 gift pack. The structural format is a pull-away slide design: the lid and main body separate on a horizontal axis rather than opening vertically, which changes the unboxing motion and suits a narrower, more compact pack format appropriate for a two-component gift.
The external finish matches the Staircase in surface language. Velvet lamination covers the full outer surface. Orange raised UV and embossing render the Gillette logo. Spot UV identifies the carry case.
The Slider adds one feature the Staircase does not have: a wrap-around window that allows product visibility on two sides of the carton, which matters for e-commerce photography and retail-adjacent presentation where the product inside is part of the shelf appeal.
The inner body is constructed from FBB paper with printing and matte lamination, lined with EVA foam to secure the shaving blade and carry case. The slide mechanism is engineered to operate smoothly without resistance or misalignment, which requires tight dimensional control across the lid-to-body fit during manufacturing.
What Did This Brief Require?
The challenge in developing both formats simultaneously was maintaining finish consistency across two structurally different constructions. Velvet lamination behaves differently on a flat outer panel than on a sliding component where surface-to-surface contact is part of the mechanism. The raised UV and embossing registration had to be held to the same standard on both packs, despite different substrate configurations and different post-press assembly sequences.
Both packs were developed within six weeks from brief to approved golden sample. That timeline included structural design, material sourcing, prototype cutting, internal testing, and physical sample submission to P&G for approval.
The development was offered at no cost to the client, which is standard practice for all new product development work at Kumar Printers.
To discuss a packaging development brief, write to us at kppl@kumarprinters.com or visit www.kumarprinters.com
