At DELIVER Europe 2025, Adam Sarama, Business Development Manager at Trillora, challenged brands to rethink packaging—not as a commodity, but as a competitive advantage. From shifting trade routes and rising geopolitical tensions to stricter environmental regulations, packaging now plays a central role in supply chain resilience.

The Hidden Power of Packaging

For too long, packaging has been deprioritised—seen as a mere line item. But in today’s volatile world, that oversight carries risk. As Adam explained, packaging impacts not just costs, but sustainability, compliance, and supply chain agility.

Trillora partners with global brands in apparel, footwear, furniture and outdoor industries to redesign and manage packaging systems that scale across regions, shift quickly between manufacturing hubs, and meet strict EU requirements.

What’s Driving the Change?

Sarama outlined several urgent challenges reshaping packaging needs:

• Geopolitical disruptions like Red Sea instability, a drying Panama Canal, and trade policy shifts

• Environmental extremes, with longer ocean transits demanding moisture-resistant materials

• Workforce risk, as global logistics depends on at-risk demographics (e.g. Ukrainian seafarers)

• Regulatory pressure, including five key EU directives: EUDR, PPWR, CSRD, CSDDD, and FLR

Each of these forces adds complexity. Packaging must now be traceable, transparent, and intelligently engineered to minimise waste and emissions.

The Trillora Approach: From Fragmented to Strategic

In most retail supply chains, product manufacturers also manage packaging—leading to redundancy, overprotection, and waste. Trillora simplifies this by stepping in between brand and packaging suppliers, streamlining production and gaining full oversight across global hubs.

With over 100 audited partner sites, Trillora shifts packaging production across Asia (e.g., from China to Vietnam) in under a month. This flexibility is critical for brands navigating tariffs or supply constraints.

Compliance is No Longer Optional

Upcoming EU regulations will require full visibility into:

• Packaging source and raw material origin (traceable to square metre of land)

• Empty space limitations (PPWR restricts more than 50% void)

• Reporting on emissions, water usage, supplier ownership, and due diligence

Non-compliance penalties? Up to 5x global turnover. Trillora ensures packaging suppliers are vetted, standards audited, and data verifiable. But as Sarama clarified, "It’s the brand—not the supplier—that’s legally liable."

Real-World Results

Optimisation drives measurable impact. Trillora’s redesigns boost container utilisation from 75–85% to 95–98%, eliminating unnecessary materials and saving costs:

• 1,000 containers removed per year for one European apparel brand = €2.5M saved

• Levi's replaced polybags with moisture-resistant cartons, cutting waste without compromising protection

• Stadium, a Swedish retailer, achieved 40% CO₂ reduction from packaging changes

Innovation in Action

From recyclable bamboo materials to return-ready e-commerce packaging, Trillora is engineering novel solutions:

• Wilson tennis balls moved from plastic tubes to custom-fit cartons

• JetBoil removed plastics entirely from packaging design

• Cartons are now tailored to logistics dimensions, not just retail shelf

Virtual design tools and AI simulations are also accelerating prototyping and decision-making.

Strategic Takeaways

To build resilient supply chains, brands must:

• Embed flexibility in packaging sourcing and production

• Ensure compliance with EU and global sustainability directives

• Optimise efficiency, from carton size to container fill rates

Trillora’s message is clear: packaging is no longer an afterthought. It’s a driver of resilience, compliance, and competitive edge in the global marketplace.