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jeramymobley · 7 years

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Pack It Up: Why Packaging Matters, More Than Ever

With the direct-to-consumer and e-commerce booming, packaging is more important than ever. Entrepreneurs who get what appeals to Millennials (and younger consumers), naturally, are eager to disrupt the bigger players.

Blending her previous business experience with a healthy dose of ambition, @dailyharvest CEO and founder, Rachel Drori, grew her DTC health food brand to over 100,000 customers in just three years. Click the link in the bio to hear how she did it in a new episode of the podcast . .⠀ .⠀ .⠀ #ecommerce #entrepreneurship

A post shared by Lumi (@lumi) on Feb 1, 2018 at 12:07pm PST

Cue innovative packaging and logistics services such as Lumi, which creates (and streamlines) custom packaging for e-commerce services including Daily Harvest, BarkBox, FabFitFun, the Field Company, Rockets of Awesome, ShaveFace, Parachute Home, MeUndies and the Wall Street Journal.

Co-founders by self-described curious dorks Jesse Genet and Stephan Ango, the duo just raised $9 million in series A financing (led by Spark Capital) to expand Lumi, which evolved from shipping Inkodye, their sunlight-activated fabric dye product.

“For many brands, the box is the first physical interaction customers have with them and their products. The unboxing experience has become so meaningful; there are YouTube channels dedicated to it (these videos are mesmerizing),” explains Spark Capital partner Kevin Thau in a Medium blog post.

“The box has become an incredibly important part of the brand story for this new generation of commerce and direct-to-consumer brands. This is what leads us to Lumi and why we’re proud to announce today that we’re leading the company’s $9M Series A, along with Kirsten Green of Forerunner Ventures.”

Realizing a market need for startups looking for branded packaging to make each order feel special, Lumi produces custom-printed boxes, packing tape and invoice slips for online orders. As Thau puts it, “Lumi helps e-commerce companies produce custom packaging by bringing simplicity to something that is very complex: what machine in what factory in what part of the world would be best to make this box, the wrapping, marketing inserts, etc.?”

We're excited to announce what's coming up for Lumi. https://t.co/WnKmDH6DTF

— Lumi (@Lumi) February 14, 2018

Lumi does a great job of demystifying custom packaging with content including a blog, the Well Made podcast and “Shipping Things” videos, including their “Getting Started” video and the primer on custom packing tape:

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“A lot of what we learned was related to making custom packaging,” Genet told TechCrunch. “Stefan and I spent four and a half years launching a product that needed its own packaging (and) learned a lot of the pain points that our customers experience.”

“We were talking about how companies brand themselves and source things to brand themselves,” Genet added. “We landed on packaging not because ‘Whoa, you know where a huge market is’ but because our customers were dealing with this struggle.”

How to carefully choose where to go custom. https://t.co/gCiBP7kDMW

— Lumi (@Lumi) February 16, 2018

How it works: “The magic behind Lumi is networked manufacturing, i.e. bringing factories online,” Ango explained in a blog post on Medium.

“Instead of managing communications with individual suppliers for each item, the Lumi Dashboard centralizes this process. Each item is abstracted into specifications and the best factory for each job is picked based on criteria for cost, quality and lead time.”

“Our extensive network of factories allows us to locate manufacturing within 50 miles of almost any distribution center in the United States. If fulfillment moves to a different part of the country, production can be quickly re-located near the new distribution center.”

Lumi has to date shipped 25 million packages by geolocating production as near as possible to a client’s distribution center.

Spark Capital certainly knows a good bet when it sees one, having invested in Dollar Shave Club, Jet.com, Birchbox, Bonobos, Glossier, Hotel Tonight, Warby Parker and Outdoor Voices.

How Life Unfolds

Lumi is taking on bigger players, many of which belong to the U.S. Paper and Packaging Board—which just released a campaign to highlight innovations by its more than 50 members. Expanding on the “How Life Unfolds” campaign it introduced in 2015, the campaign features animated characters in photo-realistic scenarios; a library, an orchard, on a graduation stage and at an awards show podium.

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An underlying theme is how sustainability is important to both sides of the paper and packaging industry:

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“Paper and packaging products are prevalent in our lives. It was our goal to create highly-relatable characters to represent the vital roles that paper and packaging play for each and every one of us,” explained Mary Anne Hansan, president of the Paper and Packaging Board.

“We launched the ‘Paper & Packaging – How Life Unfolds’ campaign in 2015 and we are thrilled to introduce these new characters to help consumers nationwide recognize and remember the value of paper in their everyday lives.”

The campaign is running on TV, in magazines such as US Weekly, Forbes, Delta Sky, ESPN, HGTV Magazine and Parents, via digital ads on platforms like Hulu and across more digital and social media channels.

The post Pack It Up: Why Packaging Matters, More Than Ever appeared first on brandchannel:.

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civilizedskincare · 8 years

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The Best Razor for Men – Smooth Shaving in 2017

How many times do you wake up, shave and shower, put on your clothes, go to work, and then you’re suddenly aware of how it feels like your face is on fire. Let’s face it guys, shaving sucks! About 15% of men won’t shave their faces due to the day-long pain they experience from shaving. The rashes, the break-outs, your collar scraping against your raw neck all day…

It doesn’t have to be this way!

The 4 best razors for men

A.P. Donovan - Professional 7/8" straight Razor with Strop and Wax

Merkur Heavy Duty Long Handled Barber Pole Safety Razor

Gillette Fusion Proshield Chill Bundle

The Art of Shaving Lexington Power Razor

The shaving razor you choose makes all the difference

Nearly all shaving pains and problems are caused by using a crappy razor. Not only that, we tend to use razors way beyond their useful life expectancy. How long do you think a razor is good for? The advice on the internet varies wildly from 3 shaves to 5 weeks. The reality is—and your experience will back this up—a razor loses its fine edge after about 10 shaves. After that, it starts to drag across your skin creating the typical razor burn, shaving induced acne and those ever-present cuts and nicks.

So in order to be good to your face, you might consider switching out razors after a little more than a week. On top of that, if your razors only come with two blades made out of cheap white plastic, you are pretty much destroying your skin. Think of it this way: these are the exact same shaving razors they hand out in prison… to convicted criminals! You are not a prisoner. You are better than that. Start taking care of your face and you will stay handsome well into your old age.

The types of razors for men

There are 4 typical types of razors for men. There are straight razors, safety razors, razors with disposable heads and razors that are completely disposable. There are others, but none you can easily find. Let’s look at the benefits of each type:

The straight razor. Bar none, this is the coolest way to shave your face. Seriously guys, if you ever want someone to fall in love with you, let them watch you shave with one of these sexy bad boys. The problem with these razors is that you have to go slow and be precise with your shaving technique. There is a learning curve and you will cut yourself especially right under the nose when you first start out. However, as you gain proficiency with these men’s razors, you will experience the best shave of your life. And if you take good care of it, it will pretty much last you forever.

The safety razor. Another old-timey shaving device that creates a phenomenal shave, makes you look cool, but takes a little skill to get used to. For those of you who don’t know what the safety razor is, it’s the one with the replaceable flat double-sided blades. The ones made with today’s technology are a lot less likely to cut you if you get careless.

Disposable head razors. You might actually have one of these in your home right now. Many of the razor companies send the nice handle with your first head to you as a promotion. You get hooked and now you buy the disposable heads to refill. These are excellent razor heads and some have so many blades that it’s kind of like shaving with a car radiator. The first dozen shaves you get with each head is world class. The shave quality drops off significantly after that.

Disposable razors. I don’t know. It seems like you are creating a ton of garbage when you buy these. These mass produced razors are probably why you face feels so raw right now. They’re great for when you’re traveling or for doing other forms of “manscaping” in areas that would be very painful to cut, but I probably wouldn’t get them anywhere near my face.

The 4 best razors for men

This could easily be the 20 best razors for men, but in the interest of creating an easy to understand list, we’ve picked our top favorites (plus we allow in a couple disposable razors just because we know sometimes it’s hard to start a new hobby).

A.P. Donovan - Professional 7/8" straight Razor with Strop and Wax

Did you ever want to look like the biggest badass in the world when shaving? This exquisite beauty is exactly what you need. Now you can buy a straight razor that costs upwards of $300 so this one is a good place to start. Not only is it built to last forever with a Japanese carbon steel wedge, this is a professional piece of shaving equipment. It has an amazing feel in your hand and just the right weight to do the job right.

Keep in mind, there are no straight razors that come “shave ready” they all should be properly stropped every time you use them. Sure there are better straight razors on the market, but for the price and the quality (and the gorgeous box it comes in), this one is the best razor for men.

Merkur Heavy Duty Long Handled Barber Pole Safety Razor

If this is your first trip in using a safety razor, this one is an excellent choice. Safety razors are measured on how “aggressive” they are. Some leave a very small space between the blade and the head (less aggressive). This one is right in the middle. It has a big handle so you feel like you’re in complete control and has a two piece assembly so changing out razor blades is much easier than with some other devices.

Keep in mind, if you feel that this razor is a little too aggressive (meaning it shaves too much leaving your skin sore), you can put in feather light blades to get an easier shave. Our favorites are the Wilkinson Sword razor blades to go easy on your sensitive skin.

Gillette Fusion Proshield Chill Bundle

So you’re a disposable razor guy? I don’t blame you. It’s super easy and the chances of you slicing your face with one of these is pretty slim. But if you gotta go with disposable, go with the ones with disposable heads and not the “throw the whole thing away” kind. Why? Because having a big heavy handle actually helps you have more control over the razor and this helps you get a better shave.

I think you’ll agree that Gillette makes all of the best disposable razors for men, but the Proshield Chill really is the one you should get excited about. This disposable cartridge razor as pretty much all the bells and whistles they could pack into a shaving device. As with all of the best razors for men, this one takes a little getting used to especially if what you’re using now is really lousy. Your first shave with this razor might feel a little aggressive to you, but you won’t be able to imagine how you lived without this razor after the second shave (and just about everyone after).

The Art of Shaving Lexington Power Razor

Now you’re talking! If you really must shave with disposable razors, you might as well get a seriously civilized handle to shave with. This beautiful razor works with the Gillette Fusion POWER disposable shave cartridges. Essentially, it vibrates. Now you might be sitting there wondering how a vibrating razor could do a better job than the non-vibratey kind and I really can’t even begin to tell you, but this really works!

I love my straight razor on those days where I have time and patience to do the job right, but when I’m in a hurry (or late for a date), this really is one of the best manual razors for men. The gentle vibrations seem to make for a much closer shave. I’m not sitting there swiping at my face over and over again just to get smooth. I’ve never cut myself or razor burned myself with this razor either. This handle is pretty expensive, but in my opinion and given how much I shave, it’s worth every penny to have something as cool as this in my daily routine. Those guys at the Art of Shaving really know what they’re doing.

How to make a razor last longer

Let’s face it, if you want to do it right, shaving is a very expensive daily chore. And given that razors really don’t last as long as you would hope for given how much you just paid for one, there just has to be a better way to make them stay sharper longer.

Well my friends, there is! Up above, when I listed the best straight razor for men, there was a word in there called STROP. A strop is that usually leather strap that you run your straight razor back and forth over to put an amazingly sharp edge on your blade. This is why investing in a straight razor is so awesome. You are sharpening it before every shave so it lasts forever. So how does this help you if you are using disposable razors? The same science works no matter what kind of a blade you are using.

Safety blades and disposable razors can be stropped too.

Check out the ShaveFace Strop Deluxe Leather and Denim Razor Blade Sharpener for Disposable Razors. It’s not the leather kind you’ve seen on old movies because disposable razors don’t require such an abrasive surface. What you do is hang this cool looking device on a towel rack and push your razor against it in an upwards motion. This would be the opposite direction that you shave with. Do this a bout 5 or 10 times before every shave and this puts a fine edge on your best razor for men, realigns all of the blades and cleans any debris from between the razors. The result is that you have a disposable razor that lasts three times long than what you are used to. This strop is worth every penny and will be one of those things in your life that will constantly impress you with how much money it saves you.

Thoughts on the best razor for men

Excluding those who don’t shave for religious reasons, about 90% of men shave weekly. Most do it every day and they shave for the rest of their lives. The remaining 10% either don’t shave because they hate the discomfort of shaving or they’re in a cool biker gang.

Do you really want to go through the rest of your life feeling like your face is burning off every time you use that lousy manual razor? Sure, each of the products listed cost as much as a whole box of 200 prisoner razors, but they give you control over something you just assumed you’d have to live with the rest of your life. A wise person said that you should always spend a lot of money on your shoes and your mattress because if you’re not in one, then you’re in the other. I would add a really high quality shaving razor for men to that list because none of us deserve to go through life with a never-ending pain on our faces and necks.

Spend a little money now on one of our best razors for men and you will not only feel like a badass every time you shave, you face will feel amazing after every shave. It’s the civilized thing to do…

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The post The Best Razor for Men – Smooth Shaving in 2017 appeared first on Civilized Skin Care.

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