REINVENTING PACKAGING: A LOOK AHEAD TO DAY 1 OF ALLFORPACK PARIS 2026
Reinventing: moving beyond incremental logic
After years of gradual optimisation, the packaging sector is now entering a phase of deeper transformation. The combined pressure of consumer expectations, the European regulatory framework and the opportunities opened up by new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, is shifting the boundaries. Day 1 of ALLFORPACK EMBALLAGE PARIS 2026 places this dynamic at the centre of the discussions: questioning the fundamentals, challenging uses and confronting established beliefs. The watchword is clear: this is no longer about making marginal adjustments, but about reinventing packaging and its entire value chain. Discover some of the themes that will shape this first day of conferences.
Grand Speaker: Kelly Massol, or the art of creating a market from an intuition
The choice of Kelly Massol to open this day makes perfect sense. Founder of Les Secrets de Loly, a French haircare brand dedicated to textured hair, she embodies the ability to create a market and make it evolve from within. Her journey has been documented by the French business press: the company was launched in 2009 with an initial investment of €1,500, industrialised from 2015 onwards, and recorded €16 million in revenue in 2022, with growth that marked the previous decade. The brand is now distributed internationally, and its founder has joined the jury of the M6 programme “Qui veut être mon associé ?” as an investor.
This journey, however atypical, directly echoes the challenges faced by packaging professionals. Kelly Massol did not occupy an existing segment; she brought one into being. She listened to a community before developing a product, then built consistency between the product, its story and its packaging. This is precisely the connection that the first day of Paris Talks invites the industry to explore: how can packaging remain a living interface with the consumer? How can packaging support the emergence of new uses rather than simply respond to them? By opening the day, Kelly Massol will bring an entrepreneurial perspective to industrial questions. A valuable framework for the discussions that follow.
Packaging: consumer expectations as a driver of reinvention
The first major editorial focus of Day 1 concerns the consumer and their new expectations. According to the eco-organisation Citeo, French consumers largely believe that manufacturers should take priority action to reduce packaging levels, far ahead of their own responsibility or that of public authorities. At the same time, social acceptance of single-use packaging is eroding, and pressure now comes as much from downstream as from upstream. This shift in perceived responsibility is deeply changing the decision-making process for companies placing products on the market.
The industrial translation of this pressure is already visible. The Reduction call for projects led by Citeo and Adelphe selected a series of concrete initiatives in 2025 aimed at eliminating or lightening existing packaging, with savings potential quantified in tonnes of plastic avoided. These industrial projects are no longer isolated demonstrators: they foreshadow market standards that exhibitors and visitors at ALLFORPACK EMBALLAGE PARIS will need to anticipate. The newsroom has already explored these dynamics in its article dedicated to plastic packaging between regulatory constraints and circular strategies.
Packaging: artificial intelligence enters the value chain
The second major theme of the first day of Paris Talks concerns artificial intelligence and its practical integration into the packaging value chain. AI is no longer a topic for future speculation; it is an industrial tool that is becoming increasingly mainstream. Several uses are already mature. Beyond design, whose use cases will be at the heart of the discussions on the third day of Paris Talks, AI is also feeding into industrial performance and logistics optimisation.
It is used to size packaging as accurately as possible, reduce empty space, adapt formats for transport and storage, and monitor quality online using computer vision. Smart packaging, with its sensors, active QR codes and NFC tags, opens up another front: traceability and the fight against food waste. The central challenge of this day will be to assess the environmental cost-benefit ratio of these innovations, as any electronic component added to packaging must be justified in terms of recyclability. The topic also intersects with ongoing changes on packaging lines, already analysed by ALLFORPACK EMBALLAGE PARIS in an article dedicated to end-of-line automation.
See you at Paris Nord Villepinte from 24 to 26 November 2026
Beyond new consumer expectations and new technologies reshaping the packaging industry, the first day of Paris Talks will also be an opportunity to take stock of structuring questions for the packaging sector: how is materials innovation shaping the renewal of packaging? How does the relationship between container and content come together in the era of “right packaging”? Can packaging be reinvented while moving towards reduction?
Marketing directors, R&D managers, companies placing products on the market, packaging manufacturers, buyers, CSR managers: every profile will find in this first day the keys to understanding how and why to reinvent packaging. Book your visitor badge for ALLFORPACK EMBALLAGE PARIS 2026 now and join professionals from the sector at Paris Nord Villepinte from 24 to 26 November 2026, for three days of discussions, demonstrations and conferences at the heart of all the sector’s transformations.