What’s Next in Beauty: Six Questions with Packaging Engineer and Founder Sarah Haffey
Alder’s Communications team chatted with Sarah Haffey, Co-Founder and COO of Alder Packaging, about the beauty packaging trends she’s exploring for 2027 and beyond.
1. What does your week look like as both a packaging engineer and COO?
On the engineering side, I’m working on innovation sketches for brands, reviewing sample components, and touching base with our factory partners. Then I’m switching gears to operations, timelines, and making sure we’re planning for the future.
It’s funny because the engineer in me loves the details, and as COO, I get to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You can have a beautiful packaging concept, but it takes about a million more steps to make it a reality.
2. What conversations are you having with beauty brands right now?
Brands known for color cosmetics are branching out into skincare, and vice versa. There’s a lot of cross-category pollination. A haircare brand can launch a tinted lip oil and have it go super viral. Brands want to deepen their relationships with loyal customers, and those customers want more from the brands they love.
3. Where do you see packaging innovation going over the next two to three years?
We see an interesting cycle based on what types of products are popular. We’ve been living in this era of liquids and cream formulas, so we were innovating all kinds of sticks and dip-in, doe-foot packages. Now brands are stepping back into powders and bullet lipsticks, so we are innovating how people apply and dispense these more traditional formats. That’s on the horizon for sure.
4. How is AI changing the way you work?
There have been a lot of gains on the operations side when it comes to code creation, documentation, and speeding up things like pallet configurations. We’re using it within our organization to make things go faster and people’s lives a little easier, because so much of packaging is operational.
Yes, there are advancements in drafting 3D files and rendering images in a photorealistic way, but when it comes to creativity and true packaging innovation, the current AI tools are not replacing industrial designers and our human imagination.
5. Is packaging having a moment?
Packaging is having a major moment. There’s always been curiosity about how things are made. We all remember How It’s Made and Dirty Jobs, right? Now, with social media as a platform to show and tell, people are gravitating toward authentic, informative content. There’s an entire ecosystem of beauty content dedicated specifically to packaging. So many product reviews and viral videos are commentary on the packaging itself.
It puts pressure on beauty brands to evolve and stay ahead. It’s good pressure when it leads to a better product, but it can also push brands to overdo it! As packaging engineers, it’s our role to help brands find the right balance.
6. What’s one packaging trend you’re watching for 2027?
Keepsake packaging. It’s been on the horizon, and more brands are coming out with gorgeous keychains, wearable items, collectibles, special launches, minis, and jumbos that really catch your eye on social media and on shelves.