Stora Enso revolutionizes personal care packaging with new fiberlight-based Performa Lumi

FINLAND – Stora Enso,a Finnish and Swedish forest industry company that  provides renewable products in packaging, biomaterials, and wooden construction, has unveiled Performa Lumi, an advanced lightweight folding boxboard (FBB) specifically engineered for the beauty and personal care sectors.

This innovative packaging solution leverages the company’s proprietary FiberLight technology combined with chemi-thermomechanical pulp (CTMP) applied to both sides, resulting in a smooth, bright white surface that excels in print quality and shelf presence. 

Manufactured on Stora Enso’s state-of-the-art packaging line in Oulu, Finland, Performa Lumi broadens the Performa portfolio, which already includes options like Performa Nova,by providing a versatile, single-board answer for diverse uses spanning beauty products, personal care items, health care needs, and more.

Kati Ekman, head of product line FBB at Stora Enso, stated,  “Performa Lumi is designed for brands that want a premium appearance without unnecessary complexity.¨

¨For brand owners, that means one broad solution that can cover multiple end-uses, from beauty to personal care and beyond with reliable results.” 

The material stands out for its robustness against the demands of printing, converting, and shipping, making it ideal for safeguarding heavier contents such as creams or perfume bottles while preserving a brand’s signature style, tactile experience, and memorable unboxing moment. 

Available in grammages ranging from 205gsm to 310gsm, it complies with direct food contact standards, remains free of odor and taste transfer, and balances strength, lightweight design, logistics efficiency, and sustainability requirements prevalent in today’s luxury packaging landscape.

In the broader market, Performa Lumi responds to escalating needs for protective yet elegant packaging that endures real-world stresses without sacrificing eco-friendliness or consumer allure. 

Comparable advancements include Act Beauty’s recent launch of refillable, travel-friendly perfume sprays using glass and metal for resilience and sophistication, as well as Saica Group’s supply of high-strength paper banding to Unilever for Axe deodorant twin packs, ensuring durability throughout distribution. 

As personal care brands navigate demands for functionality, visual impact, and environmental responsibility, solutions like Performa Lumi position paper-based options as frontrunners in meeting these evolving priorities.

Meanwhile, Stora Enso recently inaugurated its consumer packaging board production line at the Oulu mill in Finland in August 2025, following a major €1.1 billion (USD 1.30 billion) investment that forms part of a €1.7 billion (USD 2.01 billion) commitment to the site in 2019. 

This advanced facility, Europe’s largest and most modern of its kind, transformed former paper machines into high-efficiency board lines using the company’s patented FiberLight Tec technology, which produces lighter yet stronger materials like folding boxboard, kraftliners, bag materials, and unbleached softwood pulp. 

The mill’s output targets diverse packaging applications, including frozen and dry foods, pharmaceuticals, and beverage multipacks, with most production earmarked for export, and it achieves near carbon-neutral operations by cutting CO2 emissions by 90%.

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