Surcare unveils new packaging design

Surcare, the sensitive-skin laundry brand for more than 30 years, has redesigned its packaging to shake up the category and change the way consumers think about laundry.

Under its new ‘love your laundry, love your skin’ campaign, the UK-based brand is encouraging households across the UK to see laundry not as a functional chore, but as an active part of their daily skincare and wellbeing routine. 

The overhaul is designed to shift consumer mindsets. From clothes and towels to bedding and babywear, fabrics touch our skin throughout the day – making laundry a critical yet often overlooked step in caring for skin. A McBride owned brand, Surcare aims to normalize ‘skin-friendly laundry’ as an everyday choice for all households, not just those managing allergies.

With 31 percent of shoppers managing sensitive skin and 24 percent actively seeking kinder-to-skin products, the redesign helps Surcare reach a broader consumer base. Beyond those purchasing specifically for allergies, the new look appeals to households prioritizing skin health, ingredient transparency and effective cleaning, even at lower temperatures. Every product in the Surcare range is dermatologically approved, reinforcing the brand’s reputation as a safe and reliable choice for the whole family.

The new packaging marked the first stage of a wider rebrand, followed by the announcement of Surcare’s first celebrity brand ambassador, a range extension, major new retail listings and the launch of the brand’s own e-commerce website.

'Today’s consumer is seeking more than simply a laundry product. They want an experience that aligns with their family’s wellbeing. Skincare is no longer just about moisturizers and skin treatments; it begins with how you care for the fabrics that touch your skin all day long,’ says Pavan Chandra, who leads marketing strategy and implementation for Surcare and other McBride-owned brands.

‘We initiated a redesign to modernize the brand. Our goal was to appeal not only to our core sensitive-skin demographic but also to a broader audience looking for "kinder" skin products. We approached this with the philosophy that clothes are a second skin. By washing your clothes with a non-irritating detergent, you are inherently caring for your skin. This inspired our new core message: Love your laundry, love your skin,’ he explains.

‘To reflect this, our new packaging features lifestyle imagery of people trying on clothes. It's a very different design from what you usually find in the laundry sector, and we wanted to disrupt the shelf and stand out. Our redesign is more than just a new look. It represents where the brand is headed. We want to reshape the role laundry plays in people’s lives to show that exceptional cleaning performance and skin-kind care can and should go hand in hand,’ Chandra explains.

The brand redesigned all the labels and packaging but retained the existing bottle structures. The primary reason was logistical. Altering packaging dimensions by more than 10 percent triggers mandatory barcode changes. To minimize friction for retail partners, the brand kept the physical structure identical. This allowed the brand to focus its time and resources on consumer-facing design and marketing.

The brand used flexo printing for its paper labels and an RPET sleeve label for its fabric conditioner. The company uses Elopak cardboard for its washing powder and has saved 22.7 tons per annum by switching from plastic to Elopak.
As an international company, Surcare ensures it gets its packaging standards right, in light of new regulations in Europe. 

‘A regulation might hit Europe first, but it will eventually come to the UK, so we take all of that into consideration. Our process is that my team and our partner agencies handle the initial design. From there, it goes into the artwork process and is heavily reviewed by our regulatory and legal teams. They make sure everything complies with both current regulations and future expectations before we ever send it to the printer,’ Chandra says.

The redesign process was not without its challenges. 
‘Because we were taking such a radically different approach to the laundry category, it definitely required some internal selling. We also conducted in-depth consumer research to make sure our audience understood and embraced the direction. Surcare has a dedicated following of allergy sufferers who have relied on it for years, so it was critical that we didn't alienate them in the process,’ Chandra explains. 

‘At the end of the day, standing out was the entire objective. If we looked like every other laundry brand, we wouldn't cut through the noise. The fact that internal teams, retailers and consumers saw the design as an exciting challenge only validated the decision. Beyond that, we were working with strict budget and turnaround targets. Getting the photography, art direction and styling right on the very first pass was essential. There was no room for reshoots, so delivering under budget and at speed was a major focus.’

The redesigned Surcare range began rolling out in stores in January 2026.