Segede: “Brands finally have reliable data on Zamak”

Premium Beauty News – To understand the legitimacy of your approach, could you please recount Segede’s history for us?

Claire Trescartes - The company was founded in 1955, three generations ago, under the leadership of Pierre, my grandfather. At the time, it was based in the heart of Paris’s Marais district and specialised in metalworking for goldsmithery, small-scale jewellery, and leather goods. The second generation made a change in the 1980s, developing our know-how in Zamak, mainly for the spirits industry. Major Cognac companies looked for technical, aesthetic and sensorial items: the cap was to offer the right sound, the right weight, and the right finishing. This requirement structured our industrial culture and mastery of surface treatments. In the 2000s, we had become close to luxury houses, so they started to contact us for perfume projects, mainly caps or containers for fragrance concrete. Zamak’s castability made it possible to craft different shapes, colours and finishings, and it offered the cold touch brands were looking for. Perfumery became the company’s strategic pillar, and our know-how was recognised for complex designs.

Premium Beauty News - How is your business currently split across the industries you work with?

Claire Trescartes - Segede’s know-how covers precious metals, from gold to brass, but our main expertise is focused on injected Zamak and aluminium die-stamping, in particular for labels and medallions. We have always been widely present in the spirits industry, which long accounted for most of our turnover. Now, perfumery has taken over, with higher volumes and stronger momentum, while the spirits market is facing a tougher climate.

Premium Beauty News - Segede has just inaugurated a sales office in Dubai: what is your strategy to go global?

Claire Trescartes - We mainly work with European brands, but we are also growing increasingly fast on the global scale, in particular in the Middle East. This market is key: local brands are doing a beautiful job and Zamak is popular there. That is why we opened the Dubai sales office four months ago. We are also considering settling in the US through Business France, mainly in the niche market, because few major American perfume brands have a very-high-end positioning.

Premium Beauty News - How have you structured production?

Claire Trescartes - Segede has two plants with identical activities: the historic site in France, and another, joint-venture site in China, representing 120 employees all in all. This double presence helps adapt production according to our clients’ choices and price constraints. Certain projects combine moulds development in China and production in France, while others totally exclude China, in particular in the spirits industry. What I aim to do soon is offer caps with simple shapes which will be made in France for costs equivalent to China’s, by identifying a network of European, responsible contractors.

Premium Beauty News - Why are you so active when it comes to Zamak’s sustainability?

Claire Trescartes - We found out that there was almost no data on the environmental impact of Zamak, and that the only data available was inaccurate. Until recently, Zamak, a niche material with no sectoral representation, did not have any reliable LCA [1] data on its carbon footprint and recyclability, so it was unfairly disadvantaged. As the European Union, with the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), aims to push for adopting a circular economy approach, prove materials’ recyclability, and reduce their carbon footprint, we decided to address the issue head-on. In this ‘battle’, Segede’s legitimacy is based on its position as a French industrial player, which is rare in this segment: in both Europe and North America, it is mainly composed of traders.

Premium Beauty News - What approach did you choose?

Claire Trescartes - We conducted Life Cycle Assessments which were certified and validated by independent bodies: they showed the actual carbon footprint of Zamak was three to four times lower than initial estimates. It should be known that Zamak melts at 400 °C, while aluminium requires heating at 600 °C. Following our analyses, Ecoinvent recently published the final data confirming the actual impact of recycled Zamak.

When it comes to recyclability, we have also mapped the whole European collection and recycling network, so Zamak could be officially recognised as a recyclable material by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). It is now officially recognised as a fully recyclable material, with an identified and mapped European channel validated by CITEO, and LCA data is being integrated to databases.

Brands finally have reliable data to guide their own decisions.

Premium Beauty News - How do luxury players react to this new data?

Claire Trescartes - Brands have a lot of questions and they needed information, but they have confirmed their commitment to this material for luxury packaging. The progress made helps remove barriers.

Premium Beauty News - Can you tell us about your future projects?

Claire Trescartes - We would like to keep defending this sustainable material, while supporting brands in developing premium packaging solutions where aesthetic requirements do not conflict with environmental performance. Real sustainability is about consuming less, choosing reuse, and creating beautiful packaging that does not end up in rubbish tips, don’t you think? That is why Zamak makes perfect sense.