Hairdressing veterans Anthony and Gloria Edge have decades of experience in the industry, including working with brands Toni & Guy and Evo Hair. As such, they understand the complexities of haircare and saw an opportunity to simplify everyone’s hair “situation” while making packaging refillable and more sustainable than most other products.
The Edges used their expertise and experience to create formulas for shampoos, conditioners, treatments, styling sprays, and lotions. They then turned to the UK-based studio Lyon and Lyon to design the branding and packaging for their new hair brand.
Lyon & Lyon started with the brand name “Sitch,” which is short for “Situation” (and not the MTV GTL Situation, either). The name Sitch strongly references the brand’s mission of providing hassle-free care for all hair crises and circumstances.
What immediately stands out are the shapes of Sitch’s bottles. Lyon and Lyon considered salon and bathroom shelves when designing Sitch’s packaging system. One side of each bottle is entirely flat, allowing it to rest more efficiently against a wall. The other side of the bottles is curved, and the tessellation means the bottles can stand against each other, adding more practical utility to the entire system. Plus, if you buy all 9 SKUs, you can build yourself a little haircare city, and that’s pretty darn fun.
Sitch’s bottles are also designed for reuse, and the brand sells refill pouches. The interconnected, efficient, and visually exciting bottle design encourages consumers to buy into Sitch’s refill system.
“Honestly, the desire to make the primary packaging something exceptional came from the client,” said Mat Lyon, creative director and co-founder of Lyon and Lyon. “We did talk about white label bottles and getting off-the-shelf vessels, but ultimately, Sitch wanted something unique and bespoke. We started with the idea of the packaging being like a beacon in the bathroom, and the design evolved from there. But the seed was always that the packaging must be special.”
Sitch’s bottles are made from Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastic, while the refill pouches are made from recyclable polyethylene. The outer bands are made from flute cards, which are foil-free and fully recyclable.
“I was originally looking at wheat straw plastic for the unit itself. But we dropped the idea because the client thought it felt it could be like greenwashing,” said Ben Lyon, CEO and co-founder of Lyon and Lyon. “We designed the refillable system and focused on the primary vessel that stands out. If you’re going to keep this thing as a refillable vessel, it has to be something that has longevity.”
Despite moving away from plastic made from wheat straw, Lyon and Lyon gave the PCR-based bottles a neutral and speckled finish. The minimal, almost naked style, reminiscent of ceramic materials, speaks to the purity of Sitch’s formulations and looks great in a bathroom or salon.
The bottles also feature embossed areas both for labels and to complement the organic finish of the bottle materials. The bespoke and tessellated design of the bottles also added some complications. According to Mat and Ben Lyon, every change to one bottle required changes to related packaging, while the embossing complicated volumetric calculations.
Contrasting and complimenting Sitch’s unique packaging are the minimally chic wordmark and gradient colors. The gradients, presented in circular and squarish shapes, add dashes of color and represent each formula’s different effects and hair types.
If everything seems to be working in harmony with one another, that’s part of the studio’s magic. But it’s also because brothers Mat and Ben are so perfectly aligned with what a project demands. Of course, siblings go into business together all the time, but Lyon and Lyon’s founders, Mat and Ben, are also twins, and the duo sees their strong fraternal connection as an asset.
“Working together, we have ultimate trust, 100% trust,” Ben says. “We have the same vision for the business and a similar aesthetic and feel for our work. But I think the other side is we can be brutally honest with each other. We can talk to each other like brothers, but when a whole team of staff is in the room, and we’re swearing at each other, it can be awkward for them but normal for us. We’re super nice to everyone else, but we’re like doing it; that can be quite tricky.”
However, Ben adds that he and Mat needed a more precise delineation of leadership roles at their studio. Mat took the role of creative director, while Ben was the business’s CEO. Ben says that while the two align 90%, defining their separate roles gives their team more precise direction and which brother to go to on a particular question.
Still, while they have siloed themselves into their titles, it’s not as if they aren’t simpatico.
“One day, we were being taught how to use the Rhino 3D design package,” Mat says. “It’s like having a piece of clay where you pull nodes out and make any shape you want. So we’re playing around with this tool, and I’m on one side of the class, and Ben’s on the other. We’re both looking at computer screens and can’t see what the other is doing. The tutor is walking around the class, and he says, ‘holy shit, you’ve you’ve done the same thing!’ There are things like that, which are kind of uncanny.”
Ambitious design, however, is what the duo specializes in, and Sitch was no exception. Lyon and Lyon were tasked with creating a unique packaging system that was functional and attractive, but they also had to incorporate sustainable elements into the brand’s design. By opting for PCR and a refillable system—a significant improvement over packaging typical in the hair care industry—they prove that beautiful design can work hand in hand with a more eco-friendly approach.
