I’ve been getting a lot of packages this month (’tis the season for wild e-commerce consumption after all), and as the boxes roll in, I’ve become more sensitive (alright, irritated) at the next-level amount of packing materials stuffed inside every corrugated box. There were starwheel-shaped foam packing peanuts inside a package from SOUTH KOREA, long scrunched-up skeins of stiff brown paper that unfurled out of boxes like some jurassic form of sea kelp, bubble wrap of every conceivable bubble diameter, smooth packing paper the color of dried cement, folded tissue slapped with stickers, air pouches (some punctured and wilted in the box, others, still puffed up, sailing around the box like flotillas on a mission to nowhere)—I could go on. Can I recycle this? Can I reuse this? Send it to the pyre at BURNING MAN? It’s trash long before it got to me. And it feels like too much. I’m still thinking about THE ATLANTIC's conversation with the editor of PACKAGING DIGEST on how packaging continues to evolve. The reasons for packaging's purpose and design are myriad: durability, branding, beauty. MODA OPERANDI offers shoppers a choice between eco-friendly packing and signature boxes—both good options—while NET-A-PORTER offers signature or "basic" options. I love packaging when there is thought and intention behind it. But for an urban dweller like myself, who also happens to live within a close radius of large fulfillment capitals (here’s looking at you, several cities in NEW JERSEY), I don’t need the package to be secured as if it were being shot out of a cannon from the GARDEN STATE to my doorstep. I would love some further thought and care put into retail delivery. in the age of e-commerce, receiving packages originally designed to beckon shoppers turning the corner for a long walk down aisle 32 doesn’t feel relevant. Beauty packaging? Don’t get me wrong, I love brands like TATCHA for their packaging design. But more often my concern for earth’s destruction has me willing to sacrifice that part of the experience. Give me an AR barcode to scan for ingredients. Unless the box is something I'll hold on to (like the PAULOWNIA wood boxes Tatcha sends gift sets in), forget the outside carton. I enjoy the design of hangtags when they’re intentional, but plastic fasteners can go to the depths of some religion’s hell. In retail's move toward customization and optimization, why not have a whole list of options for deliveries that don’t require packing like they're being dropped off the top of a ten-story building? I envision a world where my orders are packed elegantly and efficiently, fitted together like blocks in a JENGA box. Yes, there are practical limitations. Delivery networks are overlaid on pre-existing infrastructure. Those are opportunities. Maybe next holiday season... In brief: Here are the guest designers showing at PARIS MEN'S FASHION WEEK... Denim brands talk life after WHITE OAK... PTA swag.