Elastoplast

The beauty of old packaging tins is they can last for decades and serve many uses, which surely outweighs the extra cost of manufacturing. Here are a couple of vintage Elastoplast tins from one of our cupboards which have served a number of uses during their 50 and 80 year lifespan. I suppose like all good children of the 1960s I assumed this was yet another British invention but Elstoplast was developed by the German firm Beiersdorf (who still own it) in the late 1800s with Smith & Nephew acquiring the British license in 1928.
Needless to say the packaging has changed a lot over the years and these two examples date from the 1930s and the 1960s. The metal was phased out a long time ago and the plasters now retail in plastic cartons. The red colour scheme often suggests emergency which may be why they chose it for a first aid product.

I’d not seen the rather neat early Elastoplast logo before and this was retained by the American producers for many years after it had been dropped in Europe, seen on the 1960s blue and white packaging above.

images also available on the growing easy on the eye photo library

for lots more vintage packaging see the easy on the eye packaging page.