Albéa Tubes is celebrating its 70th anniversary!

For Albéa Tubes, which today employs nearly 5,000 people across 22 factories in 13 countries, the year 2026 marks a milestone. The history of Albéa’s cosmetic tubes began seventy years ago, in 1956, in Vienne-le-Château with the founding of Tuboplast. From the very beginning, this industrial venture has been at the heart of an iconic sector: cosmetics. Very early on, it partnered with historic brands such as L’Oréal and Yves Rocher, which remain among the Group’s key partners today. “Seventy years later, our customers remain deeply committed to this French industrial expertise and to the tube format,” explains Barbara de Saint-Aubin, CEO of Albéa Tubes, “serving a cosmetics industry that remains one of the key symbols of France’s excellence and appeal around the world.”
It’s worth noting that in 2014, the Group reinvested in a plant in Sainte-Menehould, located in a rural revitalization zone. A true industrial gamble at the time, it helped preserve jobs, maintain unique expertise, and demonstrate the Group’s social responsibility in the region. Here’s why…

The best evidence today of this “Tube” momentum at Albéa comes from the latest product launches, which demonstrate the Group’s ability to support its customers in their transition to more sustainable packaging. “Our collaboration with Naos on Bioderma’s iconic Créaline and Sensibio lines,” emphasizes Barbara de Saint-Aubin, “is a good example. Naos chose our new generation of EcoSlim Top, a solution that perfectly illustrates our ambition: to design simpler, lighter, and more sustainable tubes without compromising on usability. Specifically, we combined the head and cap into a flip-top design with a 180° opening, while pairing it with a Thin-Wall skirt. The result is significant: up to a 40% reduction in weight compared to their 2023 packaging with a conventional cap, and 25% compared to their current line featuring the Slight Cap and Thin-Wall skirt.
Another example is our collaboration with L’Occitane, for which we developed an innovative refill solution called Fill-Up. Made from single-material PE and equipped with an EcoTop cap, this tube was designed as an alternative to traditional refill pouches. Thanks to integrated tear lines, it can be easily opened for refilling, while maintaining the visual identity of the original bottle and remaining compatible with existing tube-filling equipment. Last June, this packaging won the Sustainability Award from the ETMA (European Tube Manufacturers Association). It’s worth noting that we have also expanded our range of applicators and are currently working on a recyclable version of hair color tubes for release by the end of the year.”

“Ecotop,” a key role in strengthening market share

The year 2025, during which revenue will reach 711 million euros, will not have been an easy one for the company, particularly in the beauty sector, which was heavily impacted by destocking. “But we have shown resilience,” explains Barbara de Saint-Aubin. “We were able to rely on the strong momentum in healthcare and oral care. These two markets allowed us to continue growing in value, particularly thanks to the shift toward premium products in oral care. At the same time, we succeeded in improving our product mix. Thanks to our sustainable innovations—and in particular, our ‘Ecotop’ technology.” We offer high-value-added packaging that meets brands’ new requirements for performance and eco-design”. “Ecotop” tubes, whose head and cap are fused into a single component, significantly reduce plastic use while ensuring full recyclability. This innovation has played a key role in strengthening Albéa Tubes’ market share in the beauty sector.

Despite this crisis, the Group has maintained its investments to prepare for the recovery and support the evolving needs of the market.
“Our strategy is based on two complementary pillars,” explains Barbara de Saint-Aubin. “On the one hand, high-speed production lines dedicated to high-volume products (“high runners”); on the other hand, more flexible lines for high-value-added tubes, such as applicators or small production runs. This setup enables our customers to accelerate and increase the number of their product launches. We are rolling out this strategy globally—in Europe, the United States, and Asia (India and China). Our high-throughput lines offer an additional advantage: they can produce both standard tubes and Ecotop tubes. Our customers can easily switch from one format to another on the same production line without compromising throughput, using existing, secured capacity”.

The Group has also invested heavily in data with a twofold objective: to meet compliance requirements, particularly the CSRD, and to better manage its internal performance. These investments are intended to ensure the reliability of its data, improve transparency with its stakeholders, and strengthen its reporting capabilities in light of upcoming regulatory and business challenges. It should be noted that, at the same time, the Group is expanding its use of artificial intelligence to increase efficiency in certain key processes—particularly in regulatory affairs—by streamlining the analysis, processing, and dissemination of information.
“And encouragingly,” notes Barbara de Saint-Aubin, “we’re seeing positive signs in the beauty market: promotional activities are resuming, product launches are picking up again, and the rise in requests for samples confirms a more positive momentum. This is a good indicator of a rebound and gives us confidence for the future.”

Crisis and Opportunity

On the “crisis” front, the situation in the Middle East has nonetheless sent shockwaves through the Group in recent months regarding the plastics market, particularly PE and PP. “But we reacted very quickly,” emphasizes Barbara de Saint-Aubin, “by securing our supply chain, with a clear priority: ensuring continuity and avoiding any shortages for our customers.”

“This tension naturally had an impact on prices. In this context, our approach was also proactive: we worked transparently with our customers to jointly manage the impacts and maintain production continuity. As for the increase in U.S. tariffs, they represent an opportunity for us because we already have a solid industrial footprint in the region, with production capacity in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. In this context, brands are seeking to bring their production closer to their markets. Our local presence therefore allows us to support them in this relocation, while offering them a broad and distinctive product range: agile production lines for complex tubes, solutions tailored to small production runs, and high-end finishes. It is in situations like this that the value of our geographic presence truly comes into its own.”

On the topic of “opportunity”—sustainable packaging is emerging as a key area for innovation and differentiation: “We’ve been working on these issues for over 20 years,” emphasizes Barbara de Saint-Aubin, “and that gives us a real head start today in supporting our customers through their environmental transition. We can take action on several complementary fronts: designing recyclable tubes, reducing the amount of plastic used by making our products lighter, incorporating post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic, and helping our customers better measure the impact of their packaging choices. This expertise is all the more important given that brands must now manage their indirect emissions related to activities across the entire value chain—known as Scope 3 emissions—with greater precision and transparency.”

The Group’s 2025 results confirm this ability to take action: it has already reduced its Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 55% compared to 2019, exceeding its initial target. And with the new roadmap validated by the SBTi in late 2025, which covers Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, Albéa Tubes now has the experience and tools necessary to support its customers and partners in their own decarbonization efforts.