Freezable Friends Lunch Bags — Roland Ecarma Industrial Designer

FREEZABLE FRIENDS: DOG & UNICORN

SOFT-GOODS DESIGN • CHARACTER DESIGN • FACTORY DEVELOPMENT

Two character-driven freezable lunch bags designed to make a fridge-cold lunch something a kid actually wants to carry. Lunchtime is a social time for kids, a chance to recharge and connect with friends, so these bags are built to be part of that: fun enough to share and talk about at the table. My work covered the full process: trend research, material exploration, tech packs, and standing up a new factory to build them.

DISCIPLINES

Soft-goods design / Color, Material & Finish / 3D-printed prototyping / Overseas factory management

RESEARCH

PHASE 01

MARKET & TREND CONTEXT

Designing for the school-lunch generation

Gen Alpha shoppers, and the parents buying for them, respond to lunch gear with personality. Trend research pointed toward character-led silhouettes, huggable trims and pieces kids form an attachment to, not just carry. Freezable Friends translates PackIt's freezer-gel cooling tech into several characters built around that insight.

Portability and customization are top priorities for kids’ lunch products, with demand for bento boxes and stackable containers.

Lunch is seen as a social moment that fosters connection, sharing, and self-expression.

Licensing and cute designs, are drivers leading to opportunities for character collaborations and playful graphics that boost emotional engagement and attachment.

COMPANY:

CATEGORY:

PackIt

Kids Character Lunch Bags

Product Designer, Trim & Detail Developer

ROLE:

CONCEPT & SILHOUETTE

PHASE 02

COLOR, MATERIAL & FINISH

Each bag starts from PackIt's standard and patented gel technology. The character comes entirely from what's built on top of it: dimensional ears, a sculpted brow, and a face laid out so every seam reads as an expression rather than a printed graphic. A large part of the development involved material and trim selection.

DOG MATERIAL STUDIES - Part of the development for each character was selecting materials were playful and cute. These studies helped push the boundaries of what PackIt normally does for bag development.

UNICORN MATERIAL STUDIES - Similarly to the development of the Dog freezable friends, the Unicorn used materials that emphasized more girl oriented colors and finishes. In particular, the use of glitter spray for the body material.

TECH PACKS

PHASE 03

TECHNICAL DRAWINGS / FACTORY COMMENTS

Learn more

WHERE THE PERSONALITY LIVES

PHASE 04

TRIM & DETAIL DEVELOPMENT

This is the part that turns a lunch bag into a friend. Every trim choice below went through its own materials and construction review before it earned a spot on the bag. Multiple revisions improved details like the Dog’s floppy ears and bone ID holder, or Unicorn’s gold plush horn and layered mane.

FIRST SAMPLES - Initial samples were made to spec per the tech packs. Most materials were digitally printed instead of lab dipping early in the development process. Hardware and trim selections were also tentative as better alternatives were used or factory recommended materials to pass safety testing.

FINALIZING TRIM - The final sets of samples perfected Freezable Friends Dog trim package and fit & finish. Screen printing was redrawn to emphasize design details like the tip of the tail. Details like the front pocket using a gray liner instead of the PackIt blue as an indication of a “not a fridge cold” section.

FIRST SAMPLES - Freezable Friends Unicorn used a significant amount of PU trim. A lot of attention was paid to color and finish. An unexpected issue was the PU trim needing to be flexible enough not to crack in the freezer or when used.

FINALIZING TRIM - The most recognizable feature of Freezable Friends Unicorn was the golden horn and layered mane. Special attention to detail was making sure the PU plush pieces were repeatable during production and making sure during packaging the PU pieces weren’t damaged in the case packs.