Business Growth, Collaborations and Sustainability Progress: Schades Group Reflects on Successful Year

From acquisitions that strengthen our product offering, to new collaborations and progressing our sustainability agenda, 2025 has been a productive and successful year for Schades Group.

As we approach the end of the year, our CEO Jun Park reflects on some of the important milestones that we have achieved this year and what this means for Schades Group moving forward into 2026.

This year marked the first full year of Hamilton being a part of Schades Group. The successful acquisition has supported the continued growth of our label business through investment.

Based in the UK, Hamilton has over 33 years of experience working with brands across the UK and Europe, including some of the largest household brands. Renowned for its high-quality printing and general label solutions, the full integration of Hamilton within Schades Group this year strengthens our product offering and enables us to reach new markets. This includes labels for food packaging and industrial.

Since the acquisition, Schades has invested further in other plants within the group to strengthen its competitiveness and expand its sales and manufacturing capabilities. The integration of the business marks a key milestone in the implementation of Schades Group’s Transformation Strategy to drive sustainable growth.

In 2025, we have undertaken various activities to improve our position as a market leader in the POS rolls and labels industry. We are an existing member of the European Converted Paper Association (ECPA), where we actively promote paper receipts, leaning on our 100+ years of industry experience.

A major step forwards this year was our collaboration with Two Sides, the print and paper advocacy group dedicated to promoting the unique sustainable and attractive attributes of print, paper, and paper packaging.

Our membership with Two Sides enables us to further develop our commitment to sustainability. Schades Group emphasises sustainability by offering FSC Certified products, pioneering Phenol Free paper, and rigorously reducing our carbon footprint.

This partnership has enabled us to better balance present needs with the requirements of future generations, promoting resilience, innovation, and competitiveness while safeguarding the planet’s biodiversity and ecological balance.

Furthering our commitment to sustainability, we have made significant progress on various compliance agendas in 2025.

The Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) has been our primary focus, which rules to guarantee that the products EU citizens consume do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation worldwide.

Schades Group has partnered with Osapiens to ensure full compliance with the EUDR. Using their integrated tools for transparency and reporting, we aim to drive sustainable growth and streamline compliance processes.

We have also responded to the growing need for sustainability by making strides towards bringing down greenhouse gas emissions and preventing biodiversity loss. We adhere to the stringent criteria of ISO 14001 environmental system certification standards, demonstrating our comprehensive dedication to sustainability, and are actively reducing our carbon footprint.

These efforts mean that when the EUDR comes into effect, Schades Group will be fully prepared, and our focus can shift to other key sustainability priorities. full picture.

Greenwashing doesn’t just mislead consumers — it undermines a responsible, job-creating industry that employs over a million To support the continued growth of Schades Group after a successful 2024, this year we welcomed a series of new team members across our companies.

At the start of the year, Schades Group welcomed two new strategic appointments to the Harbour Investment GmbH management team. Michael Feuerstack joined the business as Head of Linerless and Labels, and Younghoon Seo stepped into the position of Chief Strategy Officer.

Bringing over 20 years of industry experience, Michael is responsible for labels production at Schades Group, with a focus on the strategic growth of Schades’ market position in the linerless and wider labels sector.

Younghoon has a wealth of knowledge from different industries, including the paper industry in Korea. He is responsible for overseeing the future merger and acquisition activities for Harbour Investment and Schades Group, and the overall transformation and strengthening of the group.

Pawel Pokrzywinski was appointed as Group Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in April, bringing extensive experience from the paper industry having held similar positions at Mitsubishi HiTec Paper Europe GmbH. He is also responsible for managing the Polish subsidiary Omeko Papier as Managing Director.

Among other new starters, Michael, Younghoon and Pawel continue to strengthen our offering and expansion as we head into 2026.

Reflecting on our progress in 2025, CEO Jun Park commented: “These critical initiatives are directly related to the group’s continued growth, securing differentiated competitiveness, and fulfilling our social responsibility. This year, we have achieved positive results thanks to the teamwork and execution of all members within the group in each area.”

These major milestones have strengthened Schades Group as a business, cemented our industry leadership, and showcased our responsibility to the world around us in 2025.

We thank our team and stakeholders for their ongoing support and look forward to continuing to grow and work together in 2026.

To find out more about our sustainability commitment, visit: https://schades.com/about/sustainability/.