Rethinking Hydration: How a Hop-Based Drink Is Pushing Boundaries in Sustainability

Active Hop is launching ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages for active, outdoor-loving consumers, with a strong commitment to sustainability, natural ingredients, and a premium experience. They approached Agilery with the goal of launching their product in a unique, sustainable packaging format: reusable and refillable aluminium bottles.

- The challenge -

When Sustainability is at The Heart of The Concept

Everything started when experienced brand manager from the moto industry, Cristian Barelli found a gap in the market. The active outdoor consumers have very close to sustainability, yet there’s no product that would offer sustainable performance solution. Cristian tried to bridge that gap by launching ActiveHop.

Entirely focused on welness and performance, the ActiveHop range is characterized by its clean label. The drinks are made with natural ingredients , are sugar-free, calorie-free , and colorant- free, lactose-free , and vegan. The choice of the 470ml aluminum bottle with screw cap meets specific criteria of practicality, lightness , and protection. As aluminum is also an infinitely recyclable material.

Realizing that custom packaging might bring extra complexity during production, Cristian turned to Agilery to explore possible synergies in our partner network. 

- The solution -

Launching ActiveHop - From Bottlenecks to Bottles

Turning ActiveHop’s vision into reality was far from straightforward. Producing just 10,000 bottles across three SKUs was a major hurdle. Most aluminum packaging suppliers require much higher minimum orders than 3000 units. The client had already identified a promising bottle producer, but got no response. Agilery stepped in to re-engage the producer, securing a commitment for the first production run despite the small volume request and high level of customization.

Once production was underway, slow communication between the producer and suppliers caused additional delays. Our project managers became the glue that held everything together — coordinating across all partners, setting clear timelines, and keeping progress on track through persistent follow-up and proactive orchestration.

Then an unexpected obstacle: Austrian customs blocked a shipment due to the product’s hop content. Since hops are the core ingredient, this posed a serious risk to the launch. Agilery directly engaged with the customs, clarified product's classification and successfully cleared the shipment — preventing significant delays.

Another challenge involved sourcing large volumes of maltose at a competitive cost and consistent quality. Our team quickly identified and secured an alternative supplier, meeting all requirements without inflating the project’s budget.

The result is more than just a successful product launch; it’s the birth of a new category in functional drinks, fusing functional performance with true environmental responsibility. As Cristian Barelli says, "It was good experience, all was smooth and easy, full service with a lot of experience and kindness. Agilery is a young team with proactivity and knowledge."

 

- Success factors -