What is a pressure sensitive label?
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It&#;s one of the most common label solutions in the consumer marketplace, accounting for 77% of U.S. demand. And once you know what they look like, you&#;ll spot them on almost every shelf in any major retailer.
The transparent label that lets you peek into your go-to household window cleaner? That&#;s a pressure sensitive label. Your favorite wine&#;s rich, textured label artwork? That&#;s one, too. Glossy paint can labels that show the exact color you&#;ve envisioned for your kitchen? Yep, pressure sensitive labels.
The pressure sensitive label&#;s broad compatibility with almost any container makes it ubiquitous across multiple market verticals, and its wide-ranging customizability &#; from embellishments to unique shapes and sizes &#; means endless design and branding opportunities for you.
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With the right strategic printing partner, pressure sensitive labels can suit almost any marketplace product and price point. You&#;ll find them on foods, wine and spirits, household and consumer products, beverages, cannabis, chemicals, nutraceuticals, beauty and personal care, and even durable industrial applications.
If you have a highly contoured container or packaging that must be squeezed by consumers, pressure sensitive labels are likely to wrinkle or bubble. The resulting appearance undermines your brand&#;s authority. In these cases, consider a 360-degree solution like shrink sleeves, whose flexible form can fit any function.
Sometimes people mischaracterize pressure sensitive labels as &#;stickers&#; &#; a term that makes many of us who specialize in labeling and packaging shudder. But the misnomer is understandable.
It&#;s true that these self-adhering labels peel and stick. They require pressure to form a bond to your container through application by hand or a machine labeling system. For your brand, this means skipping any extra steps that may involve heat, water or solvents to fully adhere your label to the container.
It sounds simple enough in theory, and oftentimes it is that simple. But label application must still be done correctly and with the appropriate equipment to avoid common problems like flagging, bulging and tearing.
Determining label roll direction
Pressure sensitive labels come in rolls. For hand application, roll direction is irrelevant. But machine application requires a compatible roll direction to ensure your labels present &#;right side up.&#; To understand your machine&#;s exact needs, work with an experienced label partner who can guide you through this process.
Related reading: Gain a better understanding of rewind direction, labels and rolls in this piece.
Every big-name label provider can print your label to spec. Most can meet your budget. And they all promise quality. But with Resource Label Group, you get more than just a printer &#; you get a partner.
Four primary elements constitute a pressure sensitive label:
For the label itself, choose from film, foil, paper or premium facestocks &#; all capable of hosting many types of inks. Resource Label Group can meet every expectation in a four-color process through flexographic, digital offset and hybrid printing.
Related reading: What&#;s new in product label materials?
When Taste of Nature needed 6,000 last-minute film pressure sensitive labels, we delivered a flawless product within a tight budget and timeline.
Friendly, fair and fast pressure sensitive labels
When labels detach from their containers, you&#;ve got a serious problem on your hands. While most pressure sensitive labels use either acrylic or rubber-based adhesives, there&#;s no universal solution that works for everyone.
The right formulation for you depends on your label facestock, container material, container shape and goals, from brand marketing to cost efficiency or others. For example, if you want to incorporate recycling efforts into packaging and labeling, eco-friendly solventless adhesives work well when paired with paper labels on glass bottles.
But to reach a conclusion like that and safeguard against unhappy customers, your label provider should at least be asking the following questions:
Brand owners often misattribute adhesion failures to the label when the problem is the container. That&#;s where a packaging and labeling expert can help. You can learn more about troubleshooting label adhesive issues here.
Brands receive pressure sensitive labels on a roll, and release liners constitute the backing paper of the roll itself. A coating prevents a bond between the adhesive and the liner, which allows the label to easily peel away during application. Since consumers never see or touch these carrier sheets, they&#;re easy to overlook. But successful application hinges on label liner performance. Breakage, dust and other liner problems can create a domino effect that hurts production line efficiency and your label&#;s final look.
Liner materials vary from traditional paper to polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The latter can offer big advantages to brands seeking supply chain stability amid market volatility or shifting labor conditions. If sustainability is central to your brand, you can also opt for organic, biobased materials that eventually break down into healthy soil instead of collecting in a landfill.
The topcoat is the final step of the label engineering process. Specialty finishes aren&#;t always necessary, but they can accentuate your labels for enhanced shelf appeal and protect them from environmental hazards like moisture, sunlight, temperature variations and chemicals.
Appearance-wise, options range from high gloss to matte. The first delivers a bright, durable finish with eye-catching reflectivity. For example, high-gloss varnishes can make black inks appear even deeper. Matte finishes mute and soften your label design &#; a common technique for premium or luxury products. Semi-gloss is an excellent compromise between both goals. Brands also turn to tactile varnishes for finishes customers can see and feel.
Related reading: How to use label varnishes to create a packaging experience that sells.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Pressure Sensitive Paper.
As attention spans shrink, the demand for effective visual communication goes up. Pressure sensitive labels offer near-limitless options to do just that. Done right, your product will sell.
You can pick from a range of materials, coatings, size, shape and finishes to bring your label to life exactly as envisioned. Whether that means building depth, texture and shine, incorporating custom images, utilizing metallic inks or developing a label concept you haven&#;t even imagined yet, a collaborative, one-on-one consultation is the best way to explore your many options.
And by working with a skilled label partner who provides embellished label samples, you can see how your graphics and finishes will look and feel once printed.
How collaborating on modern designs with striking embellishment built a best-selling wine label.
Read the Pelee Island Winery case study
If you have multiple products within one brand family, pressure sensitive labels allow you to carry that design across multiple SKUs and ensure their production in a single print run. When you work with a skilled label provider, you get a partner who can help you elevate your design and kick it up a notch with custom production technologies.
Related reading: 10 simple ways to enhance your product label.
With Resource Label Group, you get more than just a competitive bid. Your dedicated team works with you to understand your long-term goals, reduce risk and leverage your label spend to optimize your budget.
The most cost-efficient labels vary depending on your brand and goals. To ensure you get the best possible label for your budget, you need to partner with the right label supplier. They&#;ll walk you through decisions like:
And if the hidden expenses of supply chain volatility keep you up at night, working early with your label provider is the best way to secure as many options are possible and optimize your budget.
Related reading: Why pressure sensitive labels may be the most cost-efficient option for craft breweries.
Your customized label options are practically limitless, making them a near-perfect solution for brands with compatible products and containers. When you partner early with a label provider committed to understanding your goals, you&#;ll find a perfect-fit label.
Are you ready to collaborate on building a label that will help you stand out and drive sales?
The pressure sensitive labels that you see on the products and cartons you use everyday may appear to be a simple device, but there is more to that label than meets the eye. Pressure sensitive labels are actually made of several layers of specialized materials sandwiched together to create a label that looks good, identifies something, and lasts as long as it is needed.
So what goes into making a label? Several materials, each with their own characteristics, make that label work the way it needs to. Starting from the bottom, the components are the Liner, Release Coat, Adhesive, Face Stock, and Top Coat.
Liner &#; The liner is a critical component of any pressure sensitive label. The liner is the backing paper that carries the die-cut labels to the applicator and releases the adhesive-backed label onto the product. The liner supports the label through manufacturing and use, protects the adhesive until the label is applied, and provides appropriate label application, either by automatic or mechanical means.
Liners come in different types to meet specific performance criteria. Typical performance and quality characteristics include strength, smoothness, density, release level, and stability. Liners are made of paper or film.
Release Coat &#; The release coat is a coating applied to the top surface of the liner. The release coat is designed to resist the adhesive so that the face stock and adhesive peel away from the liner smoothly.
Adhesive &#; Pressure sensitive labels stick to a surface with light or moderate pressure from a label applicator. The amount of pressure needed, the permanence of the label, and the surface the label adheres to is determined by the adhesive. Some factors to consider when selecting an adhesive include:
Face Stock &#; This is the paper that is used for making self-adhesive labels. It is the top or &#;face&#; of the material from which labels are made. Face stock materials include plastic films, foils, fabrics and laminates.
Top Coat &#; This is the coating or lamination applied over the face stock to provide physical protection from abrasion or to enhance some other property of the label. Top coats can be used to improve adhesion or legibility of secondary imprints, typically used for date or lot coding. Special UV sensitive varnishes or films can also be used, depending on the application.
Label manufacturing, know as label converting, is a process consisting of multiple steps that include unwinding, printing, laminating, die-cutting, slitting, and rewinding.
For more information, read our Guide to Pressure Sensitive Labeling, a white paper that gives you an in-depth description of label manufacturing and application.
Of course, you&#;ll need the best in labels to use on your new labeling equipment. With seven label manufacturing plants across North America, ID Technology is perfectly placed to provide your printed labels (flexo or digital)as well as blank labels for your logistics and distribution.
And for labeling equipment, check out our new MFlex line of simple but sophisticated labeling systems.
Creating a label is no easy task, and there are a lots of factors to consider. If you need labels that will perform effectively for the life of the product, talk to us. We are the experts in label converting and label applications. Our converting facilities can manufacture any type of label you might need, or we can help you create a custom label for a demanding application. Do you need to improve your labeling operations? ID Technology can help. Call us toll free at 888-438-. We&#;ll get you in touch with a labeling specialists in your area!
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Beer and Beverage Labels Paper. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.