Water: Cool, refreshing, important … and really, extremely harmful. The rain that falls from the sky nurtures crops, keeps rivers streaming, and shreds paper to pulp and hurts labels.
Water can be an item label’s archnemesis. But the devastating power of moisture can be defeated. Similar to you put on a raincoat when the clouds are threatening, you can take measures to protect your product labels from the harshest of aspects.
Water-resistant stickers are growing in popularity as brands seek options for maintaining their identities, the attractiveness of their product packaging, and the integrity of the information on their labels throughout altering conditions.
Who Needs Waterproof Stickers?
Since water is everywhere, waterproof and water-resistant item labels have a wide range of applications. Here are a few of the many scenarios that call for waterproofing:
Food and Beverage Packaging
Imagine coming down into your damp cellar to recover a treasured bottle of pinot noir, only to discover a peeling, mangled label. Or, think of how unpleasant it is to pick little bits of soaked label off a craft beer bottle.
Food and beverage makers understand the outside look of their items is just as crucial to their brand identities as what’s inside the product packaging. Water-damaged labels communicate a shoddy, low-quality image most brand names would rather prevent.
Health and Appeal Products
Your restroom is the wettest place in your home. Steam and water integrate to ruin the labels of hair products, body soap, skin creams, fragrance, and other health and beauty products.
Consumers choose health and beauty brand names that make them feel good and look good. Peeling labels and runny ink betray that guarantee. Waterproofing is a should in this industry.
Outside Equipment
Rain, snow, hail, sleet, ice– outside devices should endure a non-stop barrage of precipitation (not to mention direct sunlight and extreme temperature level modifications). And outside devices labels have vital tasks to do, from keeping people safe on building and construction websites to making children’s toys come to life. They can’t let a little water get in the way.
Bumper Stickers and Outdoor Marketing
Have you ever seen an automobile bumper promoting a political candidate from 3 elections ago or a concert tour from the last decade? Someone decided to purchase waterproof stickers years ago, and those sticker labels have been making impressions ever since.
What Makes a Label Waterproof?
The building and construction of a water-resistant sticker begin with the label material or face stock. We’ve all seen how easily damp paper weakens. This is because water liquifies the hydrogen bonds that hold the wood fibers in the paper together.
Artificial products such as polyethylene and polypropylene fend off water and are more long-lasting than paper, making them good options for wet, abrasive environments.
Vinyl is also waterproof and is “multidimensionally stable,” meaning it can stretch in several directions and return to its initial shape without distortion. Vinyl is an excellent material to use for outdoor applications.
When it comes to ink, it’s crucial to pick oil-based options, as water-based ink will leak and smear when exposed to wetness. A protective varnish– or even a clear movie laminate– can provide an additional layer of security between a printed image and the environment.
The third factor in the waterproofing formula is adhesive. Various types of adhesives react in a different way to various surface areas and face stocks. An adhesive that works well with permeable wood and paper might work badly with non-porous glass and polypropylene.
The right adhesive for your product label will boil down to the intricate interplay between your product’s surface, the label product, and the environment (consisting of elements such as wetness and heat). A specialist label printer will be familiar with the properties of all these elements and assist you to pick the adhesive that satisfies your efficiency requirements.
How to Choose a Waterproof Sticker
The best tool for safeguarding your item label from water, sunshine, heat, or anything else the world may toss at it is not any specific material, ink, or adhesive. It’s knowledge, particularly, the knowledge only a knowledgeable label printer can supply.
Speak to your label printer about the environment your label will experience. If your printer knows their things, they will assist you through your options and assist you to make the ideal options for a label that can not only withstand a deluge but look excellent doing it.
