How-to · Nº 08
How to choose a label material
There is no universally best label — choose across five dimensions: environment (indoor/outdoor, temperature, chemicals, UV), substrate (surface energy, curvature, texture), product life (years, plus any wash/freeze cycles), print & readability (method, barcodes), and compliance (food-contact, medical, hazardous). The hardest stack — low-surface-energy plastic + outdoor UV + freezing — needs dedicated testing.
There is no best label material, only a best match, and the mistake is treating the match as a single decision. A material that is perfect on a shelf can fail in a freezer; one built for a chemical drum is wasted money on a gift box. The steps below walk the dimensions that decide it — environment, substrate, product life, printing and compliance — and the section after them covers the harder case, where two of those pull against each other and cancel the easy answers.
Step by step
- 01
Environment
Indoor or outdoor? Map the temperature range, chemical exposure, UV and humidity the label will actually see.
- 02
Substrate
What surface? Its surface energy (dyne level), curvature, texture, any coating or powder, and its temperature at the moment of application.
- 03
Product life
How many years must the label survive — and does it face wash, steam or freeze cycles along the way?
- 04
Print & readability
Which print method, how much image detail, and must any barcodes pass verification?
- 05
Compliance
Food contact (FDA / EU), medical sterilisation, hazardous chemicals (GHS), or aerospace/military specs — confirm what applies before choosing.
The stacked cases that defeat a spec sheet
The hardest job in labelling is a low-surface-energy plastic that is also outdoors under UV and frozen — an HDPE pail of something that ships cold and then sits in the sun. Each of those constraints has a clean answer on its own; stacked, they cancel each other’s easy fixes, and the material that survives one fails the next. That is the point where a spec sheet stops helping and a sample on the real container, in the real conditions, takes over. When two or more hard constraints land on the same label, test before you commit a run — recycled or unknown resin can behave differently from one batch to the next.
Good to know
- →Low-surface-energy plastic + outdoor UV + freezing is the hardest combination — always test it on the real container.
- →Match the adhesive to the surface and temperature, not just the facestock — the adhesive is what most often decides whether a label holds.
- →When unsure, request a free sample and test it in your own conditions before committing to a run.
Common questions
What is the best label material?
There is no single best — the right material depends on five things: the environment, the substrate, the product life, the print method, and any compliance requirement. Pick against those, not by reputation.
What is the hardest labelling situation?
A low-surface-energy plastic (like HDPE or polypropylene) that is also outdoors under UV and frozen. That stack defeats standard materials and needs dedicated testing.
Not sure it'll hold?
Tell us your surface and job and we’ll spec the right material and adhesive — and ship a free sample to test.