Integral part of the alcohol market

I believe that it is to the whisky and brandy distillers of Europe that we in the self-adhesive label industry should drink a long toast. They were one of the key early market sectors to realise the potential of our labelling technology - and to adopt it. I think you will
agree with me that there is nothing like a full-on, solid gold foil label, heavily embossed and featuring a truly complex, ornate shape, for promoting the extraordinary capabilities of self-adhesive labelling.

In fact, along with pharmaceuticals, whisky and brandy labelling genuinely led the way, back in the 1970s, in kick-starting our industry's advance into the major beverage market segments. Today, as well as prime whiskies and Cognacs, self-adhesive labels also adorn bottles of white spirits and an enormous selection of wines - both cherished vintages and supermarket brands.

Self-adhesive label production

The self-adhesive label is fashioned from an almost infinitely variable three-part laminate consisting of a face material (the printed label), an adhesive layer, and a backing paper or release liner. That 'labelstock' is combined with the capabilities of today's narrow web printing presses - which can offer all the established print processes, as well as digital offset and thermal transfer/inkjet for barcoding and authentication.

Finally, the self-adhesive labels, carried on their protective release liner, are speedily attached automatically to the bottles on an extremely accurate label applicator. Even multiple labels - front, back, and neck label, if printed together on the one liner base - can be applied in the one machine pass.

Following its success with golden spirits, self-adhesive labelling's introduction of a clear self-adhesive plastics film that could be adhesive coated, printed, and applied to clear glass bottles, to provide what we describe as the 'no label look' brought the
manufacturers of gin, vodka, and other white spirits on board.

For them, it was possible to deliver, printed on the one label, different messages (front and back label text and design, for instance) visible as the bottle is turned. Clear plastics films and their 'no label look' have become the standard for white spirits today.

Labelstock and the wine market

Completing the picture, most recently the self-adhesive label has established itself in the wine market. The sheer variability of the choice of label face material and label adhesive make it easy for a self-adhesive label printer to create a label for a wine producer that meets every need - both in terms of good looks and functionality.

Today, self-adhesive label material manufacturers have carefully developed extensive ranges of specialty paper substrates directed at the specific needs and wants of the wine producers. They include textured, plain, and metallised qualities, as well as environmentally friendly recycled papers and specialties such as papers made from recycled sugar cane fibre after the sugar itself has been extracted.

www.finat.com