Labels - a success story

Today, we encounter labels at every turn. Almost every product sold in some kind of packaging carries a label with notes and explanations about the contents, with weight and price information, with a barcode and often also with graphic elements such as logos, company lettering or images of the products. Labels are used as address labels for parcels and letters, they can be found on household appliances, wine and beer bottles and many other everyday items. 

 Modern self-adhesive labels, mostly made of paper, are an invention of the 20th century. However, this was not always the case. Labels or label-like seals have been around for several thousand years. The following article gives an overview of their long history and development. 

The precursors of labels

When we talk about labels today, we usually think of a piece of paper or even a piece of fabric sewn into a garment. However, it is not the material that is decisive for the purpose, but what the label says. To put it succinctly, this means: a label always contains information about a product or about the contents of a packaging unit. 

The origins lie in the time when people settled down, founded small and larger settlements and the first advanced civilisations developed. Over the centuries, the constant coexistence of many people brought forth more and more ideas and innovations that standardised and simplified everyday life and thus also trade in goods. 

Sumerians and Egyptians

The Sumerians, whose advanced civilisation developed from around 5000 BC in Mesopotamia (today mainly Iraq), used rolled seals with characters and symbols engraved on the outer surface of the cylindrical seal. When rolled over wet clay, the names of high state officials or kings became visible. However, rolled seals were also used to mark transport packaging or transport and storage vessels, with a focus on inscribing wine vessels with information on their origin and the type of wine. 

These roll seals were also used later in Egypt - the oldest finds there date back to around 3300 BC.

Greeks and Romans

The Greeks (from the 6th century BC) and Romans no longer used roll seals for labelling, but small tags that were attached to amphorae or other containers. 

Interestingly, these were also mainly used to mark wine vessels. Sometimes the information about the contents was also carved directly into the amphorae.

Middle Ages, Renaissance and Early Modern Times

The end of the Roman Empire marked the beginning of the Middle Ages, according to popular definition, which did not bring any great innovations in terms of labels.

As in Greece and Rome, small tags and slips of paper continued to be attached to vessels to inform about the contents. This continued through the Renaissance period (14th to 16th centuries) and the early modern period.

However, a foundation stone for the modern development of labels was laid by Johannes Gutenberg (ca. 1400 to 1468) with the invention of letterpress printing around 1450. 

The possibilities of printing were to revolutionise the production of labels. However, it still took around 250 years until then. The oldest printed copies that are known date back to around 1700. Initially, they were used for the simple marking of bales of goods. 

For this purpose, a damp glue was applied to the place where the label was to be placed, and the paper was then pressed firmly onto the glue.

More elaborate labels with a more elaborate graphic design were used to label wine vessels, which by then were made of glass. 

The artistic execution was made possible by the invention of the lithographic printing process, which was developed by Alois Senefelder in the years 1796 to 1798. 

A further refinement of label printing could be realised with the development of multi-colour printing from 1826 onwards. Since these times, labels were no longer just a largely unadorned source of information. 

Design increasingly played an equal role and turned labels into inexpensive advertising media that could be produced in large quantities. This development can be seen particularly well on wine labels, which changed from a pure description of the contents to a kind of guaranteed document for the wine. A look at old examples shows how much effort was put into the design. 

Labels in the 20th and 21st century

In the 20th and 21st centuries, old traditions were continued in the field of labels on the one hand, but on the other hand there were also important innovations. The classic wet-glue labels are still used today in numerous industries and will not disappear from the market in the foreseeable future.  

The invention can be considered a revolution, or at least a groundbreaking innovation, without which many of today's label applications would be inconceivable. 

Wet glue labels - a classic for large product volumes

Wet glue labels are made of paper and are coated with glue in a special labelling machine before being applied. After the glue has dried, the paper adheres so firmly to the substrate that even moisture or contact with alkalis cannot harm it, i.e. it cannot decompose, but at most detach completely. 

Another advantage is that wet-glue labels can be stored for a long time, as the adhesive is only applied immediately before they are applied. Nowadays, this type of label is mainly used for large production quantities of goods. The food and beverage industry cannot be imagined without them for labelling cans, jars and bottles of all kinds. 

Wet glue labels come in numerous shapes. They can be circular, oval, rectangular and square, but can also be produced in very individual designs. They are often finished with digital hot foil stamping to make a product stand out more from the competition. 

The invention of the self-adhesive label

Richard Stanton Avery (1907-1997) was an American entrepreneur and inventor. In 1935 - in the midst of the global economic crisis of the time - he developed the first die-cut, self-adhesive labels, which were initially intended for awarding prizes and were marketed under the brand name "Klum-Kleen".  

Ultimately, however, he created the basis for a new branch of industry that has experienced rapid growth in recent decades and is responsible for numerous other innovations. 

Perhaps Avery's invention was influenced by the first adhesive plasters, which were patented by the German company Beiersdorf in 1882. This was the first time a material had been successfully bonded with an adhesive that could be easily removed from surfaces.

Avery used a rubber adhesive for his labels that was also removable. The company he founded, Avery Corporation - since the takeover of Dennison in 1990, Avery Dennison Corporation - is still one of the world's leading producers in this field. 

The further development of adhesive labels

In Germany, the fine paper wholesaler founded by Wilhelm Jackstädt under his name in Wuppertal in 1920 made a significant contribution to the further development and spread of self-adhesive labels. 

Under the management of Werner Jackstädt, the son of the founder, the company began producing and selling self-adhesive postcards in 1949. These were double cards that could be sealed like a letter with the help of an adhesive layer on the edge. 

The success of the product contributed massively to the increasing acceptance of self-adhesive labels throughout the 1950s, leading to numerous new applications in industry from around 1960. These include:

• technical developments in printing technology
• improved adhesives
• use of plastics for labels
• simplified printing with variable data, for example for printed address labels
  

Conclusion: Labels are timeless

They have been around for thousands of years and there is no end in sight to their use. Wet-glue and self-adhesive labels have established themselves in countless areas, because hardly any sector of industrial production, trade and services can do without them. 

Today's printing technology enables almost any desired form of graphic design and - in the case of address labels or numbering, for example - also any personalisation and individualisation from computer-aided databases. 

Modern machines ensure that labels can be produced and processed in large quantities, individual designs and at high speed.

Adhesive labels can also be purchased in small quantities pre-cut on A4 sheets so that private users can process them at home with their laser or inkjet printer and use them, for example, for their outgoing mail or other labelling.

FAQ

1. What purposes have labels been used for in history?

Labels and their predecessors initially served to provide information about the contents of vessels and packaging or primary packaging. In this context, they have been around for several thousand years. In modern times they retained their original purpose, but due to modern printing and processing methods and the resulting increased design possibilities they also developed into advertising media with which manufacturers and brands convey their advertising messages.  

2. How long have self-adhesive labels been around?

The first self-adhesive labels came onto the market in 1935. They were developed by the US entrepreneur and inventor Richard Stanton Avery. In Germany, self-adhesive labels experienced a boom with the self-adhesive postcards produced by the Jackstädt company from 1949 onwards.