By Olivia Cahoon
Shrink sleeves provide marketers, craft breweries, and beverage manufacturers with a 360 degree canvas for graphics and content. By investing in digital print technology for shrink sleeves and labels, manufacturers with in-house capabilities offer customizable graphics with the added bonus of short runs for seasonal and promotional packaging. One such company is LabelValue.com.
Established in 2005, LabelValue.com started with three employees as a retailer of Dymo printer thermal labels in a 500 square foot garage located in Tampa, FL.
Today, LabelValue.com operates from two locations with a combined work area of 20,000 square feet and 30 employees. The company manufactures custom and stock thermal labels ranging from shipping and handling labels to cannabis industry regulation labels and retail dot stickers. Its labels are available throughout the U.S. and some parts of Canada with other international clients.
The company also services startups in a variety of industries that value the ability to change artwork as ingredients, sizes, or branding changes. Its largest clientele is the craft beer industry with most breweries located in Southern FL.
Above: LabelValue.com of Tampa FL printed 3,000 shrink sleeves for Brew Bus Brewing’s limited time seasonal beer.
Shrinking to Size
In March 2016, LabelValue.com began using digital print technology due to client demands. “Many of our customers simply didn’t have the volume for it to make sense for them to purchase print plates and run flexographic jobs,” explains Josh Dickinson, marketing and prepress manager, LabelValue.com.
The company uses the HP Inc. Indigo WS6800 label and packaging press. It was purchased for a variety of reasons including speed and the ability to print on any label substrate or shrink sleeve material.
Shortly after purchasing the HP Indigo WS6800, LabelValue.com started offering shrink sleeves. “We primarily focused on expanding our offering to the craft beer industry, as we saw a big opportunity with breweries looking for shrink sleeves for cans,” explains Dickinson. “We have always printed them digitally, as the niche we are serving is shorter run and looking for the quality and versatility that digital printing provides.”
LabelValue.com uses the HP Indigo WS6800 to print shrink sleeves due to its premium white ink, which can be used as backing for the print. It also allows for a variety of web widths and shrink sleeve substrates, which according to Dickinson, print beautifully on the shrink material.
Currently, 15 to 20 percent of LabelValue.com’s work is digitally printed shrink sleeves. “Overall, digitally printed shrink sleeves allow brands to use packaging as a method of acquiring and retaining customers. They provide stunning quality and great flexibility for clients,” offers Dickinson.
Brew Bus Brewing
In April 2018, Brew Bus Brewing in Tampa, FL approached LabelValue.com to create shrink sleeves for limited time seasonal beer cans. Its goal was to create an attention-grabbing, vibrant shrink sleeve for its seasonal beer. The client also requested that the color be as vivid as possible on the cans.
LabelValue.com printed the shrink sleeves on the HP Indigo WS6800 using Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials’ Fasson brand 10.5-inch, 50-micron co-polyester PET-G high-shrink material. The film is designed for clarity and reduced contours with a shrink rate of up to 79 percent.
Shrink sleeves were slit and slip varnished with an A B Graphic International Ltd. Digicon Series 3 and seamed with a Karlville Development, LLC K1.
From job submittal to printing, it took LabelValue.com one day to complete 3,000 shrink sleeve pieces. During the project, the print provider had to make a last-minute adjustment to the artwork in
Full Coverage
Digital printing allows print providers like LabelValue.com to produce custom shrink sleeves for a variety of products including baked goods, candles, cosmetics, and drinks. The company continues to offer its customers high-quality shrink sleeves and labels with its HP Indigo WS6800.
Oct2018, Industrial Print Magazine
