Colour Matching in Self-Adhesive Labels

In the world of cosmetics, indicating the exact shade on the lipstick holder or face powder container is essential.

17/11/06 Colour matching is a shady business. The slightest difference between the colour on the label and the shade of the contents can result in unhappy customers and lost future business, which is why self-adhesive label printers take so much time and trouble to ‘get it just right.’

“Colour matching is probably the most difficult part of our job,” said David Harrisson, President of FINAT, the international trade association for the self-adhesive label industry.

Long gone are the Henry Ford days of having ‘any colour you want providing it is black’. Today’s consumer lives in a colourful world and demands the exact shade of colour to match his or her scheme. Woe betides anyone who gives them something different.

In the world of cosmetics, indicating the exact shade on the lipstick holder or face powder container is essential. Those products are often expensive and the customer does not want to buy a particular shade only to find the product is a different one when she opens it. Nor is the home owner happy when he or she finds that the paint chosen is a shade different to what they want.

“Self-adhesive labels are particularly adept for this purpose but it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to achieve that colour-match.  Often it starts with the end-product’s backroom boys talking with the printer who in turn has to talk to his ink manufacturer about ways of producing this match.

“Once that is achieved and tests have confirmed the suitability, the skill of the printer on the machine really comes into its own. It is not unknown for some printers to demand samples of the products they are printing labels for, simply to test on their own skin the colour-match between the product and the label,” Mr Harrisson said.

Only when that state of perfection has been reached does the actual production of the labels commence – and that can range from a tiny finger nail sized sticker to go on the end of a slim lipstick container to a wrap-around giant for a five-litre paint can.

“The self-adhesive label, with all its other advantages, is particularly ideal,” said Mr Harrisson.

The printer is happy with his skilled output, the product producer is delighted and the customer is highly satisfied with getting what he or she wants.