Guides · updated 18 July 2026
The adhesive is nearly free. Choosing it late is not.
The short answer: three questions decide it — what surface, how long must it hold, and how must it come off. And a fact that surprises everyone: in four cases out of five, swapping the adhesive does not change the price. What it changes is the list of materials still available to you, which is why it has to be decided early rather than at the end.
Start here
It does not cost more. It narrows what you can have.
We compared every adhesive against the permanent version of the same label — same material, same printing, same finish, same size, same quantity — across the whole catalogue. In 79 % of those comparisons the price is identical. A high-tack or a removable adhesive is, in most cases, free.
The real constraint is availability. Permanent exists on almost every stock. High-tack on a short list. Removable on 10. The six specialist adhesives exist on one or two stocks each. So the sequence matters: pick the adhesive first when the application is demanding, and let it eliminate materials — not the other way round, which is how people end up with a beautiful paper that will not stay on a crate.
- Permanent
- almost every stock
- High-tack
- a short list of films
- Removable
- a handful of stocks
- Six specialists
- 1 to 2 stocks each
- Price impact
- none in 79 % of cases
- Exceptions
- dry adhesive, 3M grades
Question 1
What surface — and is it clean, dry and at room temperature?
The surface decides more than the material does. An adhesive bonds to what it can actually touch: on a rough or dusty surface a standard adhesive only rests on the high points, and the label lifts a week later at the corners.
| Surface | Take | Because |
|---|---|---|
| Glass, smooth plastic, coated carton | Permanent | Full contact, nothing else needed. The default on 98 stocks. |
| Rough or recycled board, crates | High-tack | More adhesive, and it flows into the texture instead of bridging it. |
| Powder-coated metal, textured plastic | High-tack | Same reason, plus resistance to the vibration a machine adds. |
| Slightly oily or dusty parts | High-tack, on a film | A paper edge will wick the oil; a film will not. |
| Curved, small diameter, squeezed packs | Permanent, on a soft film | The material matters more here: a soft polyethylene follows the shape without creasing. |
| Cold or damp at the moment of application | Freezer adhesive | A standard adhesive never grabs at 2 °C — see freezer labels. |
| Untreated polypropylene and polyethylene | High-tack | These plastics have a low surface energy: they repel most adhesives. Tell us the plastic. |
💡 An adhesive reaches its full strength after roughly 24 hours. Judging a label two minutes after applying it is judging it at half strength — which is also why a permanent label can be repositioned in the first seconds and not after.
Question 2
For how long — and what happens at the end of that time?
« Permanent » does not mean eternal, and « removable » does not stay removable. Both age, and both age towards the same place: the longer an adhesive sits, the harder it is to lift.
A removable adhesive lifts by hand after a week without leaving a mark. After a year on a sunlit window it may need a corner started with a fingernail, and it can leave a faint outline. If the label has to come off after months rather than days, say so — we quote a semi-permanent grade, which is designed for that middle life.
A permanent adhesive is one you are not expected to remove intact. On a returnable container that is a real cost: someone has to scrape it every rotation. That is the calculation behind overprintable polypropylene at €214 per 100, whose whole point is to leave without a fight.
- High-tack
- difficult surfaces, permanent
- Permanent
- the default, not meant to lift
- Semi-permanent
- months, then lifts
- Removable
- days to weeks, clean lift
- Ultra-removable
- glass and books, no trace
- Repositionable
- lifts and sticks again
Question 3
How must it come off? Four endings, and they are not interchangeable
Lifted by hand
A removable adhesive: it releases cleanly from a crate, a tray or a pack, leaving no torn paper. From €175 per 100 on a repositionable film.
Off glass, no trace
An ultra-removable adhesive, at €184 per 100 — for shop windows, books, screens and anything where a residue is worse than the label.
Dissolved in a wash line
A wash-off paper at €248 per 100: the label leaves the bottle in warm water so the glass can be refilled. Industrial, not domestic.
Destroyed on contact
A destructible film from €162: lift a corner and it fragments. The point is that it cannot come off intact.
⚠️ The trap that catches everyone. Two products sound identical and do the opposite: a washable paper at €221 survives the wash, and a wash-off paper at €248 leaves in the wash. Both are described by customers as « for the dishwasher ». Say which of the two outcomes you want, never the machine.
The edge cases
Six adhesives that exist on one or two stocks only
| Adhesive | What it is for | Where it exists |
|---|---|---|
| No adhesive at all | A static film that clings to glass and lifts with no residue, ever. Shop windows, seasonal notices. | Synthetic film, €186 |
| Biodegradable permanent | The only way to make a compostable film into a compostable label: the adhesive has to compost too. | Cellulose films |
| Ultra-removable | Glass, screens, books — where a faint residue is unacceptable. | Coated paper, clear PVC |
| Semi-permanent | Holds for months, then lifts. The compromise between the two extremes. | Wash-off coated paper |
| Dry adhesive, carrier band | A wrap-around label with a glued band rather than an adhesive back — for produce and stems. | Sugarcane paper, polyethylene |
| 3M grades | Certified performance on difficult surfaces, and the destructible polyurethane used for property marking. | 3M films |
These are also the two places where the adhesive does move the price: a dry adhesive adds around €96 to a run, and the 3M grades around €92. Everything else is, as a rule, free.
Avoidable
Three mistakes we see every month
Labelling a cold pack
The single most common failure, and the material is never at fault. Label at room temperature and let the adhesive set, or order a freezer adhesive made to bond cold.
Choosing the adhesive last
By then the material is fixed — and high-tack exists on a short list of stocks, removable on 10. If the application is demanding, the adhesive chooses the material.
Testing on the wrong surface
A sample that holds on your desk proves nothing about a recycled crate or an oily part. Test on the actual surface, in the actual conditions, and wait 24 hours.
FAQ
Adhesives — what customers ask us
Does a removable adhesive cost more than a permanent one?
Almost never. We compared every adhesive against the permanent version of the same label across the catalogue: 79 % of the comparisons show an identical price. The exceptions are the dry adhesive with a carrier band, at around +€96 a run, and the 3M grades at around +€92. What a removable adhesive really costs you is choice: it exists on 10 stocks, against 98 for permanent.
What is the difference between washable and wash-off?
They are opposites. A washable label at €221 per 100 survives a wash cycle and stays on the container. A wash-off label at €248 is designed to leave the container in warm water so the bottle can be refilled. Customers describe both as “for the dishwasher”, so tell us the outcome you want — staying on, or coming off.
My labels lift at the corners after a few days. Which adhesive should I change to?
Before changing anything, check three things: the surface (rough, dusty or oily?), the temperature when you applied it (below about 10 °C, most adhesives never bond), and the curve (a small-diameter pack pulls the label off). If all three are fine, the answer is usually high-tack — free on the 14 stocks that carry it — and sometimes a softer material rather than a stronger glue.
Can I have a permanent adhesive on a compostable film?
Yes, but then the label is not compostable. A compostable film with a standard adhesive fails the certification as a whole, which is the most common eco-labelling mistake we see. The biodegradable permanent adhesive exists on our cellulose films — ask for it explicitly and we confirm the pair, not just the film.
How long before the adhesive is at full strength?
Roughly 24 hours. In the first seconds a permanent label can still be repositioned; after a minute it is holding; after a day it is at its rated strength. This matters for testing — judging a label two minutes after applying it tells you about half of the answer.
Still unsure?
Ask the person who makes them
The guide covers the general case — your label lives on a real product. Describe it in two lines and a label specialist (not a bot) answers within 2 working hours.
All guides
Everything else we have written down
- Choosing your label material
- Choosing your label adhesive — you are here
- Bottle and jar label sizes
- EU food labelling — the INCO rules
- EU wine label rules
- Environmental claims and sorting labels
- Preparing print-ready files
- Variable data, explained
- Label material comparison chart
- EU vs UK labelling requirements
- What drives the price of a label
- Label glossary
Tell us the surface, we will name the adhesive.
Or price a material now — the adhesive is a selector in the configurator.