Here’s How We Keep “Innovating For The Future”

It is British Science Week; a ten day celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths. This year’s theme is “Innovating For The Future”. We're celebrating with a closer look at all of the ways we’ve kept innovating to ensure your labels stick on and stay on.

Developing Name Labels That Really Will Just Stick On & Stay On

Amazingly, this is our seventeenth year selling Stikins ® name labels, which first launched all the way back in 2004. Back then, we were selling what we now call our “Originals”. These sets featured different shapes; “H” shaped clothes labels, shoe labels, and micro labels as well as general purpose silver labels.

Since then, we’ve continued to develop our name labels to ensure that they continue to simply stick in and stay in.

Over the years, we’ve introduced new manufacturing methods and new materials to help our name labels create and maintain strong adhesive bonds. Here are just a few of the ways that we’ve “innovated for the future”.

Our Material

We’ve gone through a few variations to end up with one that suits a wide range of items. We currently use an advanced synthetic material, which is extremely thin, pliable, and soft. This means our name labels are suitable for use on a range of materials and surface types. Stikins ® labels adhere strongly to solid flat surfaces and curved or flexible surfaces – like wash-care labels in clothing.

Being thin also helps to ensure our name labels stay put. Some name label products are much thicker, which makes them more likely to catch on other surfaces. Over time this can cause these labels to lift and separate from items.

Our labels are perfect for labelling clothing because they are so soft. Labelled items can be worn without the labels causing any irritation to skin.

Our Adhesive

Our adhesive is probably the part of our name labels that has undergone the most development. All stick on name labels have to face the challenge of washing machines, which create an aggressive environment that easily breaks down weak adhesive bonds. Developing adhesives that can survive the wash-dry cycle is not an easy task but we've consistently worked hard to solve it.

We aim to supply our customers with name labels that really do just stick on and stay on. Busy families should be able to get their things labelled and then forget about the labels - until they need them!We want busy families to be able to label stuff in seconds with no need to worry about the labels after they’ve been applied.

Today, we use a specially developed adhesive, which is completely unique to Stikins ® name labels. Our strong and resilient adhesive can survive repeat trips through the washing machine. It'll also go through tumble dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, and the good old kitchen sink.

Our adhesive has been independently tested using the BS EN ISO6330 wash test procedure for 60 washes at 40 degrees. It has also been thoroughly tested by thousands of families across the UK!

Our adhesive produces strong adhesive bonds with a variety of materials and surface types. This means you can label all kinds of items including clothing and fabric items (like school uniform) and other personal belongings. This could be shoes and bags, lunch boxes and water bottles, stationery and books, P.E. kit, or any other essentials.

Apply your labels onto the wash-care label when labelling fabric items, not directly onto the fabric itself. In shoes, apply your labels onto the side wall or beneath the tongue, not directly beneath the heel.

Our Print

We print our name labels with a bold, black font, using a special ink. This helps to ensure that your personalisation stays put all year round.

In recent years, we have upgraded our printing ink, selecting a more advanced product which offers greater resistance to solvents. These solvents can cause inks to degrade over time. This means our inks are resistant to the enhanced ingredients in some sun creams and lotions, which can break down print.

Got Some STEM Kit You’d Like To Label Up? Order Your Own Set Of Stikins ® Name Labels Today!

If you’re running your own STEM projects in celebration of British Science Week, you might have some kit that needs labelling.

Stikins ® name labels are a great way to label all kinds of kit – not just clothing and uniform. Our brilliant stickers measure just 30mm by 15mm, which makes them a neat, discrete addition to any item. Each label is bright white in colour, printed with a black font. This makes it really quick and simple to read the personalisation. Plus, they’re really easy to apply – just peel, stick, and go!

We supply packs of 30, 60, 90, or 120 name labels. We’re printing and posting orders Monday to Friday, with same day despatch available up to 3pm. Standard delivery uses Royal Mail’s first class service and is free.

To order, simply visit our website or give us a call.

Have a brilliant time celebrating British Science Week! We hope you all get inspired to keep innovating for the future!