Choose White Plastic BOPP for anything that goes in a fridge or a freezer, or sits near oil. Paper suits dry goods. Food labels fail in predictable places, such as the fridge door, the oily jar, and the freezer, so the material is mostly a question of where the product ends up.
Three conditions that defeat paper
- Moisture: a jar from the fridge sweats every time it comes out. Paper soaks that up, wrinkles, and lifts at a corner.
- Oil: the less obvious one. Oil from a jar of pesto or chili oil wicks into paper from the outside and stains it from underneath, so the label fails without ever getting wet.
- Freezing: repeated freezing and thawing is hard on any adhesive, and hardest where condensation forms as the jar thaws.
BOPP holds up far better on all three. It's a laminated, waterproof plastic film made for product packaging, and it's the usual choice for anything that lives in a kitchen, a fridge, or a cooler. BOPP and paper are both materials on Custom Roll Labels. Our vinyl sheet labels are laminated and waterproof as well.
Where paper is still right
Paper suits dry goods, shipping seals, and handmade items sold at a market. It's the more affordable roll material, its texture suits a handmade product, and it takes a pen, which helps when you date or number labels by hand.
Paper roll labels aren't laminated or waterproof, so keep paper for products that stay dry. BOPP or paper compares the two.
Clear labels on glass
For a clear label, choose Clear Sheet Labels. Whatever is behind a clear label becomes part of the design. On a jar, the product itself shows through, which looks considerably more expensive than a white rectangle.
The choice to make is where white ink goes. Without white behind them, colors are see-through, like stained glass; with it, they read solid. Leaving the white out behind the background is what makes a label look printed onto the glass.
Matte or gloss
Matte is the finish to write on, which matters if you write batch codes or dates by hand. On roll labels, matte takes a pen or Sharpie; you can write on a gloss roll label, but it scratches off with a fingernail. Vinyl sheet labels follow the sticker rule: gloss takes a Sharpie, and matte takes ballpoint as well. Gloss lifts color and photographs well. Neither finish meaningfully outlasts the other.
Test it on the actual jar
A label, a jar of your product, and a night in the fridge answer this better than any specification. A printed label sample usually costs too much to make on its own, but you're welcome to ask us for one. Otherwise, test the first labels from a small order.