Our stickers last 3 to 5 years outdoors before the print starts to fade, and considerably longer indoors. They're printed on thick vinyl and finished with a protective laminate that resists sun, water, and scratches. Indoors, very little works against them.

What wears a sticker out

Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun is what fades print, and how much of it a sticker gets decides how long it lasts. Water and everyday scuffs matter much less.

The same sticker lasts very differently depending on where it goes:

On a north-facing wall or the shaded side of a vehicle, it lasts to the long end of the range, or past it.
On a car bumper in a hot climate, facing the sun all day, it lasts to the short end.
On a water bottle that lives in a bag, it lasts far longer, because it's rarely in daylight.

Color matters too. Reds and other bright colors fade first, which is why an old sign often looks blue.

Water, weather, and washing

Vinyl with a laminate is weatherproof. Rain, snow, and cold aren't what limit it; sunlight is. A few things to know:

Let it set before it gets soaked. Adhesive builds most of its strength over the first day or two, so wait 24 hours before it gets wet and 48 hours before anything scrubs it, like a car wash. See how long adhesive takes to set.
Keep pressure washers off the edges. A jet aimed at the edge will lift any sticker, however well it's made.
Treat the laminate as scratch resistant. It protects the print well, but it's a thin film.

Matte or gloss

Neither finish meaningfully outlasts the other, so choose on how it should look. Gloss makes colors look brighter. Matte cuts glare, which helps on anything read at an angle or photographed, and it takes ballpoint pen as well as permanent marker. See gloss or matte.

Getting them off again

Our standard white vinyl peels off cleanly without leaving residue behind, which makes it safe on a laptop, a car, or a rented window. A sticker that has been in the sun for years is harder to get off; see how to remove a sticker cleanly.

If standard vinyl won't grip what you're sticking it to, such as a rough, textured, or powder-coated surface or a low-energy plastic, choose High-Tack Stickers. They're the same print with a much stronger adhesive, so they're harder to remove and can leave residue.