A Long and Winding Road

Freedonia also points to the continued growth in the use of plastic substrates. Although paper will continue to have the lion’s share of the label industry, it will continue to lose market share to plastic materials. “Advances will be based on the aesthetic and performance advantages of plastic labels; the growing use of plastic packaging; and the popularity of labeling methods such as pressure-sensitive, in-mold, thermal transfer, and shrink, which heavily rely on plastic substrates,” according to the report.