Summer is the busy season for many industries. Outdoor events are back, touring schedules are packed, equipment is constantly on the move, and trailers are baking in the sun. Unfortunately, summer is also one of the toughest seasons for labels.
(If you’ve ever opened up a trailer after it’s been sitting in a parking lot all day, you know exactly what we’re talking about.)
The fastest way to label failure isn’t poor organization. It’s assuming that every type of label can survive summer conditions.
Heat Changes Everything
A trailer parked in direct sunlight can reach temperatures far higher than the outside air temperature. Meaning, the cases, cables, bins, and equipment stored inside are exposed to extreme heat for hours on end.
Labels that perform perfectly in climate-controlled environments can begin to fail when exposed to these conditions repeatedly. Adhesives soften, corners lift, and labels become increasingly vulnerable to peeling, snagging, and eventual loss.
True Story:
A product company labeled dozens of cases and trunks before the festival season began. By mid-summer, those cases and trunks had spent weeks traveling between venues in hot trailers. Almost 80% of those labels had begun peeling at the corners, or completely fallen off, making quick identification nearly impossible.
Using a high-performance label material designed for demanding environments helps ensure these labels will stay intact, even after years of exposure to heat and rough roads.
Humidity Isn’t Just Annoying
The heat often gets most of the attention, but humidity can be equally as damaging.
Outdoor concerts, sporting events, fairs, and festivals often involve early-morning setups, overnight dew, sudden rain showers, and transport between air-conditioned venues and outdoor event spaces.
These temperature swings create moisture that can weaken already weak adhesives and reduce label longevity.
True Story:
A local event company stored their equipment in a climate-controlled warehouse. That equipment is then brought out into humid conditions during summer and eventually returned to that same climate-controlled warehouse. The labels they thought would work great, were exposed to repeated moisture throughout the season and eventually peeled, rolled, and fell off.
Durable labels built with these conditions in mind (because we are based in Wisconsin, we are no strangers to humidity), will help your labels maintain a strong adhesion despite changing and challenging conditions.
Weather Doesn’t Care About Your Event Schedule
We all know summer weather is unpredictable; one day can bring perfect temperatures and sunshine, the next brings thunderstorms, high winds, and unexpected downpours.
Equipment cases and trunks, generators, lighting rigs, and speakers frequently spend time exposed to the elements during setup and teardown.
Consistent exposure to these harsh conditions can lead to fading, illegible writing, cracking, or peeling labels. Ultimately resulting in added costs and wasted time. A weather-resistant, permanent label is key to avoiding those inevitable issues.
Transportation Creates Constant Wear and Tear
Summer, for a lot of companies, means equipment is moving more frequently than any other time of year.
Your cases are stacked, dragged, dropped, rolled, loaded, unloaded, and transported across thousands of miles. Every movement is an opportunity for damage to your labels.
True Story:
A popular touring and production company used a less-durable label on dozens of their equipment cases. After weeks on the road, the labels were repeatedly rubbed against ramps, carts, and neighboring cases. Resulting in damaged, hard-to-read labels.
A durable overlaminate provides an extra layer of protection against abrasion, keeping your critical information visible throughout the entire season.
Build For Summer Before Summer Builds Problems
The most successful labeling systems aren’t built for perfect or ideal conditions. They’re designed for the real-world.
This means accounting for the potential of high temperatures, humidity and moisture, outdoor exposure, frequent transportation, constant handling, and abrasion.
Luckily, we’ve taken all of that into consideration. Our labels are designed to last for years in demanding environments so your information stays clear, your labels stays secure, and your cases remain easily identifiable.
Comments are closed.