Press Promotion

The Label Makers innovate for Portobello Road

The Label Makers have continued to pioneer the market place with another innovative front label and double-sided back label for the Portobello Road Gin company.

The intricate Portobello Road aesthetic has allowed The Label Makers to showcase the limitless possibilities of their digital printing and finishing. Portobello Road enlisted The Label Makers with their Gin No. 171 70cl edition, and continued their prospering relationship with the 50cl Navy Strength variety, including nautical details in line with the navy theme – with both double-sided labels going on to win industry awards.

The clever design of the Navy Strength edition allows the image of a red lion on the reverse of the back label, to be seen within the front label design.

Kevin Lyons, The Label Makers sales director explains: “We were able to remove the punched chads from the portholes featured on the front label. This allowed the design on the reverse of the back label to be spied through the front label.  This product was worthy of an element which truly added value and created something extra special for the consumer.”

The Label Makers have been producing labels for more than half a century, yet they continue to use cutting edge processes in their production.

The bottle’s front label emulates an old parchment effect reminiscent of labels from the past. This was achieved by printing with the Xeikon tonner based press, with a 1200dpi resolution — allowing for subtler shades. The design was completed with hot foil during the finishing press to enhance the visual effect.  The removal of the portholes within the label surface is a new, innovative process, as the backing paper is not cut to allow high speed labelling lines to run without fear of snapping.

The double-sided back label uses the best of both ink jet and tonner based printing methods — with the two layers being laminated together with their ABG finishing line. As the Lid Seal required six different full colour versions, the Xeikon tonner press was used again for efficient digital printing.

Tom Coates, brand director at Portobello Road says: “We are very impressed with the creativity and detailed reimagining of our intricate, hand-drawn design.  The Label Maker’s vision included cut out sections, embossing, six different top straps, sequential numbering and two-sided printing. It is a far cry from a straightforward brief, and they executed it beautifully. We are absolutely delighted that the Navy Strength label has won an award at the recent Digital Print awards and we hope to continue this success by working on more projects with The Label Makers in the near future.”

The Label Makers will be exhibiting at the forthcoming Label and Print Show, which is part of the Packaging Innovations exhibition. It is being held at the NEC on the 27 and 28 February. They will be at stand F19.

14 February 2019 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editor