Custom Stickers

Stickers do a different job from labels

A label identifies a product. A sticker decorates, seals, promotes or reassures — it goes on a mailer, a laptop, a shop window or the outside of a box that will be handled roughly.

That difference drives the material choice. A paper label on a carton is fine; a paper sticker on a water bottle is not.

Three decisions, in order

1. Where does it go? Indoor and dry points to paper or white vinyl. Outdoor, wet or handled constantly points to vinyl with lamination.

2. How is it cut? A die cut follows the shape of the design and is supplied individually. A kiss cut leaves the sticker on a backing sheet, peeled off by hand — better for sheets and for small stickers that are hard to handle individually.

3. What finish? Gloss is the default and photographs well. Matte reads more premium and shows fewer fingerprints. Lamination adds scuff resistance, which matters if the sticker will be handled before it is applied.

Materials

Material	Best for	Limits
White vinyl	Packaging, products, outdoor use	Slightly thicker than paper
Clear vinyl	Glass, bottles, no-label look	Needs white ink for opaque colour
Coated paper	Indoor promo, short-life use	Not water-resistant
Textured paper	Craft and premium brands	Limited water resistance

Vinyl is the safe default for anything that leaves a warehouse.

Quantity and cost

Sticker pricing follows the same logic as labels — area, material, finish, quantity — with one addition: the cut. Complex die shapes need a cutting die, and at very low quantities the die cost dominates. Simple shapes (circle, square, rounded rectangle) avoid that entirely.

From 50 units, a simple shape is the cheapest way to test a design. Complex shaped die cuts make more sense once the quantity justifies the die.

Artwork

Vector files (AI, EPS, PDF, SVG) at final size with a cut path on a separate layer. Add 2 mm bleed beyond the cut line for white stickers; for clear stickers, the bleed still matters because the film edge is visible.

If you only have a PNG, send the largest version you have — we will tell you whether it prints acceptably before you order.

Ordering

Tell us where the sticker goes, the size, the quantity, and whether you want individual die-cut pieces or a sheet. A photo of the surface is useful: glass, kraft board and powder-coated metal all need different adhesives.