Tags and labels: Eco-friendly, consumer-focused

Great Lakes Label CEO Tony Cook says that growers are interested in how plant marketing materials can help them shrink expenses.

“Growers seem to be interested in cost savings, labor savings, and sustainability right now,” Cook says.

As with others in the space, Great Lakes continues to keep tabs on the latest advancements in alternative materials.

“Right now, I think the industry is picking up on materials that are easy to automate, more sustainable and yet still work in their growing process, and are readily available,” Cook says.

MasterTag weighs in

Gerry Georgio, MasterTag’s creative director, says that the company is expanding the information on its tags.

“We’ve (done) it to both broaden the care instructions, as well as make it more relevant, and we’re continually adding additional information that is of interest to a new type of (plant) shopper,” he says.

That effort — understanding what the plant buyer needs and wants on a tag or label — is at the core of what MasterTag has been focused on of late, according to Georgio.

“This has led to introducing new tags in popular categories such as houseplants, perennials and vegetables that are packed with information not found on other plant tags,” he states.

A Hip solution

Hip Labels CEO Bob Lovejoy is seeing positive developments in the alternative materials world. The company debuted it’s new eco-friendly WoodTag product this summer at the Cultivate’21 show.

“It’s a totally petroleum-based-free product — you can literally pull one out of the pot and tear the tag, but at the same time it’s water resistant,” Lovejoy explains, noting that eco-conscious consumers want to see the tag tear so they know there’s no plastic in it.

Hip is also getting more grower requests for its branded pot wraps. Pre-printed pots have proven tough to source, Lovejoy says.

But, perhaps the best news yet for growers that work with Hip? The company is moving closer to making those dreaded tag overages a thing of the past.

“That’s really becoming an important aspect of that relationship with our growers,” Lovejoy adds. “And our customers are receiving fewer excess tags today than in the past, I suppose that’s a good way to put it: Fewer tags that they don’t want.”