As the dust settles on the last ever Labelexpo Europe, Senior Account Manager David Pittman shares his thoughts and impressions of the show.
So that’s it. Labelexpo is no more (to all intents and purposes).
The changing face of the narrow web industry has necessitated the organiser to pull the trigger on a major rebrand, which is intended to grant the show and attendees access to more of the highly lucrative packaging industry.
LOUPE – Labels and OUter Packaging Embellishment – will be where the industry calls home from 2026.
More on that later.
First, let’s look back at some of the standout topics and themes raised at Labelexpo Europe 2025.
Green dreams
Unsurprisingly, the event was heavily geared towards sustainability.
This was evident everywhere: from paper-based substrates and mono-materials, reformulated inks and coatings, and automated machinery; and a dedicated day of talks and presentations in ‘The Pulse’, the show’s newly minted education and innovation hub; to the new venue’s commitment to green energy and sustainability, a partnership to recycle label matrix waste produced during the show, and Labelexpo’s ‘strict zero waste policy’ for exhibitors.
Many of the improvements within the supplier base are intended to bake sustainability directly into the way converters work. In effect, when all materials are readily recyclable and circular, the industry scythes its environmental footprint. Consumables that are easier to deink and delaminate make recovery more effective and increase the availability of recyclate. Machinery that is more efficient and productive reduces the amount of waste generated and removes inefficiencies from production.
Developments such as these help bring the industry in line with the evolving global legislative and regulatory landscape, from the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) in Europe to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes that are becoming prevalent around the world.
More importantly, when sustainability is an inherent characteristic of labels and packaging – from the raw material entering the press to converted products popping off the end of a line – we simplify the decision-making process of consumers looking to reduce their environmental footprint. This must be the ultimate end goal of all in the supply chain who are genuinely looking to affect change.
It was particularly pleasing to see the evolution of materials at the centre of this narrative. Labels and flexible packaging materials have tended to take the brunt of the war on plastic waste as they are the part of the supply chain consumers interact with. This inadvertently makes them critical to a future where labels and packaging are no longer seen as a ‘problem’ but a benefit to the environment and facilitator of sustainable packaging practices. While the work of hardware vendors is similarly applauded, those taking on the challenge of making materials sustainable and circular caught the eye.
What else caught the eye was the visibility of sustainability at Labelexpo Europe 2025. Many exhibitors opted to use timbers and other natural materials as visible cues as part of their stand design. Slated walls, structural trees, aesthetic decals, and ferns and potted plants adorned just about every stand.
Deus ex Machina
As is the way with Labelexpo events, machinery launches and demonstrations of working equipment accounted for much of the show floor.
As myriad press vendors jostle for their share of the market, converting platform updates and incremental press improvements to suit specific applications were showcased. These seek to make presses and finishing lines more suitable for a wider range of applications, such as running unsupported films/flexible packaging materials.
Inevitably they drew a lot of attention and eyeballs across the four-day show.
However, where big improvements are to be made is in the greater use of automation and robotics. Whether loading and unloading reels and sheets, autonomously mounting flexo plates, setting up machinery according to tight job parameters, or managing a consumables inventory, automation has the potential to make a huge difference to the day-to-day work of many converters.
Automaton was further evident through the many existing and new supplier partnerships presented at Labelexpo Europe 2025. These working relationships integrate complementary technologies to ensure seamless manufacturing of labels and packaging production and ensure end-to-end efficiency.
From physically big demonstrations, such as Martin Automatic, ETI Converting, and LemuGroup with their integrated line that spanned the aisle in Hall 4, to platform concepts engineered to be modular and work seamlessly alongside complementary partner technologies, this degree of partnership and collaboration will prove most beneficial to converters.
Less evident this year was artificial intelligence (AI). AI was the buzzword at Labelexpo Europe 2023, which rode on the coattails of the AI boom from a few years ago [remember when we’d all soon be out of jobs?]. At the 2025 edition, AI was not a hook many hung their hats of off and had a more subdued presence. Rather, AI was presented as a core component of future-forward technologies and systems that have optimised the use of the technology.
Ready for regulation
With the deadline for conforming with PPWR now less than a year away – as of 12 August 2026 the current transition period ends, and the regulation applies – some in the supply chain are still pondering what needs to be done and how this will impact them.
As there is to be no discretion or flexibility in PPWR, which applies uniformly across the whole of the European Union, converters must act now to protect their brand owner customers. FYI, PPWR also impacts EU-adjacent markets where businesses export into the EU, such as the UK.
Within ‘The Pulse’ education hub, a well-attended session on the first day of Labelexpo Europe 2025 showed that the need remains for information and clarity on PPWR within the supply chain, as converters work to make sure they are compliant while continuing to innovate.
Once again, materials and consumables were the flag bearers and provided plenty of food for thought for those coming to the show to find out more and source solutions that are PPWR-compliant.
Similarly, the German Ink Ordinance (GIO) update, the Digital Product Passport regulation, and GS1 Sunrise 2027 initiative provided plenty of opportunity for suppliers to demonstrate how their solutions are aligned with current and future developments that are to impact the label and package printing industry.
Packaging
Packaging is not a new phenomenon at Labelexpo. Small format flexible packaging and lightweight folding cartons have been exhibited for a while now. There’s a case to be made that shrink sleeves were one of the first examples of flexible packaging to breakthrough at Labelexpo, around three decades ago.
At Labelexpo Europe 2025, several important developments were on show that have the potential to make a big difference to how the printed packaging market is served.
For example, inkjet’s use for flexible packaging applications continues to make inroads. This is being allowed by improvements in the chemistries and processes that underpin that technology.
Cartons also got a shot in the arm with the recently rebranded Edale CartonLine FL6p regularly drawing intrigued audiences to see demonstrations of a single-pass flexo carton production line with inline embellishment and flatbed die-cutting.
This was the only machinery demonstration of folding carton printing to be seen at Labelexpo Europe 2025 but nonetheless indicates the direction of travel for the show and its attendees. A quarter of those at the previous edition indicated an interest in folding cartons (flexible packaging was more like 40%).
Given that level of interest, it’s perhaps surprising there was not more folding carton hardware to be seen at Labelexpo Europe 2025. Nonetheless a ‘show within a show’ existed to some extent, with many suppliers of consumables and ancillaries able to temporarily sate the appetite for packaging using their wider product portfolios.
Which brings me to LOUPE…
Everything changes
Labelexpo Europe 2025 saw a monumental change, being the first time in more than 40 years that the flagship Labelexpo event had been staged away from Brussels Expo in the Belgian capital.
For 2025, Barcelona promised a warm welcome (which turned out to be a little too warm for many in Hall 3) and to provide the narrow web industry with a new lease of life.
As an aside, is it still feasible to host exhibitions in Europe during the month of September? As the first month of meteorological autumn, September has long provided the perfect buffer between summer and winter, with a climate that by and large made the experience of visiting a working machinery exhibition an enjoyable one.
Global warming has meant this is now not the case. September is seeing record-breaking heat and bouts of dry weather that make it more akin to mid-summer – a less than desirable time to walk the halls of a trade show.
As it turned out, the new city and new venue are only the start and as of 2026, Labelexpo Global Series becomes LOUPE Global.
According to the team behind Labelexpo/LOUPE, this change ‘recognises the broader impact and influence’ of label technologies across the entire value chain.
‘LOUPE will continue to drive the transformation of the labels and outer packaging embellishment industry across all packaging formats.’
What can we gauge from this? Reading between the lines, Labelexpo has repositioned its feet to prepare it for a run at more of the packaging market that intersects with the label industry.
Let’s be clear here: this is not a move to attract the wider packaging industry to Labelexpo events at scale. They already have drupa, interpack, K, All in Print China, Sino-Pack, WePack, PacPrint, Fachpack etc for that.
The machines are too big, with long setups, and require the type of floor space/stand size that is not apropos to a Labelexpo show.
More to the point, the packaging you see at Labelexpo is not ‘packaging’ as packaging knows ‘packaging’ – where speed, width, and volume continue to represent most of the market and will do so for the long-term.
That’s not to undermine the huge potential and value of narrow and even mid web packaging. It’s a big market and highly lucrative. Flexible packaging is a well-established opportunity for label printers, with small format folding cartons expected to follow next.
Some are already offering it as a service, but carton packaging is a different proposition to flexible packaging for label printers and will take time to lift off. As an example, my first visit to a label printer nearly 15 years ago was to see a narrow web digital press printing lightweight cartons. But is it enough interest to reframe a highly respected legacy trade show?
It’s also worth noting that Labelexpo has historically been revered as a strong and stable printing industry exhibition. The enforced focus on finishing with the ‘E’ in LOUPE representing ‘embellishment’ risks causing additional confusion. Something is lost in translation and as noted elsewhere by another commentator, do we risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. The industry is wise enough to know what Labelexpo is and represents. Expectation management will be the name of the game now for the organising team and to ensure the reputation built up over the last 45 years is not undermined by the rebrand.
What we should expect to see, is many of the current exhibitors repurposing and retooling their Labelexpo/LOUPE presence to embrace the appetite for packaging within the narrow web industry. Think inks that print perfectly well on cartonboard as labelstock or scalable curing and corona treatment equipment for processing different types of webs and sheets.
I would also expect to see some old faces return to the show floor, who can be enticed back by the potential of a more lucrative trade show experience that better embraces labels, flexible packaging, and folding cartons under one roof.
I won’t name names, but you know who you are…
Nothing changes
Overall, Labelexpo Europe 2025 felt like stepping back into a familiar and comfortable (ha!) pair of shoes.
An abundance of working machinery, near-constant demonstrations, a steady flow of customers, new customers to fill the pipeline, and the (in)famous bell ringing.
Will the introduction of LOUPE make a substantial difference to how the show looks and feels in the future? I suspect not. It’s fair to say that the reaction of many spoken to about the change during the last Labelexpo Europe was muted and their reaction was ‘meh’.
However, come early October 2027, the first LOUPE Europe will be another incredible exhibition that sets the tone for the future of the label and package printing industry. Barcelona will be buzzing for four days, suppliers will overrun Las Ramblas in search of tapas and sangria, plenty business will be done, and all will have a great time (in a hopefully more temperate climate).
After all, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
