How stickers are made
The backing paper is coated with silicone, a surface so slippery that even sticker glue cannot get a grip on it.
- stations
- 6
- things upstream
- 63
- raw sources
- 20
- steps from the ground
- 8
The short version
Every sticker is a three-layer sandwich built in wide rolls: a printable face of paper or vinyl, a pressure-sensitive adhesive, and a silicone-coated backing called the release liner. After printing, a rotary die slices through the face and glue but stops at the liner, a trick called kiss cutting. The roll is then cut into sheets or smaller rolls.
-
Coat the liner with silicone
Dense, smooth kraft paper or plastic film gets a thin coat of crosslinkable silicone. The silicone has such low surface energy that adhesive can rest on it without bonding, so the finished sticker peels away cleanly.
-
Spread the tacky layer
Pressure-sensitive adhesive, most often acrylic, is coated on as a liquid and its water or solvent is driven off in hot-air dryers. Some lines use a hot melt instead, which is warmed until it flows and then sets as it cools while staying tacky.
Goes in -
Press on the face stock
Paper or vinyl film is pressed onto the adhesive, closing the sandwich. Vinyl is chosen for stickers that live outdoors, like bumper stickers, because it resists tearing and water. The combined web is wound into large rolls of label stock.
Goes in -
Print the artwork
Plastic faces are often treated with corona discharge or a quick flame first, which lowers their surface tension so ink will wet them. Inks cured by ultraviolet light are common on vinyl, and outdoor stickers get lightfast inks that hold their color in the sun.
Goes in -
Kiss-cut the shapes
A cylindrical die geared to the press rolls over the web and cuts each outline through the face and adhesive while leaving the liner whole. Electric eyes keep every cut lined up with its printed picture. The frame of waste around the shapes is peeled off and wound away.
-
Slice into sheets and rolls
Knives slit the wide web into narrow rolls for label dispensers or chop it into flat sheets. Each sticker stays parked on its liner until someone peels it off.
Worth repeating
- R. Stanton Avery is credited with the first self-adhesive sticker in 1935, first sold in 1940 as price labels.
- Stickers with pointed corners start to lift at the points, and rounding the corners makes them hold better.
- In the 16th century, French aristocrats wore stickers on their faces to hide blemishes.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and sticker starts as these 20 raw sources.
Everything it is made of See it on the map
Open the whole family tree
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How stickers are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/sticker