What to do with all the labels and sleeves?

Posted on 11 March 2026 by Sovereign Labelling Machines

According to a new report from AWA Alexander Watson Associates, global label market volume reached c76 billion sqm in 2025, a 2.8% increase over the prior year. A CAGR of 2.8% is expected through to 2028, seeing the global label market volume exceed 82 billion sqm in only a couple of years.

Pressure-sensitive applied (PSA) labels accounted for the largest share of the volume of labels by technology, at 39%. This compares to 35% for glue-applied, 20% for shrink sleeves and, 2% for in-mould labels.

• The 39% PSA volume share amounts to 29.6 billion sqm. This increases to 32 billion sqm by 2028
• The 20% market share that sleeves holds equals 15.2 billion sqm. That’s 16.4 billion sqm come 2028.

Both of those growth figures assume there’s no change in market share for PSA and sleeves between  2025 and 2028. That seems unlikely in the coming years so let’s make a prediction of our own:

• The PSA volume share increases to 41%. That’s 33.6 billion sqm in 2028
• Sleeves account for 22% of global label volume by 2028. That’s 18.4 billion sqm in 2028.

Our predictions are unsubstantiated and based on market knowledge, impressions, and gut feeling. Nonetheless, they give plenty of optimism for those involved in labels and labelling, sleeves and sleeving that there is much opportunity ahead.

The reality of the numbers

For many, 29.6 billion sqm and 15.2 billion sqm are huge numbers with no basis in reality.

To give you a better understanding of just how big they are, below are some examples of what you could do with 29 billion sqm of PSA labels and 15 billion sqm of sleeves.

Things to do with 29.6 billion sqm of PSA:

• Wrap the Earth around the equator approximately 740 times with a one metre-wide ribbon
• Construct a 5 metre-wide ‘label highway’ to the moon and back, around 7 times
• Cover the surface area of the world’s longest bridge, the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge in China, approximately 2,273 times
• Re-lay the pitch at Barcelona’s home ground, the Camp Nou, more than 4 million times
• Spend 241,313 years continuously painting a 29.6 billion square metre room covered with blank labels
• Commit 1,705 years to print a 330mm-wide web at 100m/min, from the first impression to the last
  (that’s 14,946,030 hours, 896,761,815 minutes, and 53,805,708,900 seconds)

Things to do with 15.2 billion sqm of sleeves:

• Cloak the 3,000 islands, cays and islets that make up the Bahamas
• Cover the entire exterior surface area of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai approximately 107,000 times
• Wrap 608 million Ferrari F1 cars, from bumper to spoiler
• Sleeve 190 billion bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild, potentially worth $43,700 trillion if all sold at the record price for a 1869 vintage
  (that’s over 23 bottles for every person on Earth or roughly 260x the entire annual global wine production)

With that many labels being printed and applied and sleeves being shrunk around all manner of containers, there’s inevitable demand for high-quaity, precision engineered labelling and sleeving solutions.

As experts in labelling and sleeving with more than 30 years of experience, we are perfectly placed to help you take a slice of the packaging pie in the years ahead.

If that much wine sold for an astronomical amount doesn’t blow your mind or if how many times you can scale a label ladder to the moon and back doesn’t leave you breathless, consider this:
2.8% CAGR is a sign of modest, consistent growth, albeit unremarkable, but which indicates a safe, stable, and secure future for involvement and investment.

Our range of labelling and sleeving solutions are a reliable investment that safeguard your future production and give you room to grow, steadily and sustainably.

To find out about our labelling solutions, see here

For more about our sleeving solutions, visit here