Piggyback Labels

A piggyback label is constructed from two labels, with one label sitting on top of the other label – hence the term piggyback. Piggyback labels allow two individual labels to be applied at once, with the top label being removed at some stage during usage, and either being applied to another material, or discarded.

The use of the label determines the construction that is used; usually, the bottom layer of adhesive will always be permanent, but the release liner and top adhesive layer can be altered to suit the application. For example, if the bottom label is being used for the sole purpose of carrying the top label, then the release liner is often left blank or is made of a transparent material so that the substrate material it’s applied to is visible.

In other applications, the release liner may be printed with information that is either revealed when the top label is peeled off or is always visible (when the top label is smaller in size than the bottom label). The top layer of adhesive is either permanent (when the top label needs to be used as a permanent label elsewhere) or dry peel adhesive (where the top label is peeled up to reveal the bottom label underneath or when the top label is removed but not reapplied elsewhere).

Dry peel adhesives can also be used to create a piggyback label that combines primary and secondary labels into one (the primary label can be lifted up to reveal the secondary label) or in marketing materials such as coupons where the recipient can peel off the top label to redeem a coupon.